“Apple Inc. is in preliminary contact with Iranian distributors about a possible entry into the country should Western sanctions ease sufficiently, people familiar with the matter said,” Benoît Faucon reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“A move into Iran for any Western company is still fraught with obstacles. Yet Apple’s conversations come amid a flurry of similar, exploratory contacts between Western companies and Iranian executives and middlemen about how to set up shop in Iran, should a recent diplomatic thaw lead to a permanent easing of economic sanctions,” Faucon reports. “Tehran, eager to end several years of economic isolation because of its nuclear program, has been on a recent charm offensive with Western businesses, eager to lure them back or persuade them to set up shop for the first time.”
“Apple would be allowed to export its iPhone to Iran because of a U.S. decision in May to lift sanctions that had barred the sale of consumer communications technologies in Iran,” Faucon reports. “For Apple, Iran’s 77 million people offer a particularly attractive new market. Iran’s population is relatively young, with 42% of its people under age 25. Iran also boasts a relative large middle class.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Uh… boom?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “David E.” for the heads up.]