Apple is discussing manufacturing in India, government officials say

“Apple Inc. is discussing with the Indian government the possibility of manufacturing its products in the country, according to two senior government officials, as the company seeks to expand its sales and presence in the South Asian nation,” Rajesh Roy and Newley Purnell report for The Wall Street Journal. “In a letter to the government last month, the Cupertino, Calif., firm outlined its plans and sought financial incentives to move ahead, the officials told The Wall Street Journal. Senior Trade Ministry authorities in recent weeks met to discuss the matter.”

“Making goods such as iPhones locally would allow Apple to open its own stores in India, helping build its brand in a country where it has less than a 5% slice of a booming smartphone market,” Roy and Purnell report. “India’s smartphone market is expected next year to overtake that of the U.S. as the world’s second-largest behind China, according to research firm IDC. For years, sales in China fueled Apple’s expansion, but now growth there is slowing.”

“‘Apple wants to emulate its China model in India,’ said one of the officials with direct knowledge of the matter. ‘The company wants financial incentives, [into] which the concerned government departments are looking,’ the official said,” Roy and Purnell report. “In the quarter ended Sept. 24, Apple reported its first annual revenue decline in 15 years amid lukewarm iPhone sales. But revenue has been rising in India, Mr. Cook said at the time, adding that “we still believe we’re just kind of scratching the surface there.””

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: In addition, India should allow Apple to sell Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones, iPads, and other Apple products:

The “Make in India” program is supposed to focus on creating skilled jobs and minimizing environmental impact. Blocking Apple from selling Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones and forcing the company to set up factories full of entry-level assembly jobs in order to open brand new retail stores accomplishes neither objective.

Indians can’t have nice, clean stores or real iPhones are great prices (Apple Certified Refurbished iPhones are better than new fragmandroid phones) because your government is “protecting” you against such things in favor of importing pollution and crap, menial, unskilled, low-paying jobs. So, don your face masks like the Chinese to ward off the smog (not that iPhone assembly is particularly polluting, but the requirement forcing 30% of manufacturing into the country will lead to pollution from other industries) and have fun with your insecure, never-to-be-updated fake iPhones!

Or, some portion of the 1.3 billion Indian citizens could demand that the handful of government dullards blocking Apple reconsider their trade ideas. — MacDailyNews, May 26, 2016

SEE ALSO:
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