Taking advantage of a relaxation of India’s once-strict prohibitions against foreign direct retail, Apple will launch an online store for the first time in the fast-growing smartphone market of India next month, Bloomberg News reports, citing “a person with knowledge of the matter.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes selfie with students while visiting in ChinaThe online store will be ready for operations just ahead of the festive Dussehra-Diwali spending season, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing confidential plans. The iPhone maker, which lobbied New Delhi for years to get around regulations that force companies such as Apple to source 30% of components locally, had originally planned to start online sales within months after the government relaxed the rule last year. Those plans were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
[Apple] which has just made history by surpassing $2 trillion in market value, is boosting investments in the South Asian country to reduce its dependence on China both as a market and manufacturing base amid escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The Cupertino, California-based company also plans to open a second brick-and-mortar store in the technology hub of Bangalore, following an outlet in Mumbai that will be its first physical location in the country, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The iPhone maker’s first physical store will open next year in the plush Mumbai neighborhood of BKC, while, the people said, it’s already scouted nearly half a million square feet of space right in the heart of Bangalore near Minsk Square, named after its sister city in Belarus.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s taken Apple quite awhile to get on track in India, but it finally looks to be on the right track and gaining steam!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
