After years of treading water, or worse, sinking, Apple is finally ready to make a concerted push into India.
Harsh Chauhan for The Motley Fool:
Apple’s fortunes in India — the world’s second-largest smartphone market — have been turning around despite the negative impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the country’s economic situation.
The iPhone maker recorded a 5% increase in shipments in India in the second quarter of 2020 while the overall market plunged — an impressive feat considering the premium pricing of Apple devices in the Indian context. Now the smartphone giant seems all set to make further inroads into this market…
Apple has been selling its devices in India for more than a decade through resellers, but it was only in September of this year that the company finally launched an online store in the country. This makes India the 38th country with an online Apple store that allows users to purchase the company’s products and other services directly.
This move couldn’t have come at a better time. The California company’s decision to launch an entry-level device in the form of the new iPhone SE has worked well for it in price-sensitive markets such as India. In fact, strong sales of the iPhone SE are seen as the reason behind Apple’s shipment growth in India last quarter.
MacDailyNews Take: Because the Indian government is working to incentivize smartphone production in India, new local manufacturing could help Apple reduce the price of iPhones in India by as much as 30% by eliminating import duties. This, along with the new online store and physical retail stores to come next year finally makes Apple’s future in India bright!
the new iPhone SE has worked well for it in price-sensitive markets such as India
If the market is price sensitive, then Apple should not be there, this Indian market looking for cheap products should be dominated by Andriod. On top of that the Indian government makes it hard for foreign companies by throwing illegal retrospective tax charges later in in the assessment period. Nokia, Vodafone, Microsoft and many others been victim of this scam. This is a bad market for Apple to be in.
“India Surpassed the USA to Become the Second Largest Smartphone Market in the World Reaching 158 Million Shipments in 2019.”
Hardly a market Apple should ignore!
Apple makes quality phones at all price points, the bottom line is the premium Apple tax they priced themselves out of the market and Android rivals are eating their lunch. Apple market share in India is combined in the OTHER category.
Manufacturing iPhones in India will establish a goodwill footprint employing thousands of workers and bring the cost of phones down to affordable levels.
You missed the forest, for the trees…
Thank heavens Apple is at least trying. You won’t see many other companies ignoring such a potentially huge market. Sure, it’s the land of $100 Android smartphones and I would think it’s almost impossible for Apple to gain any ground. The best Apple can do is convince the Indian consumer to use some long-term installment plans to own an iPhone or some other Apple product. As cheap as an Apple One family plan is, the Indian consumer should be doing as much as they can to own some Apple device. If Apple has some factories in India, hopefully, they can avoid some high taxes to make Apple devices a bit less expensive for Indian consumers. I had heard there was some India-based company that was going to partner with Google to sell $50 Android smartphones. It seems like it’s game over for Apple if that partnership goes through. That’s just crazy cheap.
As an Apple shareholder, I want Apple to gain a foothold in India, but as a consumer, I totally understand why Indian consumers should be price-conscious and buy products within their financial means. People shouldn’t over-extend themselves financially just to own some product they don’t actually need.
2%-8% of the upper crust in India is still 24 to 100 million people that is all Apple needs…
If you have never been to India and don’t have anything to do with Indians living there, it’s easy to overlook some very important issues.
Indians are very aware of their perceived status and there is a massive middle class who are very aspirational and regard Apple products as being highly desirable.
The population of India is immense and that middle strata offers a fantastic business opportunity for Apple. Tim Cook has realised this for some time and is overcoming the obstacles that make trading in a India so difficult. Whether he gets there is anybody’s guess, but it’s a very rich prize if he succeeds.
True, but Apple isn’t going to go cheap, they will go for the upper 10% of the market and that is it. There will be no 200 dollar phones just for India.
Though vast differences exist, there’s a parallel to China with a huge emerging middle class. Even budget-minded people can recognize junk vs high quality. Besides, it’s the World’s 2nd largest population and possessing a sliver of the market is worth billions.
If you buy a iPhone, Mac or a iPad it will be used for 5-6 years and still have resale value, short term thinkers (price only PC/Android people) still have a problem with Apple products.