Indonesian iPhone sales to resume on March 31 after Apple R&D investments

AppleInsider

Apple is on track to resume iPhone sales in Indonesia toward the end of the month, a report said on Friday, following a roughly two-year period during which sourcing requirements kept the device off the local market.

The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus as well as the 6s series will go on sale through six retailers on March 31, according to Kompas. In some cases, people should already be able to sign up for pre-orders.

iPhone sales were last allowed in Indonesia with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Subsequent sourcing regulations -- similar to ones in India -- then forced the product out, since Apple couldn't ensure that 30 percent of components were local. Such rules are intended to boost domestic industry.

Sales were allowed to resume because of plans for three research and development centers in the capital of Jakarta, Kompas said. Previously, Apple's R&D plans were uncertain.

In recent times Apple has been making a number of global investments with political benefits. Efforts at bringing manufacturing to India, for instance, are believed to be partly aimed at opening retail stores, and earlier on Friday the company announced plans to build two more Chinese research centers -- just a day before CEO Tim Cook is set to speak with government officials at an economic forum.

Indonesia is an essential market, with over 255 million people and enough middle- and upper-class shoppers to support Apple's product base.

JinTech

Could someone with sound knowledge please inform me what kind of R&D Apple plans on doing in these countries? I know Apple India focuses on Maps but is that considdered an R&D center?

perkedel

That's a great news. All my friends are still stuck with Blackberry there, apparently it's still a hit over there. The ones with iPhones, they have older models and have to buy it from somewhere else like Singapore.
Perhaps I can start seeing blue bubbles instead of green soon!

StevenSterk

JinTech said:

Could someone with sound knowledge please inform me what kind of R&D Apple plans on doing in these countries? I know Apple India focuses on Maps but is that considdered an R&D center?

I don't know exactly what, but they work with local Foxconn which already have research center and planning to have their production facility in Indonesia. But Indonesian Government main concern is, that any foreign company should have 30% percent local resources on their product if they wan't to do business. It's not clear what "local resources" means, so those companies can count an "investment" in particular subject that will "support" their related product.

perkedel said:

That's a great news. All my friends are still stuck with Blackberry there, apparently it's still a hit over there. The ones with iPhones, they have older models and have to buy it from somewhere else like Singapore.
Perhaps I can start seeing blue bubbles instead of green soon!

Dude, it's not that bad at all. The iPhone 7 flooded the phone markets just days after it was launched. And, people who still use Blackberry are mostly use it as secondary device for business. It is common to have more than one device in Indonesia. 

mauricegold

There is indeed a huge population in Indonesia. There are estimates of over 50 million earning 2 dollars a day, so these can be ruled out as potential customers, with a likely 100 million more barely able to afford housing, food and education. Corruption is widespread and runs up to high echelons in the government and civil service. The education system is poor, with cheating rampant, the Education Ministry  year on year posting false data about 97% or so pass-rates, and churning out graduates who are illiterate, innumerate, and unable to criticise, analyse, or complain. There is an obscene amount of money spent on Muslim 'education' centres, which eat into the rest of the education budget. There is widespread purchasing of degree certificates from Indonesian universities. And these universities are no way comparable to Western counterparts, neither allowing freedom of thought, nor being centres of educational excellence. The Indonesian government makes up the so-called 'rules' as it goes along. In addition many Muslim staff require to be allowed to pray 5 times a day. Looking at this and looking at how many other companies have quit Indonesia, are quitting Indonesia, or contemplating leaving all because of investment insecurity, makes one really wary of throwing good money after bad. Now if Apple really wishes to join this slow-motion train-wreck, it better keep its eyes wide open. I live in Bali, and have been here about 11 years, so my perspective is not that of looking from afar.

corns

I have been doing business lots of times in Indonesia For the past 10 years , One thing I notice is Indonesians are very active in social media and constantly among top 5 most active social media users in the world and on line transactions growing with tremendous speed and most ,if not all , telco providers make very huge profits each year. 
I believe apple is doing the right thing opening up business and trying to capture the market while it is growing with huge speed .
Indonesia is listed by their GDP using PPP , arguably more useful than nominal when assessing domestic market , on 7th biggest economy =US$3.2 trillions according to IMF or 8th biggest economy =US$2.8 trillions according to World Bank....