'Doors are now open' for Apple to expand retail presence into India - Page 2

Originally Posted by macarena

All the people who are wondering why on earth Apple should bother with the Indian market - there are some very important reasons for Apple to play in India.

Just as China is today the hardware manufacturer for the world, India has today become the software developer to the world. Pretty much most software today has significant components that are developed in India - and this is true about Microsoft, Google, Oracle, and literally every major software developer in the world - except for Apple.

One of the key reasons why Indians dont develop much software for Apple platforms, is because Indians are exposed exclusively to Windows while learning. It is only today, since the advent of the iOS App Store that there are significant number of large and small developers in India working on Apple platforms.

Apple can benefit significantly by making Macs more accessible in India, via Education Discounts, etc. Even today, Apple's Education discounts in India insist on College ID - If you have a child studying in Primary School, no luck with Education discounts in India. The reason for this, is that if Apple offered regular Education Discounts to a market like India, pretty much EVERYONE would qualify, which makes it rather pointless!

More importantly, Apple's third party partners - like the Imagine Store and the iStore have significant restrictions in terms of Servicing - they are not allowed to service an iPhone or Mac that has not been purchased in India. Considering the number of these devices that are purchased in HK, Canada or US, this restriction is quite a major problem for consumers here. Hopefully, Apple running its own store will not have such restrictions - because they dont have these restrictions anywhere else in the world!

India is also a great market for Apple to explore lower cost products. Foxconn already has manufacturing facilities in India, and there is no reason why Apple cannot ask Foxconn to make a low cost product specifically targeting the Indian market, in India itself. If Nokia and Samsung can make phones in India, Apple can! If Apple launches a low cost product that is made in India, then their overall competitiveness in India would be significantly better.

While there are a lot of people complaining that India is not well connected, and there isnt even a proper 3G network, etc., they are missing some big things. Within the next 12-24 months, Reliance's 4G network would be active across the length and breadth of India. Out of the blue, India would have actually leapfrogged even developed countries to offer the first nationwide 4G network. At that point, connectivity would be the last worry for Apple!

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

Middle class isn't defined by an average income throughout the world, but between the lower and upper class, so comparing to the US really doesn't define anything, especially when we're talking about CE that will be cheaper for Americans over Indians due to import fees. Those two factors are likely to make the iPhone harder for the average middle class Indian to consider as the cost compared to pay is likely higher than the average middle class American.

Originally Posted by jaggedspike

US Population ~ 300 mil ~ Indian Middleclass

That would mean there is a proportionally large wealthy population. And from my experience, there are.

Originally Posted by souliisoul

Samsung/Nokia phones are of the same quality at high end as you obtain overseas. All goods defined as luxury being imported into India get slapped with 36% tax and then if you move between states it another tax on top. IPhones are expensive, but it is not Apple trying to put up the prices, but the additional tax requirements.
iStore run by Reliance are not on par with Apple store overseas in general basis, I live in Mumbai and have been to couple of stores across India and prior to India, I live in Singapore, USA (East & West Coast) and Australia. The staff in the third party stores are not as well trained and sometimes as is the case in India, will lie to before admitting that their do not know what their talking about.

My last comment has nothing to do racist/class/west vs East etc, it just a fact in India. Admitting you are wrong is not a cultural practice in staff and you learn the hard way, when trying to run a business. Majority of successful Indian businesses have understood that failure is hand in hand with success, but average Indian does not.

As for telecommunications across India, I must say that the data speed is not on par with USA, but I have 3G Vodafone and it has been pretty good in most cities and as for average call, never had a drop call like I had in New York with AT&T

Originally Posted by souliisoul

All goods defined as luxury being imported into India get slapped with 36% tax and then if you move between states it another tax on top. IPhones are expensive, but it is not Apple trying to put up the prices, but the additional tax requirements.