I disagree about India having huge number of 'rich' people. Only 16 million people belong to a household that makes $35k a year. Corresponding US figure is over 160 million people.
But does that take into account cost of living differences? I suspect US$35K will buy you a lot more in India than in the US - excepting Apple products of course.
Are you suggesting not one single Indian can afford a iPhone? With 1 billion people chances are that Apple can sell as many iPhones in India as they do in small countries.
This gentleman might just possibly be able to afford an iPhone:
But perhaps not quite as easily as he could few days ago.
Even the Galaxy Grand at over $300 is a heck of a lot of money in India.
Exactly. What the headline is incorrect about, is the idea that Samsung is reacting to Apple. They're not. At the iPhone's high prices and relatively low sales volumes, Apple is not even close to being Samsung's main competition in India.
Samsung is lowering prices to compete with the local India phone makers Karbonn and Micromax. Those companies sell Android smartphones starting at ~$65, which is important for the overwhelming majority (~800 million) of Indians who make less than $2 a day.
The chief of Micromax thinks they can overtake Samsung by this time next year.
Check this out: <a href="http://www.statista.com/topics/870/iphone/#chapter3" style="line-height:1.231;" target="_blank">http://www.statista.com/topics/870/iphone/#chapter3</a>;
It seems to indicate that Apple's manufacturing price for the iPhone 5 is around $250. I would estimate that the iPhone 4 is about a third of that (correct me if I am wrong -- I could not find the costs). So, import tax or no, apple is protecting its margins before market share. As usual.
Manufacturing cost is not total cost. For instance, Apple has to pay for research, services, intellectual property licensing, legal defense, shipping, and marketing.
Yes but what's more likely, someone with a cheap Android phone upgrades to a high end Android phone or to the iPhone?
What are you suggesting... once you use Android, you'll always use Android?
I dunno... people don't seem to get too invested in the Android ecosystem. So apps won't hold them to Android.
So what else will? I'm not seeing any reason that would make a person stick to Android.
In other words... it would be rather easy to switch from a cheap Samsung Galaxy Y to a more expensive Apple iPhone if they could afford to.
I understand what you're saying... but I don't think Android is as sticky as you think it is.
If you've been using a cheap Samsung Galaxy Y with a 320x240 screen and Gingerbread... and you finally can afford a more expensive phone... then yeah there are quite a few better phones to choose from.
But I'm just not seeing why someone would be more likely to choose a new Android phone just because their last phone was an Android phone.
In your last comment you said India is getting "entrenched" by Android.
That may be true to a point... but you're forgetting that Android is the only choice at certain price ranges. When someone only has $150 to spend... Android phones just happen to be the only smartphones in that price range.
When someone has $450 or more... there is a much better selection of Android phones and iPhones.
But again... I'm not seeing why having a cheap Android phone now would make them more likely to choose another Android phone later.
What are you suggesting... once you use Android, you'll always use Android?
I dunno... people don't seem to get too invested in the Android ecosystem. So apps won't hold them to Android.
So what else will? I'm not seeing any reason that would make a person stick to Android.
In other words... it would be rather easy to switch from a cheap Samsung Galaxy Y to a more expensive Apple iPhone if they could afford to.
I understand what you're saying... but I don't think Android is as sticky as you think it is.
If you've been using a cheap Samsung Galaxy Y with a 320x240 screen and Gingerbread... and you finally can afford a more expensive phone... then yeah there are quite a few better phones to choose from.
But I'm just not seeing why someone would be more likely to choose a new Android phone just because their last phone was an Android phone.
In your last comment you said India is getting "entrenched" by Android.
That may be true to a point... but you're forgetting that Android is the only choice at certain price ranges. When someone only has $150 to spend... Android phones just happen to be the only smartphones in that price range.
When someone has $450 or more... there is a much better selection of Android phones and iPhones.
But again... I'm not seeing why having a cheap Android phone now would make them more likely to choose another Android phone later.
I would attest it more to a person's nature to stay with what they know. Say a Indian has finally saved enough money to buy a high end smartphone and walks into a store a month from now and is presented a 7 month old iPhone 5 and a just released HTC One running the latest version of Android which is a vast improvement over Gingerbread which one do you think they'll be most likely to choose? Yes many will choose the iPhone but as Android the OS gets better and as manufacturer's build quality improves thennumber choosing the iPhone will decrease.
I would attest it more to a person's nature to stay with what they know. Say a Indian has finally saved enough money to buy a high end smartphone and walks into a store a month from now and is presented a 7 month old iPhone 5 and a just released HTC One running the latest version of Android which is a vast improvement over Gingerbread which one do you think they'll be most likely to choose? Yes many will choose the iPhone but as Android the OS gets better and as manufacturer's build quality improves thennumber choosing the iPhone will decrease.
I don't know how Indian people do it... but I've seen people in the US who have gone from Blackberries to iPhones and from Android phones to iPhones.
Switching platforms isn't as difficult as you think it is... especially if you don't have a ton of paid Android apps holding you back.
iPhones are easy to use too... that should alleviate some fears.
Samsung must also be worried by the amount of recent high specced Galaxy Note II clones pouring out of China (which are basically physically identical bar screen and camera type) which sell for a much lower price. These are popular in India apparently.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Getz
Maybe the people in India need to go to their carriers and complain that they don't subsidize the phone.
Subsidies are an awful model for the customer, in the end...
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
And Apple can't afford to let the competition get entrenched in such a huge market.
Ridiculous. Let them get entrenched, quality sells itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by arch
I disagree about India having huge number of 'rich' people. Only 16 million people belong to a household that makes $35k a year. Corresponding US figure is over 160 million people.
http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/business/the-wealth-report
But does that take into account cost of living differences? I suspect US$35K will buy you a lot more in India than in the US - excepting Apple products of course.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
Are you suggesting not one single Indian can afford a iPhone? With 1 billion people chances are that Apple can sell as many iPhones in India as they do in small countries.
This gentleman might just possibly be able to afford an iPhone:
But perhaps not quite as easily as he could few days ago.
Even the Galaxy Grand at over $300 is a heck of a lot of money in India.
The "competition" is selling Android phones for $150 in India where an iPhone costs 4 times as much.
Apple doesn't sell cheap pieces of garbage just because the other guys sell more.
See the computer market... where Apple's laptops start at $1000 (for an 11" laptop!)
.
Yes but what's more likely, someone with a cheap Android phone upgrades to a high end Android phone or to the iPhone?
Quote:
Originally Posted by aBeliefSystem
Even the Galaxy Grand at over $300 is a heck of a lot of money in India.
Exactly. What the headline is incorrect about, is the idea that Samsung is reacting to Apple. They're not. At the iPhone's high prices and relatively low sales volumes, Apple is not even close to being Samsung's main competition in India.
Samsung is lowering prices to compete with the local India phone makers Karbonn and Micromax. Those companies sell Android smartphones starting at ~$65, which is important for the overwhelming majority (~800 million) of Indians who make less than $2 a day.
The chief of Micromax thinks they can overtake Samsung by this time next year.
Manufacturing cost is not total cost. For instance, Apple has to pay for research, services, intellectual property licensing, legal defense, shipping, and marketing.
What are you suggesting... once you use Android, you'll always use Android?
I dunno... people don't seem to get too invested in the Android ecosystem. So apps won't hold them to Android.
So what else will? I'm not seeing any reason that would make a person stick to Android.
In other words... it would be rather easy to switch from a cheap Samsung Galaxy Y to a more expensive Apple iPhone if they could afford to.
I understand what you're saying... but I don't think Android is as sticky as you think it is.
If you've been using a cheap Samsung Galaxy Y with a 320x240 screen and Gingerbread... and you finally can afford a more expensive phone... then yeah there are quite a few better phones to choose from.
But I'm just not seeing why someone would be more likely to choose a new Android phone just because their last phone was an Android phone.
In your last comment you said India is getting "entrenched" by Android.
That may be true to a point... but you're forgetting that Android is the only choice at certain price ranges. When someone only has $150 to spend... Android phones just happen to be the only smartphones in that price range.
When someone has $450 or more... there is a much better selection of Android phones and iPhones.
But again... I'm not seeing why having a cheap Android phone now would make them more likely to choose another Android phone later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bleh1234
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-biggest-price-markups.php
Even though the data was from 2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Can you provide some actual cites? Or links? What 'margins'?
Really? In what bizarro world is a 'markup' worth anything? What "margin" is this, and what is it worth?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cnocbui
But perhaps not quite as easily as he could few days ago.
LOL!
I would attest it more to a person's nature to stay with what they know. Say a Indian has finally saved enough money to buy a high end smartphone and walks into a store a month from now and is presented a 7 month old iPhone 5 and a just released HTC One running the latest version of Android which is a vast improvement over Gingerbread which one do you think they'll be most likely to choose? Yes many will choose the iPhone but as Android the OS gets better and as manufacturer's build quality improves thennumber choosing the iPhone will decrease.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
Say a Indian has finally saved enough money to buy a high end smartphone .... which one do you think they'll be most likely to choose?
Total cost of ownership -- including resale value -- is hugely important in a country like India.
I'd be curious to know the resale prices for equivalent Apple v. Android phones in India (we know what they are in the US).
That has been a huge advantage of iPhones but it's becoming less of one as of late.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Scrip
The "competition" is selling Android phones for $150 in India where an iPhone costs 4 times as much.
Apple doesn't sell cheap pieces of garbage just because the other guys sell more.
See the computer market... where Apple's laptops start at $1000 (for an 11" laptop!)
.
The "competition" starts at Rs.3850 ($71).
I don't know how Indian people do it... but I've seen people in the US who have gone from Blackberries to iPhones and from Android phones to iPhones.
Switching platforms isn't as difficult as you think it is... especially if you don't have a ton of paid Android apps holding you back.
iPhones are easy to use too... that should alleviate some fears.
Ah... very true.
And people wonder why "Android is winning the market share race"
Samsung must also be worried by the amount of recent high specced Galaxy Note II clones pouring out of China (which are basically physically identical bar screen and camera type) which sell for a much lower price. These are popular in India apparently.