I reckon India is a lost cause for Apple. They don’t have the obsession with prestige the Chinese do, nor currently the same level of disposable income. Apple is considered a prestigious company in some quarters. Maybe a few years down the line, when the Indian economy becomes comparable to that of China (those two countries are going to rule the roost in the future!) then maybe it’s economic environment will be more receptive to Apple.
Due to their politics, India may never become more like China economically. China is more capitalistic now and the Communist party is just a name and cover for the residual blended authoritarian + corporatist entity. India is a democracy, which prevents the country from advancing. It prevents high performers from reaching their potential. High achieving individuals leave and go to the US and reach their goals quickly.
"the market is so miniscule"? India has a huge, growing middle class, most highly educated and tech savvy. They could afford an iPhone if they wanted. But for some reason Apple is not attractive enough for this market.
India is a very poor 3rd world country. They may have a growing middle class - but they are still very poor. The average middle class Indian cannot afford an iPhone.
In my view, in order to grow sales in India Apple will have to accept a lower margin on each phone and build loyalty into the population through price. That will pay dividends in the long run.
That is called "Racing to the bottom". Indians cannot afford iPhones, and Apple should just move on.
IIRC, @Sog35 -- full disclosure: despite his many detractors here, I thought he brought a useful iconoclastic POV to the forum -- was quite a cheerleader for Apple in India.
The Sog you remember had a few different hats.
Yup. It is when he wore the below hats, irritated most of the members in this forum.
1. Arm chair CEO, criticizing Tim Cook irrationally
2. Arm chair stock analyst, predicting X/Y/Z dollars for Apple's stock. When his predictions did not work and whenever Apple stock went down, went back to point 1 above
3. Self appointed moderator role against new forum members, posting inane "This is your Nth comment" comments, without any arguments on the contents posted by new members
Sorry but Apple will never do much business in India. Cook is an idiot. It’s a third world nation. You’d have as much luck getting Africans to buy Apple. India has little infrastructure, it has illiteracy rates of around 70%+, very low standards of living where a lot of people crap in the grass because there’s no plumbing, there’s probably more cows on the streets than cars. Seriously, it’s been like that for centuries and will probably take another century to get anywhere. People who bet on India will go broke before a turnaround. Cook just doesn’t understand. Westerners always think India can and will be like China. And that’s where they’re very wrong.
Investing in a third world nation is fine — as in real estate the highest payouts are investing in up-and-coming neighborhoods, not established wealthy ones.
Also, when I traveled to China in the 1990s I was surprised by how third world it was — mud hut villages, people living in caves...But it’s growing up now. That’s why Apple skates to where the puck is going, not where it is.
But they’re on a 100 year plan, hence I wrote century. The Chinese are probably one of the best infrastructure builders on the planet now and they got that way inside of 30 years. That’s why they export that capability all around the world. They build a Manhattan sized city every year. No other country has the capability to do that these days. It’s been 17 years since 9/11 and we’re still building downtown Manhattan. We can’t even do what they do. India? Forget about it. They can’t build if their life depended on it. They can boondoggle. They’re the worlds best at creating bureaucracies. They can do that better than any nation on the planet.
So, no, Cook is crazy if he thinks he’s going to get a nickel out of India.
Comments
Yup. It is when he wore the below hats, irritated most of the members in this forum.
1. Arm chair CEO, criticizing Tim Cook irrationally
2. Arm chair stock analyst, predicting X/Y/Z dollars for Apple's stock. When his predictions did not work and whenever Apple stock went down, went back to point 1 above
3. Self appointed moderator role against new forum members, posting inane "This is your Nth comment" comments, without any arguments on the contents posted by new members
So, no, Cook is crazy if he thinks he’s going to get a nickel out of India.