I think Apple's price cut in India accomplishes at least these two objectives: It tests a lower price point to see if volume sufficiently makes up for a lower price. it clears the higher price slot for another model, which presumably would be the rumored updated 4" iPhone.
You make good points. Only problem is, in a country like India, more & more users are flocking toward bigger screen smartphones (ie: bigger than 4.7"). Right now, you can a decent mid-range 5"-screen Android phone for around the same price as a price-reduced iPhone 5s. Given that buyers in India are very value conscious and prefer bigger screens, what's the market potential for an upgraded 4" iPhone? Sounds like, given those market dynamics, Apple would have to sell the iPhone 6 at around $399US to gain decent traction there.
I would not characterize your typical India consumer as "value conscious" this implies you are getting the highest value for the money you spend. Most India consumer are cheap, I would not even say frugal, they put no value on anything and their expectation is they want it for free if all possible.
The issue Apple has in India is the fact they do not value Apple's ecosystem. They will dump Apple in a second if they thing they can get something cheaper.
I think Apple's price cut in India accomplishes at least these two objectives: It tests a lower price point to see if volume sufficiently makes up for a lower price. it clears the higher price slot for another model, which presumably would be the rumored updated 4" iPhone.
I totally agree on the first two points, but I think you're incorrect on the third.
it seems far more likely that this is as you say, testing the lower price point as a prelude to perhaps making the updated 4" model (iPhone 6c) and that therefore the new updated 4" model will perhaps also be cheaper. Remember that the only thing that really failed in regards the iPhone 5c was the pricing, which everyone assumed was going to be low (because: plastic), but was instead almost as high as their other "luxury" models.
If the 4" model is coming back after all this time, I think it's more likely to be that same cheapo budget model for third world and other cost conscious consumers that everyone thought the iPhone 5c was going to be. Especially if it's going to be announced in March as rumoured, it makes no sense that the new 4" phone would be anything but a cheap alternative phone and not one of the main lineup.
I'm expecting you to buy another phone if you don't like Apples prices
I might do that, but give Apple some time, they might turn around. Consider that the original iPhone was also priced way too high.
Considering the shameful amount of money Apple has been making and doing so for years now, expecting the iPhone to be reduced in price to a "fair" level is most likely just fantasy land thinking. It's far easier to drop the price on your best selling "making-you-so-much-money-you-have-no-place-to-put-it" product than it is to lower the price on a product with normal margins. They could easily have reduced their margins on the iPhone years ago but they didn't. That tells you all you need to know right there.
I think Apple's price cut in India accomplishes at least these two objectives:I It tests a lower price point to see if volume sufficiently makes up for a lower price. it clears the higher price slot for another model, which presumably would be the rumored updated 4" iPhone.
You make good points. Only problem is, in a country like India, more & more users are flocking toward bigger screen smartphones (ie: bigger than 4.7"). Right now, you can a decent mid-range 5"-screen Android phone for around the same price as a price-reduced iPhone 5s. Given that buyers in India are very value conscious and prefer bigger screens, what's the market potential for an upgraded 4" iPhone? Sounds like, given those market dynamics, Apple would have to sell the iPhone 6 at around $399US to gain decent traction there.
I would not characterize your typical India consumer as "value conscious" this implies you are getting the highest value for the money you spend. Most India consumer are cheap, I would not even say frugal, they put no value on anything and their expectation is they want it for free if all possible.
The issue Apple has in India is the fact they do not value Apple's ecosystem. They will dump Apple in a second if they thing they can get something cheaper.
That reminds me of when Russell Peters imitated a Chinese salesman trying to sell a Louis Vuitton bag to an Indian man. Hilarious
More than anything else, I think this move speaks volumes about the pricing power of Apple - that a device thats almost 2.5 years old still can command a price thats double what latest model Android phones from reputed manufacturers cost.
But Apple is not as relevant in India as it needs to be - and it is high time they did something about it. Because India is the last frontier left for Apple to capture. They are allowing Android a free rein in India, and there's no reason why that should be the case.
I think Apple should consider selling 5S (or another model) even lower - with just 8GB flash, plastic body, and locked to Indian carriers. Keep other things same, so that the ecosystem is not fractured. This will be attractive only to the Indians who don't travel overseas. If they can hit the Rs 15000 price point, that can really hurt Android! And I think Apple can actually hit that price point without losing money, considering this is old technology today. And they don't even need to worry about cannibalization because the high end Indian customer will not buy that device.
I would not characterize your typical India consumer as "value conscious" this implies you are getting the highest value for the money you spend. Most India consumer are cheap, I would not even say frugal, they put no value on anything and their expectation is they want it for free if all possible.
The issue Apple has in India is the fact they do not value Apple's ecosystem. They will dump Apple in a second if they thing they can get something cheaper.
You have no clue about India, and you are only advertising your ignorance and your bigotry.
Apple has made close to zero effort to woo Indian customers with its ecosystem - whether it is the ability to understand Indian accents/pronunciation in Siri, or fixing issues in Maps. It is only recently that they have started adding Indian movies and music to iTunes - and even that is quite outdated. I have an Apple TV here, and I can only use Youtube for all my content - because iTunes doesn't have much in Hindi, and nothing in Tamil or Telugu. Apple phones sell here significantly higher price than what iPhones sell in the US! Quite a lot of Indians do pony up full price, plus a lot more. The cheapest iPhone 6s in India is about $850, and it still has takers.
Forget customers in India - there are million plus Indians who are engineers and doctors in America, who would love to consume Indian content in iTunes, but Apple hasn't bothered to target them.
And just for your information - there may be many Indians who are poor, but there are also a lot of Indians who are quite rich. Most Americans would find it expensive to buy decent property in the major cities of India. Pretty much any one who owns a home outright in one of the major cities in India can sell his home here, and buy a much better home outright in the US - and have cash left over! Even Indians who appear poor and struggling are probably richer than many Americans who are so much in debt that they have negative net worth.
And even the poorest Indian probably has a bigger heart than people like you.
I would not characterize your typical India consumer as "value conscious" this implies you are getting the highest value for the money you spend. Most India consumer are cheap, I would not even say frugal, they put no value on anything and their expectation is they want it for free if all possible.
The issue Apple has in India is the fact they do not value Apple's ecosystem. They will dump Apple in a second if they thing they can get something cheaper.
You have no clue about India, and you are only advertising your ignorance and your bigotry.
Apple has made close to zero effort to woo Indian customers with its ecosystem - whether it is the ability to understand Indian accents/pronunciation in Siri, or fixing issues in Maps. It is only recently that they have started adding Indian movies and music to iTunes - and even that is quite outdated. I have an Apple TV here, and I can only use Youtube for all my content - because iTunes doesn't have much in Hindi, and nothing in Tamil or Telugu.
I think the issue is on both sides. Government policy in India is preventing Apple from making any significant inroads and Apple itself is a little lax in a few areas.
Still, given the cost of living in India, Apple has really lowered its prices for software and services. To whit: 1. I can buy Adele's 25 for ~$1.8. Compare this with the $10-$15 it probably costs in the US iTMS. 2. I can subscribe to
Music for about $1.8 and Music Family for $2.7, compared with the $10 and $15 it costs in the US. 3. I can get apps as cheap as $0.15.
Things that are probably the same in price are US movies, but even they may be slightly cheaper. For example, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails is priced at around $9 for the HD version. I'm guessing that is about 3-5 dollars cheaper than the US store.
Contrary to what you mention, there are movies in Telugu and Tamil, 2 pretty popular regional languages when it comes to movies.
The things where Apple Services are lacking: 1. Apple Maps is near useless in India since directions are never available between any two places. 2. iBooks does not have anything for sale, besides books in the public domain and Apple's guides. I guess Apple really sees no need to prioritise it. I do not know what the market for e-books in India is like. 3. Music lacks streaming of a lot of popular and new film music. But given how little Apple gets for a subscription, I don't think they are in any great hurry to look into this. 4. No TV shows in the iTMS. I think it's a can of worms Apple doesn't want to open right now.
Overall, I still think Apple will remain a niche player here for a while. I still had to pay ~$1400 for my iPhone 6S Plus and a little over that for the Black Stainless Steel Watch model with the link bracelet.
But once I heard about the prices of Apple hardware in Brazil, I stopped complaining about these prices in India!
I would not characterize your typical India consumer as "value conscious" this implies you are getting the highest value for the money you spend. Most India consumer are cheap, I would not even say frugal, they put no value on anything and their expectation is they want it for free if all possible.
The issue Apple has in India is the fact they do not value Apple's ecosystem. They will dump Apple in a second if they thing they can get something cheaper.
You have no clue about India, and you are only advertising your ignorance and your bigotry.
Apple has made close to zero effort to woo Indian customers with its ecosystem - whether it is the ability to understand Indian accents/pronunciation in Siri, or fixing issues in Maps. It is only recently that they have started adding Indian movies and music to iTunes - and even that is quite outdated. I have an Apple TV here, and I can only use Youtube for all my content - because iTunes doesn't have much in Hindi, and nothing in Tamil or Telugu. Apple phones sell here significantly higher price than what iPhones sell in the US! Quite a lot of Indians do pony up full price, plus a lot more. The cheapest iPhone 6s in India is about $850, and it still has takers.
Forget customers in India - there are million plus Indians who are engineers and doctors in America, who would love to consume Indian content in iTunes, but Apple hasn't bothered to target them.
And just for your information - there may be many Indians who are poor, but there are also a lot of Indians who are quite rich. Most Americans would find it expensive to buy decent property in the major cities of India. Pretty much any one who owns a home outright in one of the major cities in India can sell his home here, and buy a much better home outright in the US - and have cash left over! Even Indians who appear poor and struggling are probably richer than many Americans who are so much in debt that they have negative net worth.
And even the poorest Indian probably has a bigger heart than people like you.
For Indians living in America / Canada, there is a very good selection of Indian music / movies in iTunes. Not sure if Apple Music subscribers have access to those though.
"And even the poorest Indian probably has a bigger heart than people like you."
It also means that Apple is asking way to much in Europe and the U.S. I'm expecting a fair price for the iPhone 6s/+ say $300/$350. Similar for the 7 next year. Maybe then, Apple will stop burning its money and do something useful with it (100 billion will buy you 10 Mars trips or all Africa's wild parks with an army to protect it from (ivory) poachers).
Man, "a fair price", WTF does that even mean.
Go buy Android and you'll get a "fair price" and a POS too. Nice combo.
Apple will be discontinuing the 5S soon when the 6C is release with 5S updates only in the SoC - A8 or A9 and earlier NFC found in the 6 and same Wi-Fi "n" and lPDDR 3 1GB RAM with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage!
Comments
I would not characterize your typical India consumer as "value conscious" this implies you are getting the highest value for the money you spend. Most India consumer are cheap, I would not even say frugal, they put no value on anything and their expectation is they want it for free if all possible.
The issue Apple has in India is the fact they do not value Apple's ecosystem. They will dump Apple in a second if they thing they can get something cheaper.
it seems far more likely that this is as you say, testing the lower price point as a prelude to perhaps making the updated 4" model (iPhone 6c) and that therefore the new updated 4" model will perhaps also be cheaper. Remember that the only thing that really failed in regards the iPhone 5c was the pricing, which everyone assumed was going to be low (because: plastic), but was instead almost as high as their other "luxury" models.
If the 4" model is coming back after all this time, I think it's more likely to be that same cheapo budget model for third world and other cost conscious consumers that everyone thought the iPhone 5c was going to be. Especially if it's going to be announced in March as rumoured, it makes no sense that the new 4" phone would be anything but a cheap alternative phone and not one of the main lineup.
Considering the shameful amount of money Apple has been making and doing so for years now, expecting the iPhone to be reduced in price to a "fair" level is most likely just fantasy land thinking. It's far easier to drop the price on your best selling "making-you-so-much-money-you-have-no-place-to-put-it" product than it is to lower the price on a product with normal margins. They could easily have reduced their margins on the iPhone years ago but they didn't. That tells you all you need to know right there.
But Apple is not as relevant in India as it needs to be - and it is high time they did something about it. Because India is the last frontier left for Apple to capture. They are allowing Android a free rein in India, and there's no reason why that should be the case.
I think Apple should consider selling 5S (or another model) even lower - with just 8GB flash, plastic body, and locked to Indian carriers. Keep other things same, so that the ecosystem is not fractured. This will be attractive only to the Indians who don't travel overseas. If they can hit the Rs 15000 price point, that can really hurt Android! And I think Apple can actually hit that price point without losing money, considering this is old technology today. And they don't even need to worry about cannibalization because the high end Indian customer will not buy that device.
Apple has made close to zero effort to woo Indian customers with its ecosystem - whether it is the ability to understand Indian accents/pronunciation in Siri, or fixing issues in Maps. It is only recently that they have started adding Indian movies and music to iTunes - and even that is quite outdated. I have an Apple TV here, and I can only use Youtube for all my content - because iTunes doesn't have much in Hindi, and nothing in Tamil or Telugu. Apple phones sell here significantly higher price than what iPhones sell in the US! Quite a lot of Indians do pony up full price, plus a lot more. The cheapest iPhone 6s in India is about $850, and it still has takers.
Forget customers in India - there are million plus Indians who are engineers and doctors in America, who would love to consume Indian content in iTunes, but Apple hasn't bothered to target them.
And just for your information - there may be many Indians who are poor, but there are also a lot of Indians who are quite rich. Most Americans would find it expensive to buy decent property in the major cities of India. Pretty much any one who owns a home outright in one of the major cities in India can sell his home here, and buy a much better home outright in the US - and have cash left over! Even Indians who appear poor and struggling are probably richer than many Americans who are so much in debt that they have negative net worth.
And even the poorest Indian probably has a bigger heart than people like you.
I think the issue is on both sides. Government policy in India is preventing Apple from making any significant inroads and Apple itself is a little lax in a few areas.
Still, given the cost of living in India, Apple has really lowered its prices for software and services. To whit:
1. I can buy Adele's 25 for ~$1.8. Compare this with the $10-$15 it probably costs in the US iTMS.
2. I can subscribe to Music for about $1.8 and Music Family for $2.7, compared with the $10 and $15 it costs in the US.
3. I can get apps as cheap as $0.15.
Things that are probably the same in price are US movies, but even they may be slightly cheaper. For example, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trails is priced at around $9 for the HD version. I'm guessing that is about 3-5 dollars cheaper than the US store.
Contrary to what you mention, there are movies in Telugu and Tamil, 2 pretty popular regional languages when it comes to movies.
The things where Apple Services are lacking:
1. Apple Maps is near useless in India since directions are never available between any two places.
2. iBooks does not have anything for sale, besides books in the public domain and Apple's guides. I guess Apple really sees no need to prioritise it. I do not know what the market for e-books in India is like.
3. Music lacks streaming of a lot of popular and new film music. But given how little Apple gets for a subscription, I don't think they are in any great hurry to look into this.
4. No TV shows in the iTMS. I think it's a can of worms Apple doesn't want to open right now.
Overall, I still think Apple will remain a niche player here for a while. I still had to pay ~$1400 for my iPhone 6S Plus and a little over that for the Black Stainless Steel Watch model with the link bracelet.
But once I heard about the prices of Apple hardware in Brazil, I stopped complaining about these prices in India!
"And even the poorest Indian probably has a bigger heart than people like you."
I'll believe it when I see it.
Man, "a fair price", WTF does that even mean.
Go buy Android and you'll get a "fair price" and a POS too. Nice combo.