The technology company is planning to take over the Indian market as it decided to open retail shops in the country and become the official distributor of iPhones.
Apple, Inc. has been smart enough to make decisions of entering the second most populous country in the world, India – as China faces slowdown due to economic conditions, the technology giant cannot afford to lose demand for iPhones. It has started to focus more towards one of the biggest countries of the world.
Although the technology giant has been discrete about the matter, it has been taking its piece of pie from India by investing in advertisements, improving its distribution system, making schemes on interest free phone loans and cutting prices. Presently, it sells its products in the Indian market through various distributors but now it wants to be the official seller in the market. To do so, it has filed a request on Wednesday with the Indian Government to run its own retail shops and start selling the devices online.
By the end of the previous fiscal year on March 31, the Cupertino, Calif. company had revenue generation of over $1 billion alone from the Indian market. Despite being so popular there, currently it only had a 2% chunk of the smartphone market. According to an analyst at Canalys in Singapore, Rushabh Doshi, India is a huge potential market for Apple to enter.
Previously, 118 million iPhones were sold in India and according to analysts’ estimations, this number is expected to rise to 174 million units by the year 2017. Initially, an Apple product would only be seen in the wealthy user’s hands in India but now, the company has decided to reposition itself in a way that it seems accessible to the middle class as well.
China has not started to show signs of saturation due to which Apple had to make this move and it could prove to be a smart one, as over 10 years, it could be one of the most important markets in terms of revenue generation. At this point, the company had declined to comment on its expansion plans but the chief executive officer, Tim Cook had initially stated that there has been progress in the country.
According to research by IDC, in a year’s time, India is likely to be above the United States smartphone’s market and second to China – since the market is growing and expanding rapidly. Around 35% phones being sold in the market are now smartphones, which leaves Apple with a huge chunk to conquer. The use of smartphones in the market is comparatively low because the people of the country tend to purchase and use cheaper phones.
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