Last Updated on 09/02/2022 by TDH Publishing (A)
Indians from Ahmedabad to Mumbai can shortly be able to shop online for Apple products. The nation’s government today declared that it would ease out rules on local production that restricted corporates like Apple from doing business in the country. The tech giant can begin online sales in India someday within the next few months, reported Bloomberg.
This would let Apple, which has yet to set up retail stores in the nation, to begin selling a variety of products through its online store. Presently, Apple sells its products in India through partnered third-party offline retailers and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon India, Flipkart, and Paytm Mall.
It’s a significant development for Apple, which only has a small existence in the nation of more than a billion people. Chinese Android smartphone manufacturers and Microsoft Windows have hugely been the technology of peoples’ choice in the subcontinent. This is chiefly due to the nation’s foreign direct investment rules (FDI), which needed corporates to source 30% of its products locally to establish a retail presence in the nation. Many Indians who operate Apple products either buy them from third-party sellers or abroad.
Apple proclaimed plans to open a collection of official retail stores in Mumbai — its initial retail presence in India — just this year.
Presently, iPhone’s market share stands below 2 percent in India, an especially damning figure where Apple is concerned, given that the nation is now the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world. Like many alternative developing nations, a smartphone is the sole source of internet connection for millions of Indians. The nation is predicted to possess 829 million smartphone users by 2022 — more than double the total population of the US. In other words, India represents an unmissable growth opportunity for Apple, especially as global sales of smartphones decline.
To cater to Indian users, Apple declared a variety of special iOS 13 features, including keyboards for all 22 Indian languages and all-new Indian English voices for Siri. But with this most recent modification in India’s trade rules, the trail is evident for Apple to create a mark in one of the world’s most inhabited countries.
Do people in India really buy expensive iPhone over low budget devices?
People in India do buy a lot of apple products including iPhones but apple share less than 2%.
The prices of iPhone in India is comparatively higher when compared to the United States prices. The one simple reason behind is that is the government taxes. Indian government adds a good amount on direct import of iPhones and in the process, the phones become more expensive. An apple product which costs $1,299 USD in the USA costs $1,467 USD in India excluding shipping expenses.
How Apple is tackling this issue to improve sales in India?
Apple has come with a plan to manufacture iPhone in India where the import charges are reducing giving apple a chance to offer same good at a lower price hence direct help to apple with more sales in India.
