Apple Hopes To Increase Market Share In India Through Selling In Smaller Towns
by Joe White
October 5, 2013
India offers the second-largest smartphone market in the world, and Apple has clearly had its sights set on the country this past year. In an attempt to increase its meagre share of the Indian smartphone market, the Cupertino, Calif. company is reportedly planning on making its iDevices available in smaller towns, where demand for the products is nevertheless great, according to a recent report.
Problematically, in India smartphones are not available at a subsidized price when purchased alongside a mobile contract, and as such Apple has struggled to market its high-priced iPhone accordingly in the country.
In previous months, a number of iPhone initiatives have launched in India, and Apple has even gone so far as to reduce its iPhone margins in an attempt to encourage sales.
However, as of this writing, the smartphone still appears to be losing out to the likes of Samsung, which offers more affordable handsets and holds an impressive 36 percent share of India's smartphone market.
Now, Apple's India country head Maneesh Dhir and telecom business chief Sanjay Kaul have a new business plan, The Economic Times reports. According to the publication, Apple is planning on entering smaller towns across India in an attempt to increase iPhone sales by some 30 percent year-over-year. Here, demand for Apple's iDevices is still high, The Economic Times explains, albeit on a smaller scale.
The chief executive officer of one of India's major retail chains explained:
Apple has realised that if it wants to grow fast in India, it has to look beyond the metros. The company wants to grow upwards of 30% year-on-year in India and feels the smaller markets would play a critical role since the aspiration level of Apple products amongst the youth and rich is growing there as well.Like India, China, too, is a major interest of Apple's, and as the world's largest smartphone market it has the potential to offer a huge source of revenue. This year, the Cupertino, Calif. company's flagship handset launched at the same time in both the United States and China, and in the latter country an iPhone reservation system was established beforehand in order to better control demand for the smartphone. For some time, a deal between Apple and China Mobile - China's largest carrier - has been in the cards, though so far nothing has been formally announced. In September, Apple licensed its iPhone with China Mobile's wireless standard, and more recently China Mobile posters advertising the iPhone appeared online. If such a deal is made, Apple's share of the smartphone market in China would be expected to rocket. Whether the company will ultimately enjoy success in India, however, presently remains to be seen. See also: Apple's Latest Billboard Campaign Focuses On Its Colorful iPhone 5c, RealPlayer Cloud Boasts Cross-Platform And Multi-Format "SurePlay" For Videos, and Vine-Like Video-Sharing App MixBit Updated With New Features And Improvements.
