Apple Inc. is ready to launch its online store in the ever hiking digitized smartphone market in India, loosening the guidelines that prevented the direct selling before. They had these plans for a long time after the Government had slackened the ropes last year. Before which they had to utilise around 30 percent of the components from the local market around Delhi.
With the onset of Covid-19, the Apple’s plans had to be postponed but the huge population of 1.3 billion in India has made the country a favorable place for the online store launch ahead of the Dussehra-Diwali festivities. The focus on the Indian market is perhaps to slowly remove all ties with China. Given their dependency on the same for being a widely accessible market and manufacturing unit.
The political strain could be a major reason for this shifting of ties, especially after Apple crossed the 2 trillion dollar mark in its market value recently. Besides Apple, California based company, The Cupertino plans on opening its second brick-and-mortar store in Bangalore after their stint in Mumbai. Apple had already invested in a half-million square feet of space in Minsk Square, Bangalore. And will open its outlet in BKC, Mumbai very soon.
Amazon.com Inc., Flipkart Online Retails ServicesPvt. (Walmart Inc-owned) are the online store’s Apple sells its products through, giving a stiff competition to One-Plus and Samsung.
Now with The Cupertino, which has assembled the likes of iPhone SE and iPhone 11 through Foxcoss Technology Group and Wistron Corp, the market will eventually get better. Thanks to Pegatron Corp that will open yet another assembly unit, the 49% market share of Apple during the second quarter (sourced from research by IDC) shall retain its ground.
That costlier phones like the iPhone 11 and iPhone XR have contributed to Apple’s 28% pricier exports and shipments is a reason enough to believe that India will be a booming market for costlier phones, unlike what happened before.
