Over at livemint.com, Priyanka Mehra and Shauvik Ghosh have a story on how and why the iPhone failed to take off in India, and boy, a truer article I’ve never read! Apple either doesn’t understand the Indian market at all or just doesn’t care about it. They’ve never really paid any attention to their flailing Mac business out here or tried to make the iPod as much of a household name as it is in the USA. Now that it’s a mobile phone we’re talking about, they’re finding it difficult to gain a foothold in the country with the fastest growing cellphone industry in the world. And it serves them right.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Apple’s products—everything from the hardware design to the tiniest level of software minutia to the integration between their various products is incredibly well thought out and implemented. However, when it comes to aggressively pricing and marketing their products, the only country they seem to give a damn about is the United States.
How else can one explain the lack of the Apple Online Store, the iTunes Store (one that actually sells music and movies like it’s supposed to), or even a single Apple Retail Store? How can one explain the huge disparity in the prices of all Apple products out here when compared to their USA counterparts? How can one explain the complete lack of any advertisement directly from Apple in any form in the second most populous country in the world?
Apple doesn’t care about the Indian market and it has now come to bite them in the, er, posterior end. At least this one time, I’m glad to see Apple not being a success and people not taking a liking to an Apple product. And the fact that it makes my iPhone unique is only a small part of that. What makes me glad, primarily, is the hope that they will perhaps start taking India a little more seriously now.
What Apple needs to do now is get off the proverbial high horse and face the music. They need to realise that when their CEO climbs up onstage at one of the most high profile technology events of the year and declares that the iPhone will be priced at $199 or less all over the world, their world map had better include India as well.
Furthermore, it’s high time Apple came to terms with the fact that you aren’t really in the cellphone business until you’ve managed to infiltrate the school and college campuses of India. And for that to happen, they need to add the capability to forward text messages pronto. We also need video recording, Bluetooth (that actually works), and copy-paste, but these can be dealt with later. But if you want your product to be in the hands of the millions of teenage prepaid SIM card users out here, it better be able to pass on that not-quite-so-funny joke they just received to everyone on their contact list.
Of course, it is entirely possible that Apple still plans to keep things the way they are currently and is happy with their slice of the Indian market pie, no matter how small it may be. If that is the case, well, it’s just more bad news for us Indians. But something tells me that’s not the case anymore. I do not think that a man like Steve Jobs and a company like Apple would be foolish enough to willingly allow Nokia easy access to the pockets of the millions of smartphone users out here. Sooner or later, Apple will get serious about India. It’s just a matter of time.
Watch this space for updates.
Well, how do they expect a piece of junk being sold at the price of royal gold to succeed?
“in India, it would ship 100,000 phones by December 2009”
If the above quote from the livemint article is accurate, it seems a little premature to call Apple’s efforts in India a failure. As a matter of fact the sources cited seem mostly interested in arguing for adoption of their own goals or methods by Apple. In this, the Indian market resembles the US market, the usual suspects are always sure that: a). Apple will/has fail(ed) b). Apple should cut its own throat by lowering prices c). Apple should spend more on advertising d). Apple should sell its product through the same outlets as its competition e). Apple should change strategy to be more appealing in markets it has little interest in. Clearly, in pundit-land anyway, Apple is doomed.
is that real or do my eyes deceive me? a post by the one and only Aayush Arya!
Just some speculation: The iTunes Music Store requires licensing for India which probably hasn’t been granted yet. As for the brick and mortar stores, India has strict laws against owning more than one store in the country. Supposedly there is only one Walmart there due to this. Pricing is possibly set by a rep. I’m not trying to give Apple a free pass. Just suggesting that the devil is in the details.
@John, nothing like that. Apple already has a lot of Re-sellers here and we have Apple stores too. More than 1 that I know of.
@Manan: From what I gather, Imagine is an Indian or Asian reseller, for Apple. By themselves, Apple is not allowed to set up shop here because of our laws inhibiting multinational corporations throwing the locals out of business (which is a good thing).
As for the pricing, well, if Apple set’s it’s contract-free iPhone at $600 everywhere, then I don’t see the reason to complain. After all, the government doesn’t allow contract based phones in India which is why Apple couldn’t introduce the $200 iPhone out here. However, I think Apple should drop the price of the iPhone (contract free) to around $400 which is much more affordable. If they can do it with the iPod Touch, I don’t see why not with the iPhone. Just a cellular transmitter and a camera doesn’t account for $370 markup over the Touch.
Apple cares about making more money, but they also dont like to deal with a lot of legalities. Generally they define their own terms and go by them. Thats why you still dont see iPhone in China. Or Blue-Ray on macs.
Apple products being too expensive, they know there is not huge market in India.
India is a primarily a PC and Nokia country.
Indians are not yet crazy about Gadgets. (Except, few rich kids)
They do not prefer to pay for software.
No reason why Apple ignores India, big time!
I know it hurts Apple fans in India.
But Apple is not a religion, after all.
The vast majority of India is too poor to own an iPhone. The iPhone is a high-end product. Licensing to sell music in India may not yet be done. Legalities take a long time to clear.
The most important goal for Apple is to make a profit. Period.
Apple will not sell a product that does not make money.
Apple’s job in India is just starting. Obviously it has different dynamics. However, if Apple can’t make a profit in India, then it won’t do much to sell the iPhone in India.
The Indians I know are good business people. They know that profit is important. If the market isn’t there, then there is no need to struggle.
So quit complaining if Apple doesn’t do what you want it to.
Once Apple figures out a way to make a profit in India, then it will do better.
I think, iPhone can still do a lot better if they trim down on features and subsequently, on price.
Basically, Apple should bring back the first generation iPhone to India, without 3G and without real GPS. Reduce the price to half and then I am sure it will be a good success.
Without the ability to forward text messages? Yeah, fat chance!
and no MMS, no bluetooth tethering…and the list goes on.
Its good for Indians to keep away from iPhone. Its not made for them.
Apple should forget India. The iPhone and India are not compatible. India is strictly a place for Nokia and Acer. A waste of time selling Apple products in any country that’s financially challenged. Even Apple should realize people need food and electricity before buying an iPhone. If any Indians want iPhones, they should just move out of India.
Android handsets should sell very well in India. Android should be able to run on the cheapest, crappiest handsets you don’t need money to buy. They want high-tech at bargain basement prices, then Android is the way to go.
:p
@Manan, ‘a piece of junk’? MAD magazine would have put that under ‘Moron Mail’. Talk about sweeping statements. One other reason for the failure of the iPhone in India (apart from being ‘sold at the price of royal gold’) is the lack of halo around Apple in India. In India Nokia & Microsoft enjoy cult status. While the iPod has made some headway here, a lot of people still prefer the regular, inexpensive mp3 players. In the absence of any reverential feeling toward Apple, an ‘expensive phone without features that were expected’ in a phone (groan, here we go again) was seen as a dud. Never mind if it is not just a phone.
Microsoft and Nokia doesnt have cult status, they are just the cheapest options available for poor Indians.
A cult rotates around a name, like mac and Apple and Steve Jobs. Nobody is crazy about Microsoft or Nokia.
And Indians are more price conscious than quality conscious. Indians need a car, then Maruti is default option. When need a PC, an assembled PC with pirated Windows and a lot of other pirated software is the default option. When its cell phone, it Nokia, with a lot of features, but none of which works, is the default option.
To remember again, iPhone is a failure in India, because its EXPENSIVE and not because it lacks certain features.
@ Sean, I agree its too early to say I phone has failed. 1,00,000 by Dec 2009. It was only November the article was written and sales were 11,000. so it seems they are nearly on Target.