Why the heck is Apple Inc. ignoring India?

by fidothe

India has never been an vital promote for Apple. During the ahead of schedule '90s when I was fresh in the advertising business, Macs ruled the Creative & Studio Departments of advertising agencies. Even then, the onus of marketing and servicing Macs was on the local re-seller. There wasn't much of a concerted effort from Apple. Later, PC's became pretty much the norm for graphics, Office Suites and everything else. Now, it's common to find seasoned Art Directors being comfortable only on a Windows PC. Yes, there are Macs in Studios and Art Departments but it's more an exception than the norm – chief culprit being the high price of the Mac.

Then came the iPod which introduced Apple and it's ecosystem to a whole new generation. And with much friendlier pricing, Macbook's have an fascinate to a potentially large audience. Apple re-sellers have mushroomed in major cities. So in terms of a product portfolio, at the high end they have iMacs, Macbook Pros and iPhone. At the standard pricing level, they have a few iPods and the Macbook. Add to it, a fantastic OS in Snow Leopard and accessories like Magic Mouse, the Apple portfolio is extremely appealing. And there is a retail network of sorts in house. Yet we all know that Apple is effectively a non-player in India – be it in mobile phones, desktops or laptops. The reason is not hard to seek: Apple is simply not attracted in India.

It's a litany of woes for the Apple fan in India:

- iPhone: a right royal pricing mess. It was DOA as far as India was concerned with that kind of pricing

- no signs of iPhone 3Gs: this despite the promise made by Phil Schiller in Jan '09 that the iPhone 3Gs will be launched in Aug 09 here. The Apple re-sellers haven't a clue and they keep charitable fresh dates of launch each time you question them.

- no music on the iTunes India store: it's moronic, to say the least, that in one of the world's most music-rich countries, iTunes doesn't offer music

- each major Apple product unrestricted in the US doesn't find it's way here: the Magic Mouse being a case in point. It is still available on a 'pre-order basis' at the re-sellers.

- Apple India's Customer Support sucks

Apple may not have huge promote share or value ambitions from the Desktop/laptop promote in India. They will never be able to compete with local manufacturers, assemblers on price. Plus, category dynamics are so stacked up against Apple. A promote ruled by Microsoft, ubiquity of pirated software, ignorance of what Apple's integrated approach really is, apathy towards Apple – there are enough reasons for Apple's poor chances of success in India.

With iPhone, I reckon they have a chance of generating huge volumes and value in India, if – and it's a huge if – Apple chooses to do so. India is far ahead of the US in many ways when it comes to the telecom promote – we are a lot more demanding from our handset and service provider -the dynamics of the category are different here. Despite iPhone's flaws – perceived or otherwise, I feel it was the best bet Apple had to broad-base their fascinate. One of the huge reasons for it's success in the West – the App Store would have been a fantastic advantage here. Even abroad, that advantage can dwindle any time. If Apple has 100,000 apps now, it's a matter of time before the Android, Blackberry and Ovi stores populate their stores with large facts. The fort Apple built around the iPhone is not impregnable.

Taking a cue from Apple's App Store all the huge boys have launched India-specific app stores. Nokia, Aircel (Pocketapps), Airtel (App Inner), Blackerry – they all have their app stores. It's a matter of time before India/city-specific apps come into the picture, with an ability to pay through local currency… possibly even through iTunes-like accounts. When that happens, any potential advantage the iPhone had would disappear.

With a mobile population of 500mn and together with, India is a mouth watering possibility for telecom marketers. And the potential of VAS and ARPU is yet to be realized fully. But the larger opportunity lies elsewhere. It is well documented that the classic pyramidal structure of Indian consumer markets will change to accommodate the bulging middle class (the Aspirers) in the near future.

The estimated size of the Aspirer's promote is 124mn households. Chose, not all of them may be potential customers for the iPhone. But with the right kind of pricing, a chunk of the Aspirers could be. This group, while being price sensitive is characterized by seeing premium experiences at standard prices. For them, the likeliest port of call when it comes to smartphones is unlikely to be an iPhone, given the marketing (or the lack of it) here in India.
It is unlikely that Apple isn't aware of the attraction of India, as a promote. But they deliberately seem to be ignoring it. If and when they plot to make a fist of it here (with the iPhone perhaps, given the mobile population here), it may be too late. The competition seems to have the 'will to win' and is backing it up with action. They are smarter, agile and getting ahead of Apple. Does Apple care?
The initial argument was that, the lack of availability of the 3G spectrum in India is “stopping Apple” to consider it a serious promote!!! How eccentric! These guys don’t consider the second leading telecom promote in the world as “serious”??? I smell American superiority complicated! Oh by the way we DO have 3G now! So what is “stopping” Apple now? Smart phones that cost more than India have been sold more than the iPhone SEVERAL HUNDRED TIMES!
With a solid presence in Plates, it is quite obvious that Apple Inc. is simply ignoring India, A HUGE HUGE MARKET! No wonder Apple is beginning to lose its charm! They could have easily bought a few more being of dominance if they had a excellent presence in India! There is a SUPER MONSTROUS FAN FOLLOWING HERE! If they take our promote seriously people WILL BUY THEIR PRODUCTS!
Also about iTunes. I reckon everybody outside th US knows what a huge joke iTunes is! The Indian music and movie is way larger than Hollywood! If they have reasonable prices for music and movies iTunes can be a major hit here! For movies Apple can conceive ties with moserbaer (India), which sell latest movies on DVDs for not over $ 4!!! For original music there is much possibility for Both American and Indian music that can be sold on iTunes! Apple can make hefty profits here! The promote is effectively BLANK! So what’s the deal with them?

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