Apple offers iPhone discount to India’s students

By Ed Sutherland on May 20, 2013

In yet another attempt to capture the nascent smartphone market in India, Apple is now promoting discounts for students. Students can receive $144 on an iPhone when they trade in their old smartphones. Apple and Samsung have engaged in a marketing struggle, both rolling out installment plans to encourage Indian buyers of rival smartphones.

The iPhone maker also announced a cash-back deal when Indian consumers use American Express to purchase an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 before June 10, according to a Monday report… Read More

 

Apple missing some 2.8 billion potential iPhone customers due to carrier demands

By Ed Sutherland on May 6, 2013

Much talk surrounding Apple has centered on a cooling consumer demand for its flagship product, the iPhone smartphone. However, it may be time to shift the narrative to feet-dragging by a number of global operators that could hold the key to as many as 2.8 billion iPhone customers, according to a Monday report.

Instead of a slowdown in demand, a Monday report by Bloomberg suggests the larger problem is vastly limited access to customers. Two numbers go far to tell the story: 240 and 800. While Apple has 240 carrier agreements throughout the world, rival Samsung has inked deals with virtually every of the 800 wireless providers. Indeed, Apple is lacking agreements to boost sales of the iPhone in some of the most-populated regions, including China, Japan, India and Russia… Read More

 

Apple vs Samsung price war in India

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 17, 2013

In another era, Apple and Samsung would be competing gasoline retailers, locked in a war to entice more automobiles to the pump. Update the picture to the 21st century, replace gas with smartphones and you have the modern-day equivalent of a price war playing out in India, according to a Wednesday report.

Android-based Samsung smartphones initially had the majority of the India market to itself. However, now Apple is shaking things up by offering discounts on its iPhone 4 – a move fueling the company’s challenge of rival Samsung.

The South Korean company has responded with discounts on its Galaxy family of products – on top of the current payment plan. Both companies are jockeying to control a market full of potential smartphone buyers… Read More

 

iPhone 4 discount triples India sales in under a week

By Ed Sutherland on Apr 12, 2013

More positive feedback on Apple’s efforts to reshape practices in the face of emerging markets. Sales of the iPhone 4 in India tripled in only five days, following a trade-in program. The program is viewed by some as a “disguised discount” but the results are obvious for Apple and its plans to compete in a nation where smartphone sales are just taking off.

Although India does not have a subsidy program to soften the blow of a full-priced iPhone, Apple has found a way to reduce the sticker shock by sharing the handset’s cost with a growing network of India’s retailers… Read More

 

Apple to triple retail presence in India by 2015, own stores still improbable

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 26, 2013

After realizing India’s potential, Apple is now acting to catch up with rival Samsung. The latest sign of Apple’s new-found interest: a Tuesday report claiming the iPhone maker plans to open 200 exclusive stores in the country, tripling the number of locations now available to India’s mobile consumers.

The push into retailing for Apple reportedly includes importing suppliers to help local franchisers adopt the iconic sleek glass design of other locations selling iPhones, iPads and other devices from the Cupertino firm. Apple’s retail efforts follow a turn-around in iPhone sales marked by direct-to-consumer sales and other marketing adjustments… Read More

 

Apple trailed 2012 tablet shipments in India – that is, if you counted phablets

By Ed Sutherland on Mar 8, 2013

Many observers view India as the next China. There is huge potential waiting for the smart device player able to offer India’s mobile consumers a low-cost, prepaid product. In just the latest example of analysts scrambling for data to define the market, new research coming from India suggests an explosion of tablet sales – until you dig into the details.

According to India-based CyberMedia Research, tablet shipments in the world’s second largest market rose to 3.11 million units by the end of 2012. Demand was particularly on fire during the last two quarters with around 1 million tablets shipping. Although Apple was reported in third-place behind Samsung and an Indian manufacturer, there’s a question of whether researchers counted tablets or a cross category of smartphones nicknamed ‘phablets’… Read More

 

Analyst warns Apple could be headed for rough two years

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 28, 2013

If you thought Apple had already been through a rough period, just wait. That’s the message from one Wall Street analyst who predicts the iPhone maker is “facing a very rough two-year period.”

Although Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook spent Wednesday defending his company’s horde of cash, those concerns could evaporate as Apple spends billions to prop up slowing iPhone sales and works to improve demand in emerging markets.

Apple could see capital expenditures double, according to Jeffries’ analyst Peter Misek, forecasting billions in payments for supplier upgrades, emerging-market payment plans and expensive technology updates all while iPhone sales plunge… Read More

 

Apple’s iPhone push in India: wider distribution, new marketing and installment plans

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 25, 2013

After describing India as having less potential than China, Apple is increasing efforts to compete in the world’s second-largest cellphone market. The iPhone maker is now hoping installment payments, coupled with increased marketing can turn single-digit market penetration into a weapon against low-cost Androids.

In full-page ads in the Times of India, Apple calls its unsubsidized $840 iPhone 5 “your dream phone” available for a $93 first payment. Why the big push? The nation’s smartphone market is expected to grow five-fold by 2016, setting the stage for the next battle between Apple and Google’s free mobile software… Read More

 

Facebook launches free or discounted Messenger access in 14 countries

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 25, 2013

Facebook on Sunday announced a new promotion that will allow users of Messenger for iOS and Android to exchange instant messages for free or at heavily discounted data rates in select international markets. Partnering with more than eighteen operators in fourteen international markets, the social networking giant said Facebook for Every Phone, basically a bare-bone service for feature phones that is now optimized for chat, is also included in this promotion.

The move arrives just after the company flipped the switch on the in-app VoIP calling feature in its mobile client for iOS and Android devices. Facebook first rolled out VoIP calling in Canada earlier this year, and some parts of the US, via the Messenger app… Read More

 

Apple TV launches in India

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 19, 2013

Apple’s handset sales in India have quadrupled and now the company has expanded its presence in the 1.25 billion people market by launching its third-generation Apple TV for Rs. 7,900, or about $150. The set-top box costs $99 in the United States, but Apple’s products typically command a premium in BRIC countries due to high import taxes and VAT.

After launching the iPhone 5 in India in November 2012, and as a prelude to today’s Apple TV launch, Apple in December 2012 officially launched the iTunes Store in 56 new countries, including India… Read More

 

How Apple sales are hitting a language barrier

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 10, 2013

Do you need another metric to follow in the race between Apple and Android? How about language?

That’s the focus of a new report suggesting Apple’s iPhone is predominantly focused on English-speaking nations while Android-powered Samsung smartphones are popular in Asia, Africa and South America, where English-speaking consumers are a minority.

After sifting through the Twitter accounts of both Apple and Samsung, a Saudi Arabian researcher at King Saud University (KSU) found 75 percent of Apple’s followers spoke English, while about 35 percent of Samsung’s online fans were non-English speakers… Read More

 

iPhone sales quadruple in India, but gap remains

By Ed Sutherland on Feb 8, 2013

When it comes to Apple’s push to enter emerging markets like China, India’s huge pool of consumers has largely been overlooked. Indeed, one of that country’s leading newspapers charged Apple has “ignored” India, until recently.

From adopting the Indian rupee in the App Store to including local musicians in iTunes, the company has increased sales by up to 400 percent in four months. However, Apple still faces a large gap: only ten percent of India’s residents own a smartphone and rival Samsung is the clear leader, researchers say… Read More

 

Apple drops to sixth in Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

By Ed Sutherland on Nov 19, 2012

Apple’s environmental credentials lost some of their luster in the eyes of watchdog group Greenpeace. The company ranked #6 among consumer electronics firms, a slip in stature largely blamed on lack of transparency. While ranking high in product’s energy efficiency, the gadget maker from California lost points for not providing information on its greenhouse gas emissions that could be externally verified. Apple also received poor marks for not setting a target for lower emissions, the group announced Monday… Read More

 

iPhone 5 launching in India and other countries on November 2

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 29, 2012

Echoing an earlier prediction by BGR India, The Economic Times has it on good authority that Apple is ready to launch the iPhone 5 in the 1.24 billion people market of India this coming Friday, November 2. The App Store now accepts local currency and everything is seemingly ready for the launch as Apple works to achieve its self-imposed goal of bringing the iPhone 5 to a hundred countries across 240 carriers by year’s end. According to web reports, come November 2 the iPhone 5 will also land on store shelves in Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Romania and Thailand and is also expected to hit the Dominican Republic and Mexico… Read More

 

A $40 Android tablet wants to conquer schools in India

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 19, 2012

Yesterday, I wrote about Apple’s laughable iPhone market share in India that, according to IDC, was only 1.2 percent of all handset sales during the second quarter of this year, half the level a year earlier. It’s hard to justify a $800+ phone in a country where folks make an average of $200 a month, if they’re lucky. Meanwhile, cheap Android handsets have taken India by storm and now enjoy a commanding 50+ percent market share.

Though it remains to be seen if Apple’s inexpensive smaller iPad fits the big picture in the 1.24 billion people country, a new report out today by The New York Times makes the case for a sub-$50 Android tablet specifically made for students in India… Read More

 

Apple changes sales tactics as the iPhone’s share in India plummets to new lows

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 18, 2012

I’ve previously written about Apple’s woes in India, where the company was forced to re-price the iPhone 3GS because cheap Android handsets took the market by storm. It’s really the same problem plaguing Apple in any other country, only it’s way more pronounced in India, a 1.24 billion people market that buys 220 million handsets per year.

India is also home to the largest concentration of people living below the World Bank’s international poverty line of $1.25 per day. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Apple’s exorbitant pricing model in India couldn’t fly with the vast majority of would-be buyers who simply cannot afford an iPhone at Apple’s terms of business… Read More

 

The iPhone 5 reportedly hits India on Friday, October 26

By Christian Zibreg on Oct 9, 2012

The iPhone 5 hit the United States, Canada and seven international markets on September 21 and a week later rolled out in 22 new countries. Notable absent was India, a 1.24 billion people market. According to a new report, Indians will be able to get their hands on the sought-after smartphone on Friday, October 26… Read More

 

Apple targets Android cheapos, re-prices iPhone 3GS below $200 unsubsidized

By Christian Zibreg on Jul 20, 2012

In case you’ve been wondering, the three-year old iPhone 3GS still has life left in it and should live on through the release of the next iPhone. Matter of fact, the handset has just been slashed on India’s seventh-largest Aircel network to just Rs 9,999, which works out to approximately $180 with an advanced commitment of ~$55 for a year, for a total upfront cost of $235 for an unsubsidized device.

Apple of course recently began offering the iPhone 4/4S through a bunch of regional U.S. carriers, most notably Cricket and Virgin Mobile, on a pre-paid basis with month-to-month plans. But with iOS 6 coming this fall to the iPhone 3GS, Apple’s entry-level iPhone is now working its way down to the low-end of the market dominated by Android cheapos… Read More

 

Apple Looking to Expand its Retail Stores to India

By Guest Author on Jan 20, 2012

Last year, Apple significantly increased its international retail presence by opening over thirty new stores in the fourth quarter alone. As of January 2012, the Cupertino-based company operates over 360 retail stores in twelve different countries.

And it doesn’t look like Apple intends on slowing down anytime soon, as the iPhone maker looks to round off a baker’s dozen by expanding its retail chain to a thirteenth country: India… Read More