Apple is to stop the sale of iPhone 4s & 5c in India. Apple views India as a country of extraordinary growth. It is a far cry from 2012 when its CEO Tim Cook said that that multi-layer retail distribution structure in India was a big impediment.
According to Economic Times, Apple made this decision to boost its profitability and average selling base which was in strain in India.
CEO Tim Cook revealed that Apple research showed that there is no need to release economic, less features packed Smartphone in countries like India where people are ready to pay a higher price to get the latest technology. It will help achieve Apple’s aim of getting higher profits and higher average selling price.
Apple was selling its iPhone 4S with a price tag of Rs. 12000 and iPhone 5C was available for Rs 20000. Now Apple will no longer sell smartphones in the sub-Rs 20000 range.
Apple’s founder Steve Jobs visited India in 1974 and took a trip to the Himalayas in search of spirituality even though he never publically acknowledged it. Indian consumers have loved Apple maybe not as much as the Chinese but as much as their wallets are allowed.
The same could not be said about Apple and Jobs had shut its only Indian office a software development and support centre in Bangalore, in 2006, just two months after it opened with much fanfare citing a lack of quality in the Indian Company’s operations. Apple never took Indian market very seriously and the present
The fortunes swayed dramatically in the last few months and today Apple cannot have enough of India. Last month the company even filed an application with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion to open Apple retail stores in India.
Evaluating Apple’s Q1 2016 earnings call last month, CEO Tim Cook noted that iPhone sales rose by 76 percent, and revenue grew 38 percent in India during the quarter. It is understandable for Apple’s heightened focus on the country.
