India

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

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 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...

Facebook launches free or discounted Messenger access in 14 countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 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...

Apple TV launches in India

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 4, 2016

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...

How Apple sales are hitting a language barrier

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

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...

iPhone sales quadruple in India, but gap remains

Ed Sutherland ∙ February 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...

Apple drops to sixth in Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

Ed Sutherland ∙ November 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...

iPhone 5 launching in India and other countries on November 2

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

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...

A $40 Android tablet wants to conquer schools in India

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

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...

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

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

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...

The iPhone 5 reportedly hits India on Friday, October 26

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 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...

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

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

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...

Apple Looking to Expand its Retail Stores to India

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated June 20, 2014

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...