India still not Apple of Tim Cook’s eye?

Apple’s new iPhones will be available in India at the same time as in the US and other major markets. Yet, Apple seems to have ignored India in some other areas, which could indicate its market priorities.

Before launching the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and the X, Apple CEO Tim Cook showcased two of the company’s important products — the Apple Watch and the Apple TV 4K. While the company won’t be launching the cellular version of the Apple Watch in India, the Apple TV 4K is also expected to be launched in the country only by next year.

This is in contrast with how Cook has been trying to portray India as a top priority market for Apple.

In an interview with BusinessLine last month, he called India one of the entertainment capitals of the world and said entertainment is one focus area for Apple’s India strategy. That, however, didn’t come out in the 4K launch.

While Apple highlighted partnerships with several local networks in countries where it will be offering 4K initially, Bollywood or Indian studios were clearly missing.

“If they were serious about the Indian market, they would’ve worked with Bollywood production houses for 4K content in India. India is clearly not a priority market for Apple,” said Sanchit Gogia, CEO at Greyhound Research.

Gogia pointed out that unlike other major markets, Apple still isn’t clear about opening its retail stores in India. The company has been using its stores as experience and activity zones, building communities of artists and students around its products.

The harsh reality is that the biggest selling devices for Apple in India are old and outdated products. “The iPhone 5s has the highest installed base in India,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Principal Analyst, Telecom and ESDM, at CyberMedia Research.

Therefore, in order to really grow in India, Apple needs to target its base of these iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 users and convince them to upgrade to iPhone 8 or X.

“In the ₹50,000 plus segment, Samsung still holds about half the marketshare in India, with the remaining half with Apple,” Kawoosa said.

According to Kawoosa, iPhone 8 could still outsell iPhone 7 in India, given the rise in 4G adoption here, which helps in improved iPhone experience.

“Apple is able to build marketshare in India because there is still a huge latent aspirational demand for the brand in India.

“This is way Apple is still able to sell four generations of iPhones in India,” said Jayanth Kolla, Partner at Convergence Catalyst.

“However, if Apple were really serious about India, it would have looked at an affordable device in the ₹30,000-35,000 price range, instead of selling older devices at a discount.”

Cook has acknowledged that India has one of the largest iOS developer ecosystem in the world with over 7.5 lakh iOS developer ecosystem-related jobs.

However, to enable this ecosystem to flourish, Apple needs to make all its devices available in India and work with these developers to develop localised content.

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