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Apple Not Allowed To Open Stores In India (reuters.com)
ffkom writes: Reuters reports: "India has said Apple Inc must meet a rule obliging foreign retailers to sell at least 30 percent locally-sourced goods if it wishes to open stores in the country, a senior government official told Reuters. A change in legislation last year exempted foreign retailers selling high-tech goods from the rule, which states 30 percent of the value of goods sold in the store should be made in India. However, Apple's products were not considered to be in this category, said the official, who has direct knowledge of the matter." Now just imagine what Apple stores in the U.S. would look like if 30% of their offerings had to be made in the US... "They did ask for a waiver but didn't provide any material on record to justify it. The decision was taken only after a thorough examination of their application," the source said. Apple planned to open at least three stores in India by the end of 2017. Separate sources said Apple talked with the Indian government about a relaxation of the rule before it filed an application to open stores in the country in January. In a report from The Wall Street Journal (Warning: source may be paywalled), one of India's government officials said, "We are sticking to the old policy. We want local sourcing for job creation. You can't have a situation where people view India only as a market. Let them start doing some manufacturing here." Currently, Apple sells its products "through a network of Indian-owned distribution companies and retailers."
http://9to5mac.com/2016/05/09/foxconn-india-iphone-manufacturing/
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
I already have seen the comments below, crying mordio about how that hurts the indian economics. ... I see no difference in that law to the american 'cars can only be sold by dealers' and other 'stupid' laws.
Sorry guys, no idea
Can't be so hard for Apple to sell Displays and Hard-Drives etc. from Indian origin or simply add an entertainment section and sell Bollywood DVDs. Also as Apple usually gives discounts to Students, it would surely be a lever to point that out to the local government.
However, it is shortsighted because in my (limited) experience Apple Stores are stores with an incredible huge staffing. You never wait in a line at a cashier, or wait for a personal answering questions. Usually the next closest staff person comes and helps you with questions and bills you right away. You just give him the credit card, he puts it into a small device or makes a photo with his iPhone. If you already are a customer, nothing more is to be done (iTunes or Apple), he asks if you want a bill, if yes, via post or eMail, and thats it.
You only need to go to a cashier if you want to pay cash or with special European cards (EC, Maestro etc.)
You basically go to a shelf, take your stuff and leave.
The Apple Shop in Paris at the Lovre easily has over 50 sales staff. And that means with 16 business hours something like 100 + a bit of management etc.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
So who is allowed to sell electronics in India? Do Korean, Japanese and Chinese electronics companies have facilities in India? Are there many locally made cell phones or TVs? Are there wafer fab lines? How does this work exactly? Has this problem occurred for other international manufacturers?
Why is Snark Required?
Depends on the laptop. If I just wanted size and sleekness, yes, Apple wins. However, I can go to a PC vendor, buy a laptop that might be several millimeters thicker than a MBP... but it will have a replaceable battery, replaceable RAM, a M.2 SSD that is easily replaced, perhaps a bay for a SATA drive, and some useful ports. eSATA, multiple USB 3 ports, a docking station, built in NIC, and other items which are needed for day to day use outside a coffee shop.
Yes, there is also the OS question.
Lets be real here. Apple has resigned to being a toymaker. Their flagship workstation requires a TB-2 breakout box if one wants more drive capacity, while a Dell Precision will be able to serve up desktop RAID in a heartbeat. I can also add a HBA or 10gigE NIC to the Dell if I want to have the box attached to a SAN. The Mac Pro is at best a curiosity and status symbol with a four year old video card (the Precision's video? Easily upgraded.)
tl;dr, Apple needs to rethink their Mac line, or spin it off to a company that does that hardware, so Apple can focus on making toys. When a flagship machine is going on three years without a refresh, with four year old technology, it almost is shameful to charge as much as Apple does for it.