Things Are Going From Bad To Worse For Apple In India (qz.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: Despite its increased focus on India, Apple is all set to see a slower year-on-year growth in iPhone sales in the country in 2018. "iPhone India sales were weak in the first half of 2018, and even if they show a big jump in the traditionally strong second half, Apple will still fall short of last year," Neil Shah, research director at market analytics firm Counterpoint Research, told Bloomberg. Apple has been struggling in India for some time now. In the year ended March 2017, its revenue growth fell to 17%, compared to 53% a year ago. This six-year-low growth was mainly due to a high base and a drop in the average selling price of each phone. Apple's biggest struggle in India has been its high price points. iPhones cost between Rs35,000 ($500) and Rs80,000 ($1,100) in India, compared to the average smartphone price of $157 in the country.

Amid all this, the company is seeing a massive churn in its India leadership. Last December, India head Sanjay Kaul quit after a six-year stint. The company has now reportedly lost three more of its top executives, Bloomberg reported on July 15: national sales and distribution chief, Rahul Jain; head of commercial channels Jayant Gupta, and head of telecom carrier sales, Manish Sharma. The company is also overhauling its India sales team, Bloomberg said, quoting unidentified sources.

Comments

I bet if they make a low end phone

[cdsparrow]

They may have a bit better chance of penetrating a lower income market... Iphones are fairly expensive in a country like the US, completely stupid expensive for a country like India.

Re:I bet if they make a low end phone

[110010001000]

Yeah, they only made 17% more than they did a year ago in India. Is everyone insane? 17% growth is good.

The problem is tech support

[Applehu Akbar]

When Indians have a problem with their iDevices, they get shunted to a Bay Area call center whose people speak in thick California accents and who insist on trying multiple approaches based on their training, rather than following comfortable scripts in the manner that local people are used to.

Gee, what can go wrong.

[devslash0]

You're selling one of the most ridiculously priced, 1st world phone in a 3rd world country. Gee, what can go wrong?

In all likelihood your execs are quitting because once employed they come to a realisation of how detached from reality your sales targets are.

Re:What did they expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

India has some of the poorest people. They also have a middle class that is larger than the entire US population.

Re: A bit off topic!

[David_Hart]

And calling someone a pedophile is not "human emotion" and "frustration". It is disgusting behavior/quote> That depends entirely on why Musk blurted that out, which we'll likely never know... but rest assured he had a reason (bear in mind that extremely influential people are often extremely connected people... and in this day and age, there fewer and fewer secrets).

No, just no... Unless Musk provides proof of what he said is true, it's slander and disgusting. Assuming that Musk knows more than he is saying is pure speculation and being an apologist for someone who is acting like a bully.

Re:What did they expect?

[alok_naik]

Except for some college-going students, I don't think I've ever seen any Indian willing to go stand in a line overnight to buy an Apple product. I don't think most of us worship brands (many worship personalities, but that's a different story).

To most people:

• - A phone is a phone.
• - What does a ridiculously expensive Apple phone do that my affordable Samsung won't do?
• - My phone still works, why would I buy a new one?