Neil Hughes
Apple has asked the Indian government for a number of exemptions following the start of production of iPhones within the country, and officials signaled on Thursday that they are weighing the requests.
Apple wants the ability to build its own retail stores in India, but current laws require the company to source at least 30 percent of its products in India. Apple began assembling iPhone SE units in the country in May to appease the government, though initial production has been small.
On Thursday, Ramesh Abhishek, of India's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, said his country is considering the exemptions sought by Apple, according to Reuters. Retail locations are of particular interest to the company, which currently relies on a network of resellers in India.
Beyond stores, Apple also seeks "a range of tax and policy changes" that would help the company continue to expand local assembly of iPhones.
In August, the company indicated that it needs the government to extend tax breaks to suppliers if the country wants them to begin production within its borders. The company also reduced pricing on its products in July in response to sales tax reforms enacted by the local government.
Following a retail expansion and sales explosion in China, India has become an area of particular interest for Apple and its chief executive, Tim Cook.
To bolster those efforts, Apple opened an App Accelerator in India in March, designed to help locals learn to code for iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. The accelerator hosts labs and presentations on elements like interface design, working with frameworks, and coding in Swift.
Christine McKee
Sponsored Content
Wesley Hilliard
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
15 Comments
All good news.
And, given all the naysaying, I don't think the potential has been fully priced in yet.
What has the resolution been on the dispute about the "Do Not Disturb" software? I hope Apple didn't cave in.
I'm taking an educated guess, and it appears hardly any consumer in India will buy an iPhone. I believe Apple has deliberately priced itself out of that market, so is there really any point of Apple establishing a retail presence in India. 99% of Indian consumers are going to buy Android smartphones and Google is making sure their hardware partners are selling extremely inexpensive smartphones to Indian consumers to further kneecap Apple. I would think Apple is just wasting good time and effort for consumers who aren't going to be buying Apple products. To me, that's like Porsche opening up car dealerships in a country where people have no means to buy their cars. The Indian government is trying to persuade Apple to build factories and provide jobs for people who don't have the slightest intention of buying iPhones.
Do you know what the iPhone market share percentage is in India? Something like a paltry 2% and falling. That's how much the India consumer is interested in iPhones. Google is laughing hard and Tim Cook seems oblivious to the fact. Apple has a near-zero chance of gaining market share in India or anywhere else. Android dominates the entire global smartphone market and Apple refuses to do anything about it. Game over.
Prices in India are 40% above those in USA. The iPhone 8 (Regular) itself is priced $980 while the Americans themselves are complaining the $999 price that too for iPhone X. If Americans find this expensive, why a developing country like India will pay ~$1000s including accessories just for an iPhone 8? That's not even the Plus model while Samsung Galaxys avail much economically. Such price is not understandable when products are made, assembled & packaged in China and only shipped to America. There is no reason, Dollar-currency makes a difference. If the products are priced just same, the sales figure will skyrocket but not like this and blame the economic condition of any country.
Is this a joke? Even Android fanboys DO NOT take DXO Mark scores seriously and you took it seriously? And what were you doing in the last 1 year, when the 1st Gen Pixel phones beat iPhone 7 generation last year in the same DXO Mark scores?