Apple demands that it have no big tech competitors near its Mumbai store

Apple BKC in Mumbai

Apple's lease for its Apple BKC store in Mumbai reportedly includes a specific list of 22 competing brands that it will not allow to have any advertising or retail locations nearby.

India's The Economic Times is reporting that Apple has stipulated a no-go exclusive area around its new store in the Reliance Jio World Drive Mall. It's curiously similar to a report about Apple's new office space in Bengaluru, where the owners have agreed to bar 12 rivals including Microsoft and Netflix.

In the new deal, the lease agreement for the Apple BKC store reportedly specifies that the named rivals not be allowed to have stores in the mall, nor have advertising displayed. Of the specified competitors, 21 of the reported 22 specified firms have been revealed.

Amazon
Bose
Dell
Devialet
Facebook
Foxconn
Garmin
Google
Hitachi
HP
HTC
IBM
Intel
Lenovo
LG
Microsoft
Next
Panasonic
Sony
Toshiba
Twitter

Also, unless one of them is the so-far unreported 22nd competing brand listed, there are some curious exceptions. Most significantly, there is no Samsung on the list, nor Spotify — but there is Apple's major iPhone manufacturer, Foxconn.

Apple's similar list around its new Bengaluru office space does list both Samsung and Spotify. But it only lists 11 competitors, of which only three are on the store's apparent list.

Those are Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet, Google's owner. Other firms barred from around the office but not on the store's list include Xiaomi, Huawei, Baidu, and Netflix.

According to The Economic Times, Apple's lease on the store is for 11 years. Apple is reported to initially be paying around $51,300 per month, plus 2% revenue share for the next 26 months, rising to 2.5% thereafter.

That rental gets Apple a minimum of 20,800 square feet of space. The lease includes a 15% rent escalation every three years, which is the same arrangement Apple has with the owner of its new Bengaluru office space.