The iPhone X will hit the Indian stores on November 3. At the same time, reality will hit Apple India.The reality that Apple’s price points for India are just unforgivable. The 64 GB version of Apple X will launch at INR 89,000, and the top end model will cross the 1,00,000 mark. Think about that. For a country that still has poverty as the main economic concern, that’s a shitload of money to be spending on a smartphone.
No matter what logic Apple gives, we have to grant that India has been dealt a bad hand. In fact, Apple deals India a crappy hand every single time!
Apple products are almost universally launched at 20-30 premium over their Dollar-to-Ruppee conversion value.
It’s almost as if Apple is trying not to sell their products!
For a country that Apple has repeatedly gone on record as being a priority market, that’s some senseless pricing strategy by Apple India.
“The iPhone X is so expensive in India that customers can actually save money by buying a return flight to Hong Kong to pick it up there.”
Some really jobless person (or is it “committed”? I am confused!) took the time and actually did the research, and the consequent math to prove that point.
“India is a price sensitive market”
Tim Cook should have that on a plaque in his bedroom by now.
There’s only one thing that customers in India care about. Well, it’s at least the one thing that they care about more than anything else: THE PRICE!
More importantly, Apple is not in the smartphone business or the computers business. Apple is in the “ecosystem” business. As someone who’s converted from being a hardcore Android fan to Apple fan, I can assure you, there was only one thing that made me change my mind: The Apple Ecosystem.
And the iPhone serves as a very vital entry point into that ecosystem. The iPhone is how most people will come to be associated with the Apple Ecosystem, something that 99% of the population in India is unaware about; most iPhone users included.
It’s ridiculous then, that Apple is making the iPhone so very unattainable. It certainly looks like they don’t want us buying their products!
So will people still buy the iPhone X in India? Of course, they will! A shiny new iPhone attracts rich Indias faster than a rolled up joint attracts DU students. So yes, of course, the iPhone X will sell in India. Maybe it will even outsell the Note 8, but it will still make iPhone X a failure in our country.
How, you ask? How is it that even if Apple sells more iPhone Xs than Note 8s, it will still lose the battle?
Well, to you, my friend, I would like to introduce a strange concept this kid called Einstien invented. It’s known as relativity. You see, Samsung unveils more than 20 phones every year. So the Note 8 becomes only 5% of their arsenal. On the other hand, Apple releases only 2-3 phones a year. That makes the iPhone X a third of their potential.
Essentially, Apple using 33% of their resources to defeat just 5% of Samsung’s! You see where I am going with this?
I don’t think so. Becuase you’re not here for logic and reason and eloquent expositions. You are an Apple fanboy, and you’ll never hear anything against Apple. And you’ll line up for days in front of their stores just to buy an iPhone you can’t afford. Which was made that way by design, because, remember, Apple doesn’t want you to buy their products!
