Apple iPhone: what about us?
The iPhone is a ‘beautiful breakthrough computer’, the Wall Street Journal has declared. Folks are queuing up for it already, in New York. The company has no plans to launch the iPhone in Europe or Asia anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean we won’t get our grubby fingers on it…
DNA reports: According to dealers in Mumbai’s Heera Panna shopping centre, the city’s largest wholesaler in mobile handsets and iPods - the grey market has already placed orders for around 30-40 iPhones. The plans are to hawk it at prices that are Rs 7000-8000 more than the US base price of $500 (ie Rs 20,000).
Yes, the phone is currently rigged out to work with a single operator - AT & T - but never fear.
As Business Standard reports: Grey market operators say they can ‘unlock’ the phone for just Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 so that it can be used on any network in India. “Unlocking the iPhone isn’t tough,” said a dealer in central Delhi.
Cool, isn’t it? But you have to ask, why won’t Apple just go ahead and sell the phone officially? In India, and anywhere else in the world where there’s a hunger for it??
Phir wahi bhool?
Fact is, India has never been a priority market for Apple. In the old days, ok, it did not matter.
The computer I worked on at my first job was a Mac. In the early 90s that was the ONLY computer any self respecting advertising agency or publishing house used for design work.
Today, there are still a few Mac fanatics - but very few. We embraced the more plebian but affordable PC, learnt to live with system errors and the Mac became a forgotten first crush.
Now, Macs are available at better prices but few consider buying them . There is just not enough exposure or marketing.
Then there’s the iPod. In India, it sells mainly through the grey market. Official Apple resellers are few and far between and anyways, the pricing is a complete turn off. Again Apple itself did little to market the iPod. Khareedna hai to khareedo - aapki marzi.
The result is, the iPod is popular but other brands like Creative - and even generic mp3 players - have caught on too. With Sony marketing its Walkman phones and Nokia its ‘Music Phones’ a lot of young people don’t even think they need an iPod.
A couple of weeks ago, for the first time, I noticed an ad from Apple in the Bombay Times. “If it ain’t iPod, it ain’t music’ or some such headline and I thought,”Um… isn’t this too little, too late?”
The moral of the story is that Apple is a guru at producing these amazing products. But then it would rather let them sell without much effort, especially overseas.
However we now have a global gizmo monster, hungry for the goods. India is Nokia’s third largest market in terms of net sales. Of course, the monochrome and low-end colour handset segment (below Rs 3000) account for over 60% of the market.
But there is demand for high end phones in a country with 178 million mobile phone users. And it’s not just pricing that’s a deterrent when it comes to upgrades.
Many of us have checked out the N series but found it to be lacking somewhere. The market for a really beautiful and user friendly smartphone is still wide open. The iPhone could be the answer but if Apple chooses to ignore us, we may well embrace the clones which are sure to follow.
Why make the same mistake, once again?
June 28th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Reshmi,
May be that is what is kool about Apple. They don’t market their products directly. What happens with them is pure and simple….mouth to mouth, viral marketing, conversations in the web etc etc…Otherwise how did Ipod become such a huge hit. Even in the Uk it is not that much advertised. It is like a style statement. Well you wanna hear music you shoudl hear it only in an Ipod.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
I think we should stop aping the west and look at our eastern neighbors. Present the iphone to any self respecting korean or japanese and he will label you as primitive for giving such an ‘old’ model. An iphone ( sans Steve Jobs and the Apple brand) used to sell on their streets a couple of years ago. Design aside , the technology is too ‘old’ by south asian standards.
More on this here:
http://digg.com/apple/Japan_Yawning_at_iPhone
June 28th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Hi Rashmi ,
I just don’t understand Apple’s biz srategy! How can they ignore the fastest growing Mobile market? If launched in India, the I-phone would surely fly of the sheleves like hot cakes (Like anywhere else).
I watched the CNBC review and its more than encouraging. It looks so Cool!
Bye :)….Rahul
June 28th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
1. Apple will have its hands full without even crossing the borders of USA. The sales predicted for next 6 months are anywhere between 3 to 8 million units - sales of $1.5 Bn to $4 Bn.
2. Apple builds its own ecosystem - unlike Nokia and others. Need to change ipod battery? You have to send to Apple. The cost of setting up the infrastructure can be justified only if there are “enough” sales.
3. Apple didn’t push ipod too hard in India, because iTunes, their money spinner, will not be used in India. People in India are not going to purchase music/TV episodes/movies off iTunes (due to problems such as bandwidth, cost, etc.)
4. “We’ll leave you” threat doesn’t work with Apple because they know users crave for their products. There are some 84 million search results for “iphone” on google. No other consumer gadget can rival that kind of hype.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
Rashmi,
what is the market like for Blackberry’s in India?
June 29th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Its one of the collest phones that i have seen in a long while ! I am just itching to get my hands on it !
Apple has always thought different ! The iphone has tremendous user appeal
June 29th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Hey, it might be coming to India earlier than expected … See here
June 29th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I completely agree… the Market for a user-friendly and beautiful Smart Phone is “still wide open in India”.. There are a few Sony Ericsson Phones as well apart form Nokia.. but whre Nokia lacks in slow Firmware and poor sound quality in its .. SE lacks in poor battery back-up and their “Smart Phones” are really Phones ( / PDAs) for the Sophisticated Business users who would rather go in for a Blackberry..
Amit
http://talkingtails.blogspot.com
June 29th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Well, if Nokia 1100 is the hottest selling cake in the Indian market - why launch niche/costly phones like iPhone?
Going back to user adoption curve,Indian’s dont even fit into the top 3 portion of the curve.
-Ashish
pluGGd.in
June 30th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Hmmm, how about simply buying an openmoko phone in September? It isn’t an iphone, but the openmoko will work, and will let you load applications on it.
Apple is a high end electronic device maker. Apple will work for you if you are willing to live with what they think is best for you.
June 30th, 2007 at 12:09 am
Oh, Openmoko since I forgot to link it earlier.
June 30th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Apple didn’t even use much publicity for the iPhone in the US of A. Apart from *that* keynote in January and a couple of TV ads, the rest is all viral marketing.
That said, if Apple were to ignore India (and, by extension, Asia) it would be a huge boo-boo on their part. Indians would lap up the phone quicker than you can say Jack Robinson.
I agree with procrastinx when he says that the japanese and the Koreans have had models with lots of wow to it too, but then they’ve always been tech hogs and pass on the crumbs to the world. So bully to them.
Sure, the iPhone isn’t perfect but i’ll still leave no stone unturned to pick up one of them as soon as I can. Who the heck’s gonna wait for the official launch?
July 1st, 2007 at 6:21 am
I agree that apple need not advertise in India because where is the market, and people who say that the apple iPhone is going to be easy for them to unlock?..have they even seen the OS of that system. Guys it runs OS X which not one of those that can be cracked at one go..but still i have no clue about it…
Frankly about the iPhone the only thing that attracts me is the looks and nothing else.. I use a PDA with features like Wifi and an mp3 playe r i feel i have everything that is there in an iPhone that would be ever required. I can surf teh web even watch youtube! i have a 2MP camera and Google Maps to..which apple boasted of having inbuilt…(its free to download)… syncs amazingly well with a PC or even a Mac.
So for people like me i dont see anything new in the iPhone look at the LG Prada..its got a touchscreen too but doesnt have Wifi thats it… only thing that is missing.
Its the marketing strategy that is the only thing that is working…
Apple Macs are good, but not a necessary thing for all..but everyone wants to get one ..why to show off…?? ….
I work for a Telecommunication company over here in Australia and we already have TV, Internet 5 MP camera each and everything…
July 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Rashmi
Apple products are considered cool coz of the way they are marketed.
You wont ask, let say, Louis Vuitton for a discount, would you? They destroy (burn) their unsold goods but don’t discount them.
Apple is in the same league in technology.
July 1st, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Apple considers itself a premium brand, they expect people to pay 20-30% more for the same features or less. This works in the US because hype sells more there, not enough penny pinchers there.
For example, the San Disk Sansa MP3 player is everything you’d want in an iPod Nano and more: 8 GB, FM tuner, voice recording, direct USB transfer and play. The last three features are not in the Nano. San Disk is a reputed company too, they were makign flash drives before the iPod was around.
The Nano costs $249, the Sansa $200.
Guess which one sells more?
That wont work here. They will not sell enough to recover the money they invest in publicity and marketing. Which is where Apple’s money goes into. A web/wiki search for “Reality Distortion Field” will be interesting…
Most people who have iPods here have them because
A) They buy them abroad where it costs 60% of the Indian price (8 GB Nano - $249/Rs.10000 in the US v/s Rs. 16000 in India officially or 14000 in the grey) and
B) They do not know other alternatives.
It appears to be arrogance on Apple’s part, more than anything else that demands higher prices than their alternatives. Dont hold your breath on the iPhone. There are alternatives officially released in India - the Nokia N95 which has more features and the HTC Touch. Apple can go jump in the Arabian Sea for all I care.
July 1st, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Don’t see the reason for the hype on the Iphone. A phone without a keyboard in a voice and SMS driven market like India clearly won’t work - in fact I would not be surprised if it fizzles out in the US as well.
BTW, the USD 600 price in the US is after a subsidy from AT&T, and after AT&T has agreed to kickback some of the revenues to Apple. Which is why Apple has not tied up with any other service provider even in the US (you can’t get an Iphone if you are on T-Mobile)
If the product works in the US, one of our operators will tie up with them (a la Blackberry on Airtel) and launch the phone here
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:54 am
Folks
Apple and its biz practices are so cool that I wonder why no one is talking about it. The day of the I-Phone Launch I was at the Apple Store and what a sight it was.
Customers were greeted like kings and Queens. When someone after buying I phone used to head out of the store the apple staff would give them a big round of applause - as if the guy guy just hit Shoaib Akhtar out of the Green Park for a six.
Expereince them in thier store, at the Genius bar and you wud know what I am talking about…
I-Phone is a revoultion folks…
July 3rd, 2007 at 5:21 pm
i’ll buy an iphone for anyone who can break the locked phone.. impossible.. come on guys .. its apple.. not your run of the mill company.. heera panna.. come on… rubbish..
July 5th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
The Adv which you talked abt is from HCL …..
July 9th, 2007 at 7:57 am
I think there’s NOTHING revolutionary about the iPhone - it’s just a sexy touch screen interface! And theres nothing wrong with that.
But if Apple wanted to make a truly innovative and customisable device - why didn’t they support Java?!
Some of the coolest widgets out there are based on this technology.
My idea of innovation - i just downloaded a little app from http://www.yoober.com that lets me send as many text messages as i want without paying for SMS.
Yes, it’s a beta still, but at least someones trying to do something a bit different and useful!
But if you really can’t wait for the iPhone (and you have a Windows phone) then check out this link - it’s a must look. And best of all, its all free!
Skinning your phone to look like an iPhone
Hope this is useful
July 10th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
iPhone is definitely fancy!! and has gathered a lot of attention with its negative publicity by Zune phone maker(Microsoft). You should see the kind of videos floating on Youtube.
Now about India, How long would we import perpetual European modernity?
In every thing we like or we eye European shit even though if its some thing we dont even need and would not even use in the future.
Dekoh Photos
July 18th, 2007 at 5:56 am
I was in two minds to write back to your post. But more I read your post, more I felt complied to response back. Let me begin……
“The result is, the iPod is popular but other brands like Creative - and even generic mp3 players - have caught on too. With Sony marketing its Walkman phones and Nokia its ‘Music Phones’ a lot of young people don’t even think they need an iPod.â€
Can you explain on how are the Creative and other mp3 players catching with ipod? Regarding Sony Walkman, in July 16, 2007 San Francisco Chronicle states in the article below how Sony is in unaccustomed position of playing catch-up to Apple ipod.
The article - http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/07/05/BUG267F5521.DTL
I don’t where Nokia is in this picture of mp3 player with or without phone.
Second point – “The moral of the story is that Apple is a guru at producing these amazing products. But then it would rather let them sell without much effort, especially overseas.â€
I don’t have the latest number but last year number states - The Cupertino-based company told investors that it holds 40 percent marketshare in the U.K., 54 percent in Japan, 45 percent in Canada, and 58 percent in Australia.
Read the complete article here - http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/04/20/apples.music.business/
And finally – “As Business Standard reports: Grey market operators say they can ‘unlock’ the phone for just Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 so that it can be used on any network in India. “Unlocking the iPhone isn’t tough,” said a dealer in central Delhi.â€
Please don’t try to unlock iphone YET. It’s phone function will stop working. You still be able to use ipod, wi-fi and other functions of iphone. US hackers are trying hard to unlock iphone.
BTW – I have an iphone and I love it. No regrets. It is differently this week’s killer app. Stay tune with more to come from Apple.
Neil
July 28th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I think iphone is a game changing product because of the innovations apple managed pack in it. Browser is really good, websites render great. Incidently I am writing this on an iPhone.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
iPhone is a good first attempt from Apple. However, I don’t think it will be as hot as ‘the next product that changes the world’ Apple and some Wall Street analysts would have you believe. iPod is good because it does one thing and does it well - that is play music. My friend at aquabot in New Jersey have it. But still how well their touchscreen keyboard works remain to be confirmed. People like a tiny keyboard on the phone because those keys give feedback when the key is pressed. The price point of $499 and $599 with 2 year contract are a bit steep for a consumer. If Apple is aiming at corporate users of Blackberry, what is the chance companies buying an iPhone for employee? We have not seen a lot of companies buy MAC for employee yet.