Apple has partnered with e-commerce giant Flipkart to sell the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in India, where the phones are expected to launch on October 7 (via Mashable).
The online retail partnership means Flipkart will source iPhones directly from Apple instead of from third-party suppliers, which it has relied on in the past. The deal will ensure Flipkart earns a higher margin on every sale, but likely fewer discounts for customers.
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Apple has also struck a deal with Indian e-commerce company Infibeam to directly sell its iPhones, but the partnership with Flipkart includes plans to sell iPads and Macs as well.
Apple does not yet have a license to sell products directly to consumers in India, which has led to buyers going through third-party retail stores to get hold of the company's flagship phones. Traditionally, Flipkart has also used third parties to sell Apple products through its online marketplace, often with heavy discounts in order to compete with offerings from rival e-commerce giants like Amazon India and Paytm.
Despite the potential loss of some customers looking for discounted smartphones, the new partnership guarantees Flipkart a robust supply chain and better marketing support from Apple. It should also help Apple retain more control over pricing, thereby avoiding a price war in India similar to the one that took place in 2015.
Last year, Amazon India, Paytm, Flipkart, and Snapdeal offered heavily discounted iPhones to buyers, with the iPhone 6s base model, which is officially priced at Rs 63,000 ($945), being sold for as low as Rs 45,000 ($675) shortly after release.
The iPhone 7 will retail at Rs 60,000 ($900), with the base iPhone 7 Plus model costing Rs 72,000 ($1,080).
Top Rated Comments
Gonna be a tough sell in India to begin with due to higher costs and higher pricing in general for Apple products in India, but with the lowered costs of all competitor devices added to the equation as well....... who knows.
Wow you took my comment very seriously. I buy the iPhone knowing that it is expensive but I make sure it lasts me 3 years at least. My 5 lasted more than 3 years and before that I had a 3GS. I also understand that there are import duties in India and other countries which raise the cost of the device and also the currency exchange. I was just pointing out that in a developing nation these costs are quite outrageous (yet you see lot of folks with iPhones). Let me entertain you with a common joke in India.While not really selling versus a "true competitor" in terms of high/low quality smartphones ($1,000 phone versus a cheap sub $100 phone possibly), and consumers are definitely NOT getting similar quality, reliability, features, benefits, etc., to many people in different parts of the world these things are not needed; only requirements being a "simple mobile communicator, able to make phone calls, and find something online/play music occasionally when need be" for a reasonable amount of time, in a small enough form factor that is able to be taken with them everywhere...... in other words, what used to pass as Apple.
Don't get me wrong, "I love me some Apple." I just don't know how well Apple is going to fair in India in this current financial climate.
Best of luck, however, Apple; if anyone can pull this off successfully it is YOU!
USVet
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Well to be fair mate, no one is "making you buy" an iPhone so you do not "have to pay" Apple anything; the reality is that the decision to buy Apple kit is YOUR decision alone. As such, the price should be included in that decision before you buy. If you have an issue with price then there are many, many alternatives to purchase that are not priced as highly as Apple.
I don't want to be that guy, but just saying. And prices are HIGH everywhere friend. I got myself and the wife new 7's and each was over a grand ($1,100+ and $1,000+) and that is in the US. Price is relative and correlated with a lot of variables and factors, but at the end of the day, Apple kit is accepted as being priced HIGHER than most competing products in the same product segment in almost EVERY country in the world. Personally I think the prices they charge are ridiculously high and even more so in countries like you mentioned where prices are higher. That being said, I also know well in advance how much it will cost me personally to buy and own Apple kit when it comes out so there are no surprises to me regarding the costs. In addition, priced high or not, I happily make Apple product purchases all the time based on my own perception of the perceived value I receive relative to the true product cost that is acceptable in my mind with regard to the product I am receiving in exchange for my financial outlay. I have no problems buying my Apple products, and certainly will not do so then later complain later about how much it cost me to get the items I wanted to buy knowing that when I chose that specific Apple product I did so instead of purchasing many, other less-priced products.
Several countries "may have to pay more" for Apple kit, due to "national monetary matters, local currency valuation, inflation/deflation of the dollar, etc." sure, but NONE of that is Apples doing or fault. THAT is the fault of your own government and every other country with varying financial, economic, and market conditions, NOT Apple executives just randomly sitting around saying, "hey you know what, I know how we can make more money; for the iPhone 7 launch, lets just charge customers in Australia double what we charge everyone else in the world this time around, like we did in England with the 6S launch and see how that increases our profit this quarter" lol.
[Off morning rant now]
Time will tell if this helps/hurts India/Apple. Obviously it seems if the savings are removed, it will not be good for India or Apple; many consumers will not be able to locally afford, or be unwilling to spend such a large amount financially, for a portable consumer electronic mobile phone. This will limit Apples "brand power to the masses" appeal while keeping the iPhone limited to the "Jone's" neighborhood, as well as decrease their ability to grow in the local region. So I think it's a bad overall situation for both India/Apple that the price reduction has been removed. It will be interesting to see why it has been removed, at whose doing, and if any plans exist for a quasi reduction in cost again the future.
USVet
"If you fall down with your iPhone 6s/7 is in your pocket and you hear a crack, you just pray that let it be my leg".
Where are the Australians and Europeans complaining about prices in their countries. Look at what we have to pay for iPhones. :)
Wow you took my comment very seriously. I buy the iPhone knowing that it is expensive but I make sure it lasts me 3 years at least. My 5 lasted more than 3 years and before that I had a 3GS. I also understand that there are import duties in India and other countries which raise the cost of the device and also the currency exchange. I was just pointing out that in a developing nation these costs are quite outrageous (yet you see lot of folks with iPhones). Let me entertain you with a common joke in India.
Funny thing is, I didn't realize how seriously my reply was until after it posted lol. It kind of took on a life of its own half through the post. Guess my brain woke up today ready to work ;)"If you fall down with your iPhone 6s/7 is in your pocket and you hear a crack, you just pray that let it be my leg".
Also, it's not just India where you see iPhones very popular in undeveloped areas. Even in the poorest parts of the US, in relative terms to other parts of the US and not compared to other undeveloped parts of the world, where there is little economic vitality, low income housing, relatively poor wages, high unemployment, crime, and over population, with limited civic functions and deteriorating social services (fire, police, education, etc.), and barely enough food to feed the population, there are TONS of people with iPhones. Almost shockingly considering the high cost of the devices.
One of my felllow colleagues is a professor in the IT security department from India and we have a laugh all the time over his stories and antics from his "homeland" so that joke was spot on and very humorous in a mildly amusing true kind of way lol.
For what it's worth, I don't about you, but when I buy my new iPhones I always buy the biggest phone with the most memory under the pretense of future planned profit from a later selling date. However, to this day, I have never once ever sold an old iPhone lol. In my mind I buy them to last but always give in and buy a new one just the next year under the guise of "needing the new feature set to increase efficiency in my workflow" when all along I think I just like new shiny things lol.
But in the end, no matter who you are, or where you are from, a broken iPhone hurts; more some than others, and more so financially than for others, but it still hurts lol.
Thanks for the laugh friend.
USVet
A thousand dollar smartphone is pretty breathtaking here in the USA. A thousand dollar smartphone in India is truly a gadget for the very very rich.
Really? Almost all Americans buy it on contract where they pay $20-$60 dollar a month.