Apple Bringing Online Store to India on September 23
Apple today announced that it plans to open its online store in India on Wednesday, September 23, providing customers located in India with a way to purchase iPhones, Macs, iPads, and more directly from Apple.

"We're proud to be expanding in India and want to do all we can to support our customers and their communities," said Deirdre O'Brien, Apple's senior vice president of Retail + People. "We know our users are relying on technology to stay connected, engage in learning, and tap into their creativity, and by bringing the Apple Store online to India, we are offering our customers the very best ofApple at this important time."
Apple's online store will also feature Apple Specialists able to help with ordering products and setting up new devices, with customers able to get help in English and Hindi.
With the store, Apple will introduce financing options and a trade-in program, along with EDU pricing for students. Starting in October, Apple will also host free online Today at Apple sessions led by local Creative Pros with a focus on photography and music.
Apple has long had a presence in India, which is an important market for the Cupertino company, but device sales have been done through third-party resellers because of restrictions imposed on foreign companies that require 30 percent of production to be done locally.
India in August 2019 relaxed the rules, providing a way for Apple to operate an online store in the country. Apple also intends to open up retail stores in the future, and there are already retail locations in the works.
Popular Stories
After announcing new Mac and HomePod models last week, Apple adjusted its trade-in values for select devices in the United States.
iPhone trade-in values decreased by up to $80, and most Android smartphones also went down. Mac trade-in values remained unchanged or increased by up to $40 depending on the model, while some Apple Watch models increased in value and others decreased. Trade-in...
Apple's next-generation iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are expected to be announced in September as usual. Already, rumors suggest the devices will have at least seven exclusive features not available on the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus.
An overview of the seven features rumored to be exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro models:A17 chip: iPhone 15 Pro models will be equipped with an A17...
While the new Mac mini with the M2 chip has a lower $599 starting price, the base model with 256GB of storage has slower SSD read and write speeds compared to the previous-generation model with the M1 chip and 256GB of storage.
A teardown of the new Mac mini shared by YouTube channel Brandon Geekabit reveals that the 256GB model is equipped with only a single 256GB storage chip, while the...
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 16.3 will be released to the public next week. The software update will be available for the iPhone 8 and newer and includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes.
Below, we've recapped bigger features in iOS 16.3, including support for physical security keys as a two-factor authentication option for Apple ID accounts, worldwide ...
The iPhone 15 will support Wi-Fi 6E, according to a research note shared this week by Barclays analysts Blayne Curtis and Tom O'Malley. The analysts did not specify whether the feature will be available on all models or limited to the Pro models.
Apple has added Wi-Fi 6E support to a handful of devices so far, including the latest 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook...
The new M2-series MacBook Pro and Mac mini models launched today, marking the debut of the first M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. We have the M2 Pro Mac mini on hand, and thought we'd take a look at the machine and do a series of benchmarks to see how it fits into Apple's lineup.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Base model Mac mini machines come with either an M2 or M2 Pro...
Apple today released tvOS 16.3, the third major point update to the tvOS 16 operating system that originally came out in September. Available for the Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD, tvOS 16.3 comes six weeks after tvOS 16.2, an update that added Apple Music Sing.
The tvOS 16.3 update can be downloaded over the air through the Settings app on the Apple TV by going to System > Software...
New 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the latest M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are available in Apple retail stores and are already in the hands of customers, and we picked up one of the new M2 Max machines to answer all of the questions MacRumors readers considering a purchase might have.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Yesterday, we asked MacRumors fans on...
Top Rated Comments
Next stop, the fourth most populous country in the world, Indonesia.
For Apple's online store to work, you need good infrastructures across the entire country, such as broadband internet, fast, reliable and cost-effective domestic shipping that covers the entire country. You will also need good channels for online fraud prevention, which is a big problem in India not just domestically. Scammers from India are literally scamming the world.
For the online store to be successful, you need a ready market. The mass population should be at least pretty much all literate, and digitally literate, which India doesn't have. There should be a significant middle and upper class measured in the American purchasing power standard, not PPP because Apple products have globally standard pricing, at least before tax. Apple products will not be cheaper in India than in the US in FX dollars, so the nominal dollar, in this case, equals PPP-adjusted dollar.
Most of the people that meet the above criteria are located in the rich part of India, aka., the affluent half of the big cities, which already have physical retail channels.
For physical Apple Stores to work in India, currently India has none, there must be urban clusters in India that will buy the upper-end of the premium device lineups, such as Mac Pro, iPad Pro, Thunderbolt display (with the stand), AirPods Pro, etc. Products like the entry-level basic iPad, iPhone SE, MacBook Air without retina display, etc. will not generate enough profit for Apple to operate physical Apple Stores, which are expensive to keep.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Store
Basically, most small third world countries don't have it. Russa doesn't have it. India doesn't have it. China has hundreds of them.
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TH]Country / Region[/TH]
[TH]Number of stores[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]United States[/TD]
[TD]271[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]China[/TD]
[TD]42[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]United Kingdom[/TD]
[TD]38[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Canada[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Australia[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]France[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Italy[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Germany[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Spain[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Japan[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hong Kong[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Switzerland[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Netherlands[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sweden[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]United Arab Emirates[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Singapore[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Brazil[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Turkey[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Macau[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Mexico[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Taiwan[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Thailand[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Belgium[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]South Korea[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Austria[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
India is where we're looking to invest as well. I agree that this is big news.