I love India but not its distribution network: Apple CEO

[ajaymailed]

I love India but not its distribution network: Apple CEO - India - DNA

Technology giant Apple has said the multi-layered distribution network in India works against the company's interests and it sees higher potential elsewhere in the "intermediate term".

"I love India, but I believe Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Apple CEO Tim Cook has said in an earnings conference call with analysts.

He was responding to queries why Apple is not more successful in India and what was his outlook for the company's growth in the country.

Cook said this does not mean Apple is not putting emphasis in India.

"We have a business there and the business is growing but the multi-layered distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," said Cook, who took over as the CEO of Apple Inc last year after its founder Steve Jobs withdrew himself from running the company on a day-to-day basis due to illness.

The Apple CEO said his company will continue to focus on India "but my own perspective is that in the intermediate term there will be larger opportunities outside of (India)".

Apple, the world's largest company by market value, is best-known for hardware products including the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Apple reported third-quarter profit on Tuesday that did not meet the expectations of Wall Street. The company said profit rose to USD 8.8 billion from USD 7.3 billion a year ago, and USD 35 billion in revenue.

Apple sold 26 million iPhones, up 28% over the last year, four million Mac computers, a two per cent jump, and 17 million iPads, an increase of 84%.

I love apple but not its elitist attitude

In any case, Android is sweeping Indian market devouring all other competitors.

 

[Anorion]

nope.
it's not that at all, it's the licensing and media environment.
think about what chances itunes has with the current cable setup.

 

[shashankm]

Why don't he says that he's not ready to invest in third world country?
Was the multilayer structure not there for other technology and telecom giants?
Steve Jobs was a fanatic American hippy who gave a damn to outsiders (Walter Isaac).
Since apple is officially not present here, statistics related to sales figures, demand are a farce . Steve Jobs himself said that he seems no scope for his luxury line products for channelized, fragmented market such as India.
Ipad was released earlier in Uganda than India, even tunisia (I hope I spelt it right) got to see ipod earlier than us! This apartheid seriously leaves no reason whatsoever for us as an Indian to pay cognizance to even smartest of apple products.
US is still their most favourable market given the wilingness of Americans, they buy phones at buffonery prices, whereas apple still thinks of Indians as pound wise, penny awesome. They love to judge their options (sitting 2 nights just to get an apple product? No f'kin way!), and given the mass integration of other telecom giants (Nokia, Samsung) Apple knows that they are never going to make it that big in indian market unless they reduce their 'iHyped' prices or they start going bankrupt sticking to US and Japan, sadly none of which is ever going to happen and thus this segregation will continue for a long! They simply don't need india, they're making enough money fooling the fools!

 

[pranav0091]

I dont find anything wrong in what Tim Cook said. IMO, it makes total sense. If he deems his company has better opportunities elsewhere, then its upto him to decide. And the fact remains that we still prefer VFM products (absolutely nothing wrong with it either).

There is nothing to be offended at. Its his business opinion and if anything, we should admire him for being so candid about it. Issues like these are not the venues to show our patriotism.
I'm not going to buy your products anyway.. yet, hats off to you Mr.Tim Cook.

 

[noob]

Why don't he says that he's not ready to invest in third world country?
Was the multilayer structure not there for other technology and telecom giants?
Steve Jobs was a fanatic American hippy who gave a damn to outsiders (Walter Isaac).
Since apple is officially not present here, statistics related to sales figures, demand are a farce . Steve Jobs himself said that he seems no scope for his luxury line products for channelized, fragmented market such as India.
Ipad was released earlier in Uganda than India, even tunisia (I hope I spelt it right) got to see ipod earlier than us! This apartheid seriously leaves no reason whatsoever for us as an Indian to pay cognizance to even smartest of apple products.
US is still their most favourable market given the wilingness of Americans, they buy phones at buffonery prices, whereas apple still thinks of Indians as pound wise, penny awesome. They love to judge their options (sitting 2 nights just to get an apple product? No f'kin way!), and given the mass integration of other telecom giants (Nokia, Samsung) Apple knows that they are never going to make it that big in indian market unless they reduce their 'iHyped' prices or they start going bankrupt sticking to US and Japan, sadly none of which is ever going to happen and thus this segregation will continue for a long! They simply don't need india, they're making enough money fooling the fools!

THIS..you stole my words

 

[Anorion]

looks like the distribution layers means too many intermediaries in the supply chain, or just that the indian operators dont make high end phones cheaper for their customers

even itunes isnt here yet

it's not a luxury phone, you are never paying a premium just for a brand
the batman edition of the lumia is a luxury phone, you are paying a premium just for the brand

 

[d6bmg]

True, very true.

 

[kisame]

I am glad that patent war is not happening in India or else Apple would have sued the competition with their stupid patents.

 

[amjath]

Everyone says this "I love India" before talking trash about India & Indians

Important thing is itunes is available in Srilanka now, but y not India. IMO Apple has no respect towards India and they dont trust us.

"We have a business there and the business is growing but the multi-layered distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market,"

What does this mean, is it the reason y their products are overpriced

 

[raman0890]

Most Indians are cheap. they dont care about quality and design.Itunes will not be successful here due to massive piracy.

 

[lywyre]

Most Indians are cheap. they dont care about quality and design.Itunes will not be successful here due to massive piracy.

My opinion is different. Itunes iTunes or Apple will not be successful here because of the pricing model.

Not every one who wants an Ipod iPod has access to a PC with internet to sync it, let alone buy title from iTunes.

P.S: And Indians being cheap is not by choice, because they can't afford so much. And cheap necessarily does not mean bad design or quality. Take Motorola Defy for example, give way more value for money than an iPhone and still can do almost anything an iPhone does and more.

 

[Faun]

Most Indians are cheap. they dont care about quality and design.Itunes will not be successful here due to massive piracy.

Yes, you know the price but not the value.

 

[puli44]

in india cost matters ....thats y apple didnt success in india

 

[RCuber]

Actually.. I dont see price as a issue now (from companies point of view) people will still buy it. if people can buy Galaxy S2/S3 and other high end devices they wouldnt mind spending a little more for Apple product.

If Apple wants to capture the market then they would have captured it long time ago. They will not be able to capture the market unless Apple themself start selling their products and eliminating the middle men . currently the different retail channels are to be blamed for the steep price. distributor, sub distributor , dealer price, sub dealer and what not .. these things add to the end cost/MRP.

 

[Skyh3ck]

Apple wats that? india is not for weak hearted people.

 

[Anorion]

bandar kya jaane adrak ka swad?
it's not the price, it's the usage patterns. think we are still worried about using notepad and calender in phones 10 generations old, we never really explored the features of that. it's usage patterns, most likely we are gonna leap frog over some kinds of usage and jump directly to new kinds of usage. it's the ecosystem, game center, an app for everything, podcasts, no bluetooth, everything in the cloud.... we just dont use things like that, there is no need for it, at the end of the day idevices are gonna be mp3 players and cameras, seen loads of devices being used just like that. toys. that's all they are, really good toys.

 

[Ironman]

Most Indians are cheap. they dont care about quality and design.Itunes will not be successful here due to massive piracy.

PIRACY ? & CHEAP ?

Indians Dont have a Choice , My Monthly income is suppose 20k can i afford to buy all the latest music from iTunes as i like , but i can buy cheap pirated CDs within my budget , i can download them with only 500 or 700 monthly internet cost

and INR vs USD prices increasing day by day
a song (single alone costs) around how much...... $.5 = 25
Full Album ... i dont know perhaps ... $10 = 500

i can buy 20 Cheap Pirated Cds from my nearby Shop

Does that mean i dont want to hear good quality FLACs or 100% quality Music , of course i do , but i dont have much of a choice if i look at my budget . i have to be satisfied with 128 kbps MP3s



So Piracy == Cheap == Low Budget == Low Income == Low Economic Condition of the Country

And you can never keep people away from cheap good or moderate (Chalta hay) quality goods , its a fact

 

[ithehappy]

Right, very true. That's why we or those silly sub-standard people use Chinese craps. Definitely a strong heart uses those I'd not be bothering about India if I were in place of him.
How does an elite brand like Apple and India go together?

Apple wats that? india is not for weak hearted people.

 

[Saahib]

And what about the issue of limited bandwidth, internet is still costly in India, I buy music online but what good and cheap bandwidth to download it ?

 

[puli44]

PIRACY ? & CHEAP ?

Indians Dont have a Choice , My Monthly income is suppose 20k can i afford to buy all the latest music from iTunes as i like , but i can buy cheap pirated CDs within my budget , i can download them with only 500 or 700 monthly internet cost

and INR vs USD prices increasing day by day
a song (single alone costs) around how much...... $.5 = 25
Full Album ... i dont know perhaps ... $10 = 500

i can buy 20 Cheap Pirated Cds from my nearby Shop

Does that mean i dont want to hear good quality FLACs or 100% quality Music , of course i do , but i dont have much of a choice if i look at my budget . i have to be satisfied with 128 kbps MP3s



So Piracy == Cheap == Low Budget == Low Income == Low Economic Condition of the Country

And you can never keep people away from cheap good or moderate (Chalta hay) quality goods , its a fact

Yes i agree with it ..instead of paying 500 rs for full album ..we can download bunch of songs at the same cost ...thats y piracy rocks