Iphone’s pathetic performance in India : By mistake or by choice
There is no doubt that the performance of Iphone has been patheic in India to say the least. However analysis of how a smart marketer like Apple got its acts so horribly wrong throws up some interesting observations.
- India is not a priority market: Apple has never been bullish on India. That does not surprise me as apple has always sold pricey products and Indians by nature are value conscious. I am not suggesting that we buy only cheap goods. We do buy expensive goods but the features must justify the price.
- Apple’s partners in India (Airtel and vodafone) got their strategy wrong: Airtel and Vodafone knew very well that revealing the price of the IPhone will kill all excitement about the product. I am sure that is why they kept silent about the price till few days before the launch. However contrary to what they expected, this created lots of negative press about the product.
- Deliberate strategy of Apple: You are free to think that I have lost my mind to suggest that Apple deliberately wanted to have limited response to Iphone. However fact is Iphone is still a new product. There may be some issue with the handset. If that had happened, Apple with negligible presence in India would have got into a difficult situation. Hence apple could have planned to get a small set of users into the fold so that the word of mouth effect can start and Apple can learn about indian consumers without taking too much of risk.
What do you think? Was it Apple’s stupidity or brilliance?
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