Smartphones Gain Ground in India
The luxurious BlackBerry Z10 was introduced to India’s smartphone market in February of 2013. The BlackBerry was expected to be priced just around the price of the IPhone 5 which was 45,500 rupees at the time. The release of the new BlackBerry was the company’s last effort to save itself as its share has diminished from 20 percent down to 3.4 percent in the last three years. Currently, BlackBerry’s share is at 5 percent, just ahead of Apple according to Canalys. India, with its population over 1.2 billion is home to the world’s second-largest cellphone market, measured in the number of users. However, most Indians cannot afford fancy handsets and as a result, smartphones are just a tenth of total phone sales. Furthermore, 95 percent of cellphone users have prepaid accounts without a fixed contract.
Industry research company IDC expects that India’s smartphone market will grow to 108 million units in 2016 from 19 million in 2012, a growth of about five times. The astonishing numbers show great opportunity for smartphone companies such as BlackBerry, Samsung and IPhone. Samsung Electronics leads Indian smartphone sales with forty percent a share, thanks to its low price, approximately 5,900 rupees. Many people on Wall Street believe creating a lower cost IPhone is the only way that Apple can gain sales in India. However, a lower cost IPhone would reduce demand for the premium version and will reduce the company’s profits. With that being said, a monthly payment plan is being introduced to India to help the average person afford the device. Apple has been focusing greatly for expansion in China, where there revenue grew to 7.3 billion dollars or 60 percent in 2013. In India, Essar conglomerate, which sells fifteen percent of IPhones in the country had its IPhone sales triple between December of 2012 and January 2013 thanks to its’ monthly payment program.
Apple has added a couple more distributors to sell the IPhone in order to raise sales. The Times of India had a full front-page advertisement for the IPhone 5, reading, “Now your dream phone” at 5,056 Rupees or 94 Dollars. I believe the strategies implemented by Apple will only lead to greater benefits for the company.
Picture received from www.nowhereelse.fr
