It has been a long wait for the Indian Users but according to Bloomberg, Apple is working on launching its Online Store next month in India.
Authorized Third-Party resellers were the only option via which the users in India could purchase their Apple Products. Due to the Government Restrictions on the foreign companies, the sale was also very limited, since it required them to source 30% of the production locally.
According to Bloomberg, “The online store will be ready for operations just ahead of the festive Dussehra-Diwali spending season, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing confidential plans. The iPhone maker, which lobbied New Delhi for years to get around regulations that force companies such as Apple to source 30% of components locally, had originally planned to start online sales within months after the government relaxed the rule last year. Those plans were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.”
A few sets of rules were preventing the tech giant from selling its products in India as a first-party seller. Because of the change of rules in August 2019, it gave Apple the green light to start with its online store in the country.
The global pandemic pushed Apple’s plans of launching its online store by a few months, but we have finally got some good news as we will be seeing the store by the Festive Season(October-November).
What about Offline Stores?
Apple is also expected to start opening it’s offline retail stores in India in the future and has one of the stores under construction already. We will be seeing the first Apple Retail Store in Mumbai, which will open next year. Other than that, Bloomberg says Apple has already looked for the location of its second store in India, which is near Minsk Square in Bangalore.
In other news, Apple has also started the manufacturing process of the iPhone SE in the Indian Soil. The iPhone 12 is also going to be manufactured here in India (mid-2021) as they have hired 10000 local employees. Foxconn’s recent investment in India gives great joy to the country as it will be helping in manufacturing more and more Apple products in the future.
This will help in dismissal of the hefty import taxes making the iPhone costs lower than its usual high price. Apple has always suffered from lower sales in the country due to the mentioned high cost of the products, but because of the rule change, we expect to see a boost in the sales.