Report: Apple is ringing up iPhone sales in India
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt - February 8, 2013: 7:27 AM ET
Has Apple finally found a way to crack the Indian market?
FORTUNE -- Two data points from the subcontinent, where Apple's ( AAPL) iPhone sales have been
notoriously slow to take off.
* At Asymconf: California last week, Paul Brody, IBM ( IBM) vice president for electronic global business
services, told attendees that he had just come back from India where mobile carriers are activating iPhones
at the rate of 2,000 per day.
* The Times of India reported Friday that sales of Apple devices -- especially iPhones -- have increased
three or four fold in the past three months.
"Apple is doing what it did in China three or four years ago," Jayanth Kolla, founder of the research firm
Convergence Catalyst, told the Times. "They studied the market, learned consumer needs and suddenly
went aggressive. From having about 30 people here six months ago, Apple India is now about 150-people
strong."
According to analysts who follow the Indian market, Apple is pivoting away from its traditional reliance on
local carriers and has begun aggressively marketing the iPhone directly to high-end consumers.
o~~~ O |
