Apple's Fifth Avenue retail store
Taking past rumours forward, the Cupertino tech major Apple is soon expected to introduce its first-ever online store in India and this could happen as early as September, that is, next month. Read on to know more about this.
Apple's first online store in India
As per a report by Bloomberg, the company will open the online store next month as told by an unnamed source familiar with the matter. Apple's plan to open an online store in India comes after the government relaxed the law to make 30 per cent of components locally last year. The plan to launch one was expected to take shape soon after that but got disrupted due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The online store is expected to be operational prior to the festive season in India, that is, the Dessehra-Diwali time, which is expected to boost the iPhone sales further.
Apart from an online store for direct sales, the tech giant is also planning to inaugurate its official retail stores in the country, starting with two of them. The first one is expected to open in Mumbai next year and the second one is expected to open in Bangalore near Minsk Square.
For those who don't know, Apple currently sells its iPhones, iMacs, MacBooks, AirPods, and other products via third-party sellers. For online, its either Flipkart or Amazon India and for offline, it's via authorised Apple resellers. The presence of Apple's own online and offline stores will help the company get better sales in India, which is now the second-largest smartphone market after China. This will also help it compete well with rivals such as Samsung, OnePlus in the customer service and sales department.
Apart from this, Apple has also been working towards more 'Made in India' iPhones with the help of Foxconn and Wistron. It recently began assembling the new iPhone SE 2020, the iPhone 11, much like the iPhone XR and more iPhones. It soon expected to make the upcoming iPhone 12 in India, starting next year.
