(NASDAQ:AAPL) Plans To Beat Samsung In India?
June 15, 2015 By Aman Jain Leave a CommentFiled Under: Consumer Discretionary, News,Technology
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is planning to expand its retail presence in India with an aim to double the iPhone sales. The renewed push is to achieve the fresh target set by its US parents owing to the rising competition in the premium smartphone segment. On the same lines, Apple inked a distribution deal with Delhi-based Optiemus Group, who are also the distributors of HTC and Samsung phones.
More distributor more sales
With Optiemus on its side, Apple will now have five distributors in India with other four being Redington, Ingram Micro, Rashi Peripherals and Brightstar. Also, more such deals are in the pipeline, says a report from Times of India, citing industry sources. As per the report, Optiemus has been given specific orders by Apple to expand the reach of the iPhones in the region.
From one million iPhone sales in India last year, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is pushing its sales to 2 million units by this (October-September) financial year. Industry executives claim that the US firm has been under pressure after theKorean rival stepped its sales effortsin the country. The sales pressure is so much that Apple distributors are even reaching out to the local consumer electronic dealers and mobile phone stores for stocking and displaying more of Apple products.
Is Apple losing to Samsung?
Apple, for long, has been a leader in the Rs. 30,000 ($500 approx.) plus smartphone segment in India, but has now been over taken by the South Korean firm in January-April quarter as per the latest data from the market research firm Counterpoint Research. Samsung’s latest success has been contributed by Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and Note Edge.
In terms of sales value, Apple is the second biggest brand in India behind Samsung. And From volume prospective, Apple ranked lower with a total share of about 2% compared to the market leader Samsung with 28%, by Micromax at 15%.
One of the success indicators of the smartphone industry are its shipment figures. So, a new distributor could help Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) with an instant surge in the shipments. In turn, it will assist the iPhone maker to achieve the target set by its parent firm along with expanding its retail presence in the country.
