Report indicates that Apple may open retail stores in India

Former CEO and co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs was known as someone who paid attention to detail, while also making sure that the minutest of things were done to perfection. This has been apparent from all his product launches and it even extends to the Apple campus as well as their retail stores. While Apple products in India are being sold through resellers, such as Imagine and the iStore, which is owned by Reliance Digital, the brand does not have a solely owned store in the country, as yet. According to a report by Livemint, it seems that Apple plans to open their retail stores in India, in the same manner as they have stores in U.S, the UK, Germany, France, China and Japan.

Could we see something like this in India?

The report states that an unnamed official revealed that, “Apple Inc. may open its own shops following the Indian government allowing full ownership of single-brand retail stores by foreign companies, according to a senior official of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP). The maker of the iPad and iPhone has been in discussion with the department for some time and is keen to re-enter  the Indian market after an earlier bid to do so in 2006, said the official on condition of anonymity. DIPP is the nodal department for foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.”

The report goes on to state that Jaideep Mehta, Vice-President and country manager of market research firm IDC India speculates that if a company, such as Apple open solely owned retail stores in India, the price of their products may go down and he states that it can also ‘up the game in the retail category in the country due to the revolutionary nature of Apple’s retail front end.’

The cost of the Apple iPhone 4S is Rs. 44,500 in India for the 16GB version, which is very expensive. Hopefully, these discussions will bear fruit and Apple will go ahead and launch their own retail stores in India as it will certainly expand the brand's popularity in our country. Let us know your thoughts about the possibility of Apple launching their stores in India in the comments section below.