by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Technology
Tim Cook
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : Apple CEO Tim Cook, who skipped mentioning India directly during the company’s earnings call with analysts, has said that there are several factors why iPhone sales are not picking up in the emerging markets like India.
“The customers are holding on to their older iPhones a bit longer than in the past.
“When you pair this with the macroeconomic factors, particularly in emerging markets, it resulted in iPhone revenue that was down 15 per cent from last year,” Cook told analysts late Tuesday.
The Apple CEO said foreign exchange is another key factor behind the slow iPhone sales. “The relative strength of the US dollar has made our products more expensive in many parts of the world,” he told analysts.
However, the growing competition in the premium segment — led by OnePlus, Samsung and Huawei — has made a major dent in Apple’s market share in India.
According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung led the premium smartphone segment in India in 2018 with a 34 per cent share, followed closely by OnePlus at 33 per cent which was the best-selling device of the year. At third position, Apple had 23 per cent market share in 2018.
Industry experts say that it might be a continuing struggle for Apple to build upon volumes in a very price-sensitive India market (85 per cent market below $200), where it currently holds a share which is less than even 2 per cent.
“The new iPhones are costlier than the previous generation, making it unaffordable to the larger masses. Here vendors like One Plus are gaining as they have competitive specs at much better pricing as compared to Apple,” said Upasana Joshi, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.
“The newly-launched iPhones are also costlier for the super-premium segment (which is the focus segment for Apple in India), as one can buy high-end products like Smart TVs at the same pricing,” Joshi told IANS.
Apple has already begun reducing the price for third-party distributors in China and may follow the same in India soon.
The iPhone maker is currently seeking tax relief and other incentives from the government to begin assembling more handsets and open its branded stores, and its proposal to set up a manufacturing unit is reportedly under evaluation.
Apple shipped 1.7 million iPhones in 2018, almost 50 per cent lower than the 2017 shipments of 3.2 million units.
“We can expect some kind of price correction going forward as Apple has given indications that they will look at pricing outside the US closely now,” Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint, told IANS.
“India continues to be a critical market for Apple as the premium segment is likely to grow faster than the overall smartphone market,” he added.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Marketing Basics, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : As Apple refreshed its luxury iPhone line-up last week, Manu Jain who is Vice President, Xiaomi Global and Managing Director, Xiaomi India, tweeted: “Choose wisely — MI (Xiaomi) or EMI”.
Jain reacted to a follower who mentioned that one has to shell out Rs 12,075 a month as zero-cost EMI for a period of one year to own the 512GB variant of iPhone XS Max that will come for a mind-boggling Rs 144,900 in India.
Apple this month announced two other new models. The iPhone XS with 512GB storage model will cost Rs 134,900 and the cheapest of the lot, the iPhone XR, has a starting price (64GB) of Rs 76,900 in India.
The message from the $1 trillion company is loud and clear: Come what may, either own a new iPhone with a higher price tag or adjust with older and discounted models.
Here is the truth: Apple shipped 63 million iPhone X’s (now discontinued) till August this year. According to Counterpoint Research, iPhone X is on track to become the most successful revenue and profit-generating iPhone ever.
These 63 million-odd consumers are set to upgrade to new “luxury” iPhones – down payment or via EMI route — so the global smartphone powerhouse is safe here.
India contributed to just one per cent of the total iPhone X shipments till August. In 2017, Apple sold nearly 3.2 million iPhones in India and the company does not appear to be either in a panic or aggressive mode to change the status quo at the moment.
The company is also not in a mood to compete with Xiaomi or other Chinese brands but aims to keep its brand image and aspirational value intact, say experts.
“Apple remains a luxury brand and this has been their overall strategy for years. India is not in the list of top 10 global markets for them when it comes to new iPhone launches. The company has a strong loyal base globally who will buy its devices despite the hefty price tag,” Jaipal Singh, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India, told IANS.
“For the Indian market, Apple will never compete with Chinese brands by lowering prices of new iPhones,” Singh added.
According to Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Mobile Devices and Ecosystems at Counterpoint Research, hardcore Apple users would be willing to shell out the hefty price because owning a new Apple device is a status symbol for them.
“However, that section is still small. We believe that Apple strategy in India should be to sell more iPhones rather than new iPhones. Given the stickiness of the iOS ecosystem, these older iPhone users are likely to upgrade to iPhone only,” Pathak told IANS.
This is exactly what Apple has done. The company has slashed prices of older iPhones for the Indian consumers who want to upgrade to iPhone 7, iPhone 8 and even iPhone X.
Apple has discontinued the “super premium” iPhone X that actually did quite well despite low sale predictions.
The Cupertino-based company has also bid goodbye to iPhone SE – its least expensive model which was being assembled in India and the iPhone 6s — marking the end of iPhones with headphone jacks.
According to Pathak, the fact is that aspirational user audience is more in number than hardcore iPhone users in India. So there can be uptick in Apple numbers driven by cheaper older generation iPhones.
Depending on the quarter, the older generation iPhones capture somewhat half to two-third of Apple’s total sales in India.
“As custom duty continues to have impact on iPhone prices and making new iPhones is costlier, the price cut and subsequent promotions of older generation iPhones can increase iPhone sales in India. iPhone 7 can be the new iPhone 6 for Apple in the country,” noted Pathak.
Since Apple does not manufacture or assemble its products in India, the price will always be on the higher side.
“What Apple can do for the Indian market is to open experiences centres, the way Samsung and OnePlus have done, to pull more Android users towards its ecosystem. A bigger retail presence will help Apple gain more share in the price-sensitive Indian market,” Singh emphasised.
Apple is currently going through an overhaul under Michel Coulomb, the new head of the India operations who took over from Sanjay Kaul in December last year.
The iPhone maker is also seeking tax relief and other incentives from the government to begin assembling more handsets in the country and its proposal to set up a manufacturing unit is reportedly being evaluated.
According to Pathak, new iPhones can still be a good upgrade for users in India which have skipped the previous iPhone generations but the company will never lower the prices for new iPhones.
In a nutshell, CEO Tim Cook has clearly told India that Apple is the Ferrari in the world of smartphones and to own that exclusiveness, shell out extra – cash down or EMI — as others are doing.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Faisal Kawoosa,
This has so far not been a great year for Apple in India, if we talk specifically about iPhones. Preliminary estimates suggest it has shipped just around one million units in the first half of 2018. Compared to this, in 2017, Apple shipped over 3.1 million iPhones in the country, according to CMR’s India Monthly Mobile Handset Report.
It is only in Kerala and Punjab, as per CMR Mobilytiks, that Apple figures among the top three smartphone brands by installed base. In Kerala, it stood third with 5.25 per cent of installed smartphones share as of March-end 2018. In Punjab, it ranked second with 8.03 per cent.
So, the big question is: “Has iPhone reached the saturation point of its addressable market?” Well, to my mind, No!
There are three segments that could potentially buy an iPhone in India.The first is a technologically-evolved segment. They are well aware of the product and the brand and capable of making the decision on their own.
The second segment cmprises those who can afford, and want, the iPhone only because it has a premium tag. Whether or not they understand the iPhone, they would still keep on upgrading to the latest.
There is yet another segment, which Apple is not looking at in any significant way. This segment is of potential buyers who have the pockets to buy the iPhone, but do not understand Apple as a brand and the iPhone as a product. For them, it is just another brand and eventually they buy something comparing features and specifications.
In that decision-making process, Apple is always a loser as it has never been in the specs race. Most of these potential buyers go with Android smartphones where they get a huge number of specs at probably half the price of an iPhone.
Converting this segment has never been a focus at Apple India. Over the past few years, we have seen Apple busy only in streamlining its retail channel.
Well, I am a strong believer that, among smartphones, Apple is the only one that has brand-pull and it does not need a push approach where channel becomes paramount. It’s a phone that should have pioneered online sales and that would have worked very well for the company.
So, what is it that needs to be fixed? Here are some India-specific points that should constitute its strategy.
First and foremost, it has to be consistent in marketing. In a country with an overcrowded smartphone market — where there is a “flagship” launch of one or the other brand almost every week — it is important that a brand that launches just a couple of models a year communicates.
This has not been happening so far with Apple in India. It does sometimes get aggressive, painting all newspaper front pages with its ads; but then it goes into hibernation. This is not going to work in India. They have to be consistent in outreach.
Second, it is a very closed ecosystem. I have been talking to co-analysts as well as senior media people and all have one feedback: Apple India does not engage with them. The same holds true for the larger ecosystem around devices, especially smartphones. Apple is not engaging the ecosystem and influencers. This is again not creating enough talking points for the brand in India.
Third is about educating potential buyers. There are unique features in Apple as an ecosystem which could still excite someone having the capacity to buy an iPhone. For instance, Apple holds very high equity where privacy and security of data are concerned. This is what is being currently aggressively debated in the country. But there is hardly any participation from Apple to make potential buyers aware about how Apple treats privacy and security.
Since this segment of potential buyers is not an evolved one, they would need a bit of hand-holding to understand Apple and the iPhone. This requires a persistent campaign.
Moreover, from the products’ point of view, Apple has not invested much in creating India-specific content or apps that could give more reasons to iPhone users to enjoy their smartphones as well as make them productive. There are still several apps of enterprises and small and mid-size business (SMBs) in India which have a presence only on Android.
Lastly, it is almost absent digitally in India. Apple has to activate itself digitally and engage with the audiences over social media as well as other digital platforms. Otherwise, it looks like one of the icons of technology is not so social.
These actionable points could support the iPhone, which is still one of the best smartphones we have, and increase its potential in India. Here, just having a well-engineered product is not enough. Spice needs to be added to the marketing.
(Faisal Kawoosa is Head, New Initiatives, at CyberMedia Research. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at releases@cmrindia.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Sales, SMEs, Technology
San Francisco : As Apple posted a healthy revenue of $61.1 billion for its fiscal 2018 second quarter — defying global reports of a weakened demand for its iPhones — the company’s CEO Tim Cook said he will now put great energy into the growing Indian market.
During the company’s earnings call with media late Tuesday, Cook said: “Let me start with India, and then I’ll talk more about China. India, we set a new first-half record. So we continue to put great energy there… Our objective over time is to go in there with all of our different initiatives from retail and everything else.
“And so we’re working toward those things. It’s a huge market and it’s clear that many people will be moving into the middle class over time, as we’ve seen in other countries.”
The quarterly revenue of $61.1 billion was an increase of 16 per cent from the year-ago quarter and international sales accounted for 65 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We’re thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, services and wearables,” Cook said in a statement.
“Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter.
“We also grew revenue in all of our geographic segments, with over 20 per cent growth in Greater China and Japan,” he informed.
Apple also announced $100 billion in additional stock buybacks.
“Given our confidence in Apple’s future, we are very happy to announce that our Board has approved a new $100 billion share repurchase authorization and a 16 per cent increase in our quarterly dividend,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.
The iPhone maker reported $13 billion in revenue from Greater China.
“China, I continue to believe is a phenomenal country with lots of opportunity from a market point of view, but also lots of opportunity from an app developer’s point of view,” Cook said during the earnings call.
“We have almost two million application developers in China that are writing apps for iOS and the App Store, and they’re doing unbelievably creative work and innovative work. So we look at China holistically, not only as a market, he noted.
Apple will complete the execution of the previous $210 billion share repurchase authorisation during the third fiscal quarter.
“Our business performed extremely well during the March quarter, as we grew earnings per share by 30 per cent and generated over $15 billion in operating cash flow,” said Maestri.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, Technology
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
By Sourabh Kulesh,
New Delhi : A two-year-long wait for Samsung Note lovers finally came to an end when the South Korean giant brought its premium flagship Galaxy Note 8 to India this month.
Set to give the newly-launched Apple iPhones a close fight when it comes to the Indian market, the Rs 67,900 Note 8 is undoubtedly the best device yet from Samsung.
Let’s find out why Galaxy Note 8 is going to charm you.
Galaxy Note 8 has industry-first “Infinity Display”. The 6.3-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 2960 pixels delivered sharp and deep colours.
The edge-to-edge display with 18.5:9 aspect ratio offered maximum viewing area. You cannot ask for a better screen when it comes to watching movies, playing games or social media use.
The device with 6GB RAM and 64GB inbuilt storage (expandable up to 256GB) houses a 64-bit Exynos 8895 octa-core SoC (system on chip), handling heavy-graphics games with ease with “Vulkan API” support.
We tested the device with “Asphalt 8” and did not experience any problem with frame rate or face any lag. Testing it further, we opened several apps and then resumed gaming but found no performance issues.
When it comes to security, Note 8 comes with “iris scanner”, FaceID (just like the “super premium” iPhone X), fingerprint scanner (that works awesomely), number lock and pattern lock.
All five options worked fine. However, the fingerprint lock turned out to be the most handy security option.
A powerful camera complemented the performance. Galaxy Note 8 comes with a rear dual camera set-up with dual OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation).
While one is a wide-angle 12MP Dual Pixel autofocus camera with an aperture of 1.7, the other is a “Telephoto” 12MP autofocus camera with an f-stop of 2.4. The system has 2X optical zoom and up to 10X digital zoom.
The photos in well-lit conditions exceeded our expectations. The “Bokeh” effect was impressive. You can also use the “Bixby Vision” to place or extract a text from a photo. For this, point the camera towards a subject and click.
The device will return with two options — “Image” and “Text”. Select “Image” if you want photos as subject. To extract text from the photo, select “Text”.
The 8MP front shooter with f1.7 clicked beautiful photos even in low-light conditions.
Samsung has also made the “S-Pen” more powerful. You can now perform loads of work with “S-Pen” that supports 4,096 levels of pressure, with the tip having a 0.7mm diameter.
More pressure level means you can decide the thickness of the font by the “S-Pen” itself. Press harder on screen to get a bold font and write with less pressure to get a thinner text.
“S-Pen” has now been powered to write on Always On Display (AOD). You can now take notes on up to 100 pages.
The S-Pen also lets you make a 15-second animation to share on social media with its “Smart Select” feature.
Coming to AI assistant “Bixby”, Samsung has now rolled out voice support for “Bixby” in India.
“Bixby will deliver a great experience to the users because, unlike other AI assistants, it can understand multi-layered commands. And I think that will be a very unique experience,” Asim Warsi, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India, told IANS.
“Bixby” worked fine, at par with the Apple “Siri” and Google Assistant.
The 3,300mAh battery went from 0 per cent to 100 per cent in an hour and 43 minutes. The company is giving “AKG” earplugs with the device. The sound quality was outstanding.
What doesn’t work?
The fingerprint scanner is placed a bit higher on the rear. The “Bixby” voice, which is still in its early days, can be better.
The “iris scanner” and FaceID were average when it came to unlocking the device in poorly-lit conditions.
Conclusion: Note 8 looks like a great device with Samsung getting the software and artificial intelligence piece right over there. At Rs 67,900, it is a perfect deal for Android lovers in the premium segment.
(Sourabh Kulesh can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in)
—IANS
