Apple Postpones Plan To Launch Online Store In India

Apple Inc has put his plan to open online stores in India on a back burner for a while. The iPhone maker said that it needed more time to finish the back-end work and will be rolling the phones out to coincide with the high sales period ahead of the festive season.

The company’s executive told ET that iPhone’s 30 percent sales was generated through Flipkart and Amazon in 2019, therefore, opening online stores, during the launch of new iPhones was a right idea.Meanwhile, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to arrive in India  between June and July.

Cook is likely to meet PM Modi. He is likely to take a stock of the Indian business, including manufacturing expansion, exports, roll out of both company-owned online and brick-and mortar Apple stores.Last year in August, Apple announced that it was keen on offering online and in-store in the country. The phone company’s announcement came at a time when govt allowed 100 percent FDI in contract manufacturing and eased sourcing norms for single brand retailers.  The Cupertino-based company then said that its distribution centre near Mumbai would act as the hub for company’s online store.

According to Counterpoint, Apple shipped 1.9 million units of iPhone to India last year up from 1.8 million units in 2018.  Currently, Apple’s Taiwanese contractor Wistron has an assembly plant outside Bengaluru. It’s another contractor-Foxconn has an assembly plant for iPhone X in Chennai.―Business Today