CNN reported Wednesday on new figures out from technology market
research firm IDC showing that Apple in the fourth quarter of 2012 grabbed 15.6
percent of smartphone revenue in India.
Apple
rival Samsung remained the top brand in the market, with 38.8 percent market
share. Sony (9.4 percent) and Nokia (7.3 percent) rounded out the top four.
The
research firm estimated in its Asia Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker
report that smartphone shipments in India were at about five million units for
the quarter, up 38 percent from the quarter previous. Smartphone penetration
rates in India are estimated to be lower than 10 percent.
IDC's
estimates jibe with prior reports from the firm that Apple's sales in the country
had quadrupled.
The
sales boom is due to increased efforts on Apple's part to make its premium-priced
smartphone offerings available to Indian consumers. Using lessons learned in China, Apple has begun offering
installment-based payments for Indian customers. An iPhone in India used to
cost nearly a third more than in the United States, with delivery times ranging
up to a year. Installment plans make the device more affordable, and Apple has
also been selling iPhones on the open market and not through carriers
subsidizing the cost of the device with high-margin service contracts.
Growth
in the Indian market can likely only go so far, though, with Apple's current
pricing structure. To better address India, China, and other developing
markets, the company is expected to release a lower-cost iPhone some time over the next several months. [AppleInsider]
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