VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

New country head of Apple India Michel Coulomb is in a process of restructure the distribution and sales chain strategy for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. For consumers, this will mean Apple products will cease to be discounted as the number of distributors is pared and the company takes a hard line on maintaining prices. The thinking behind the move is that the brand had been diluted by giving distributors a free hand to sell to any retailer, even at lower prices, three persons directly aware of the development said. The earlier ‘open distribution’ strategy at Apple India had created a lot of discontent amongst its offline trade partners, since the distributors would often indulge in wholesaling to achieve targets leading to rampant deep discounting online and fluctuation in prices almost every day. “So much so, Apple was even considered as a discounted brand.... Read More

Adding a new style quotient to its already available product line, Apple has launched its much awaited wearable device – Apple Watch at an event in San Francisco. The Watch, available in a number of variants and sizes is expected to be in the market in April in nine countries, though India was not included in the schedule. The Watch will be available in two sizes, including gold models. It will start with a price tag of $349, going up to a whopping $ 17,000 for the gold model. At the same event, Apple also launched a totally revamped MacBook range and a health-focussed initiative called ResearchKit...  See more  

India being a prospect market for iPhones and iPads, Apple has planned to increase its sales in India from 1 million to as many as 7 million by 2018. To achieve the target and sell its devices, Apple has roped in distributor giant Brightstar. Brightstar is headquartered in the US and is controlled by Softbank. It distributes mobile phones and other devices to more than 200 carriers in over 50 countries and has revenues of around $11 billion. Recently, it has bought a 51% stake in (Bharti Enterprises chairman) Sunil Mittal’s Beetle Teletech. Currently Redington and Ingram are the two main distributors of Apple in India, who are supplying the products to regional distributors, multi-product trade channels and Apple Premium Re-seller stores and Apple Authorized Reseller outlets. Redington is one of the biggest partners for Apple in India and is believed to account for nearly 70% of its sales. According to sources, Brightstar has decided to adopt an aggressive stance for its India...