Electronis giant Apple’s India division has tied up with Delhi-based Optiemus Group as a India distributor to help boost it’s India story by doubling iPhone stores across the country.
This is Apple’s fifth such distributorship deal in the country, the other four being Edington, Ingram Micro, Rashi Peripherals and Brightstar. They supply Apple’s products in India to other regional distributors, multi-product trade channels, Apple Premium Re-seller stores and Apple Authorized Reseller outlets. The group also deals with Samsung and HTC products.
“Since shipment figures are one of the indicators of success in the smartphone industry, any new distributor Apple appoints will lead to an instant surge in shipments, which will help it to achieve the target fixed by headquarters and will also lead to a significant jump in retail reach,” an industry executive said. “Apple’s distributors are now reaching out to even local consumer electronic dealers and mobile phone stores for stocking iPhones and setting up dedicated space in such stores,” he said.
In the last seven months period, Apple India clocked a million iPhone sales, and the company is aggressively aiming at two million sales figures. It also breached the billion dollar sales figure mark recently, which is though a fraction of its sales in China, is still strong enough considering the rpices at which Apple devices are sold in the country.
Optiemus Group’s aggressive stance should help the Cupertino-based maker of iPhones and iPads to go big in India. The expansion will definitely provide an entry to smaller towns and cities like Amritsar, Pathankot, Moga, Coimbatore, Trichy, Nagpur and Nasik.
Apple has been lagging behind Samsung and Indian rivals Micromax and other Chinese entrants in India as far as overall sales figures are concerned. However, it has got a strong footing in the premium smartphone market, since it’s products have a distinct iconic tag for the buyer.
In a related story, Foxconn recently announced plans to set up its manufacturing facility in India, wherein it will produce iPhones and iPads.
