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Apple has started production of iPhone SE in India
- shubhamjain 9y ago> Apple was effectively forced into setting up domestic manufacturing in order to launch Indian retail stores, as India laws state that companies wanting a retail presence must source at least 30% of their goods locally. In comparison to China, it doesn't seem India offers significant incentives to setup manufacturing except tapping into a huge market. What India has started doing right in last few years, China has been doing for more than two decades with no signs of slowing down. If you need a hint about the scale of China's manufacturing capabilities, you should read about the Fidget Spinner Gold Rush [1]. Production literally shot up overnight to cope up with the burgeoning demand. It's impossible to imagine this ever happening in India. [1]: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fidget-spinner-wholesale-economics https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fidget-spinner-wh...
- matt_wulfeck 9y agoThe Chinese manufacturing behemoth is really a thing to behold and respect.
- protomyth 9y agoToo bad so many people use it to create junk to dump on Amazon as it hurts the overall reputation of the achievement.
- thablackbull 9y agoIf that's what people demand then that's what they'll supply. If it wasn't a profitable venture, they would not be creating it.
- protomyth 9y agoOh, I'm sure its profitable, but nobody who has bought a fake charger on Amazon has demanded it. The amazing manufacturing and logistics capability is perfect for scammers.
- r00fus 9y agoIt's a bit silly to assume that demand is the only driver. At some point, people can only buy what's supplied. If 99% of the stuff available is cheap junk and I don't have time to sort through that, likely I'll buying that cheap junk (or nothing at all). One example is if a high quality item is no longer produced because the company or division selling it goes out of business as it's priced out of the market. Supply-side domination/flooding can and does impact buying habits.
- wlesieutre 9y agoGiven that half the complaints I hear about Amazon are cheaply produced counterfeit goods sold at full price, I wouldn't be so quick to blame all of their failings on consumer demand.
- baahh3333 9y agoSo many people on Amazon buys those junk in the first place. If US consumers did not have a demand for cheap products, those products wont be sold in the first place. So blame the consumers than the manufacturers.
- protomyth 9y agoHow many articles have we had on HN describing the deceptive practices of people / companies building junk products trying to pass them off as a brand name? I find it difficult to blame people who have been deceived.
- yumraj 9y ago> It's impossible to imagine this ever happening in India. It was impossible to image that in China also till a few years ago.
- shas3 9y agoJagadish Bhagwati of Columbia has a ton to say about how India screwed up on trade. Basically there are many trade-unfriendly laws dating back to 60s and 70s which are hard and slow to undo because they have to be done via parliamentary procedures (kinda how Congressional gridlock makes lawmaking slow in the US). Here's a good interview of his with Russ Roberts on Econtalk: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/08/bhagwati_on_ind.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/08/bhagwati_on_ind.htm... Edit: this is in contrast to China where laws are made by diktats.
- valarauca1 9y agowhere laws are made by diktats Diktats implies the popular consent of the people isn't taken into the consideration by the CCP when forming policy. This is a very western-liberal-repulic centric view point and is flawed. The CCP actively considers _what_ is wanted and _how_ to achieve it. Simply because people do not vote doesn't mean they aren't considered. Citation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_line
- 8ytecoder 9y agoIndia missed the boat on manufacturing but did good on service industry because the government did not have a way to control the flow of information. We say this in India - we flourish in spite of our government. While attitudes have changed (with both major national parties), protectionism still runs rampant for fear of losing their voter base. All said and done, there is hope that these restrictions combined with incentives could potentially kick start manufacturing in India - at least to the extent of sustaining domestic demand.
- tmsldd 9y ago> it doesn't seem India offers significant incentives to setup manufacturing.. It might change once local industry warms up attracting the supply chain.. also local software companies/developers will respond to the stimulus.. India has all ingredients to create a great ecosystem.
- rodionos 9y agoGreat news overall. The more diversified the manufacturing base is, the better it is for supply management. I was surprised to learn how concentrated disk manufacturing was when floods in Thailand disrupted global disk market overnight.
- dennyabraham 9y agoI keep hearing that protectionism doesn't benefit the people of a country, but China and now this feel like counterexamples. Am I misreading?
- msoad 9y agoActually this is the perfect example of why protectionism doesn't work. Manufacturing is such an iconic aspect of the economy that every government or policy maker loves to talk about it and show progress in it. India has unnecessary incentives put in place for manufacturing and Apple is taking advantage of it. But overall it's a bad deal for India.
- thisisananth 9y agoHi, can you please clarify what the unnecessary incentives are and how it is a bad deal for India?
- dexterp 9y agoI'm not seeing how this is a bad deal for India. India get's more factories setting up shop there to produce products; more jobs, more money staying in the country.
- toisanji 9y agoand more pollution :(
- accountyaccount 9y agoIf it's not sustainable for their economy those companies will pick up and move once the market demands higher wages and better worker protections (or just can't afford the subsidies anymore). The clothing industry does this all the time — they'll build up a local economy until it's too expensive, and then move on to the next desperate area. If you're trying to be appealing to industry by racing to the bottom you're essentially fighting an extended battle for last place.
- mtgx 9y agoBut somehow Apple needs an "incentive" like a tax holiday to start manufacturing stuff in the US? Yeah, not buying it.
- cwyers 9y agohttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and...? > Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. > A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. > “The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” the executive said. “There’s no American plant that can match that.”
- e40 9y agoYes, it is amazing what near-slave labor can achieve, and how glowingly executives will feel about their work.
- flinty 9y agohttp://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpress/timeline/ http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpr... Another notch in the history of Chinese/foreign labor doing great things to improve american lives :) >Winter 1866-1867: One of the harshest winters in history, featuring 44 storms and averaging 18 feet of snow at the summit. Despite this, the Chinese workers continued work on the tunnels. The Tunnel 6 labor force by this time is almost completely made up of Chinese. Avalanches pose particular danger, as demonstrated at Strong’s Canyon (Tunnels 11 and 12) known as Camp 4, which included 2 gangs of Chinese and a gang of culvert men.[16]
- throwaway32189 9y agoChina may have earned its Silver back in a few more decades, but India has a long way to go. Then again, may be not - everything is paper these days.
- perseusprime11 9y agoIt would be good to know how many iPhones they produced instead of saying a small batch.
- milankragujevic 9y agoOfftopic, but why does this page have no downvote buttons anywhere?
- grzm 9y agoIf I understand your question correctly, submissions have up-vote and flag. They don't have down-vote.
- milankragujevic 9y agoi meant the comments
- grzm 9y agoComments older than 24 hours cannot be down-voted. Most of the comments on this submission are older than that.
- milankragujevic 9y agoI cannot downvote your comment, either. http://i.imgur.com/FKKP9bx.png http://i.imgur.com/FKKP9bx.png
- grzm 9y agoYou can't downvote responses to your comments.
- milankragujevic 9y agoah. that clears it up.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mankash666 9y agoHacker news audience is clearly America centric! H1-B = evil because local jobs matter. But when India or any other country adopts the same philosophy of boosting local jobs, suddenly they're protectionists. Hypocrisy much?!