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That is a valid excuse. And the abnormal price hikes of the new model of iPhones indicate that Apple was well aware of the possible economic downturn, and thus
by webmobdev 8y ago
That is a valid excuse.
And the abnormal price hikes of the new model of iPhones indicate that Apple was well aware of the possible economic downturn, and thus sought to compensate the anticipated fall in sales by squeezing higher profit margins.
But what is their excuse for not penetrating the next biggest market in the world, one of the world's fastest growing economy, right next to China - India?
To me, Apple's attitude in India, and many other countries, is akin to that of a spolied brat who won't do things unless he has his own way. Some examples -
a) Apple management lamenting that India doesn't have a debt-based culture. (That's a broad view - the comment was more on how the cellular services providers don't sell their phones bundled with "plans" in India, and Indians and to buy their cell phones outright which obviously makes the iPhones to expensive and unaffordable to many).
b) In the last 2 decades are so, India has witnessed a revolution in digital payments and seen various innovations in this area. This has made it very easy to do micro-transactions. And yet Apple in India REFUSES to integrate with the local financial infrastructure of the country, and only accepts credit cards / debit cards from Visa or MasterCard for Apple Pay or iTunes. (Note that this is deliberate because the indian options give more privacy to the user - for example, with a credit card, Apple can know our credit rating and better profile us, but with certain indian payment options they will be deprived of this valuable information).
c) Objecting to certain policies of the government (this is understandable though from a capitalist point of view to maximise profit).
d) Totally ignoring the way how Indians use their phones and their requirements. (For example, Indians have been demanding a dual SIM phone for many years, and it is kind of a de facto standard feature here. And yet, it took about a decade or so for Apple to respond to that).
To summarise, Apple's management seems to lack creativity and the COURAGE to step out of thier comfort zone and try out new business models and / or new processes in other countries.
- npunt 8y agoThey don’t have higher margins on the new iPhones, they are selling higher end phones that contain costlier components.
- webmobdev 8y ago> Let’s start with Apple’s decision that it will no longer be reporting the sales numbers of the iPhone. Given the flat annual sales of the iPhone since the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch, the story about rising numbers no longer belonged to the actual unit sales, it belongs to the increasing margins and increasing average selling price. > If you’re going to sell success, you need bigger numbers. With the iPhone XS Plus clocking in at $1500 in some configurations the scope for larger margins and higher selling prices is pretty much priced out the market. Hiding the iPhone numbers means that the focus can be placed on the increasing revenue from software and services, rather than hardware revenue. [How Apple defied expectations, launched a $1,000 iPhone and made it more profitable than ever](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2018/11/12/apple-iphone-xr-sales-weak-low-danger-decision-revenue-margin/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2018/11/12/apple-iph...).
- npunt 8y agoiPhone XS margins are around the same or slightly less than prior models. Here are numbers: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apples-iphone-prices-soar-but-not-profit-margins https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apples-iphone-prices... If you have better numbers, share them. Your article has none.
- kipchak 8y agoLooking at the iPhone SE, I wonder if it's relatively low profit and retail cost had a role to play in it's death. If I was Apple having that customer buy a 7 instead seems like a better deal for me.
- cataphract 8y agoEven if the margins don't increase, by selling the same amount of more expensive phones, the profit will.
- matwood 8y agoThis is correct. If Apple made a mistake (still a big if), it's building a phone that was simply too expensive. The margin numbers that can be found are also for Apple as a company. Given the growth in services which should be high margin, this means the iPhones margins have been shrinking even with the price increases.
- webmobdev 8y ago(On another note - can someone tell me why I am unable to edit my post and correct the typos? When I click edit, I am able to edit the post, but clicking update doesn't seem to reflect the changes made, even if I refresh the web page.)