Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), world’s largest producer of smartphones has problems in the Indian market, where there are over 602 million phone users, according to Bloomberg.
Apple launched a new phone on October 4, the iPhone 4S, but it sells fewer phones in Asia than in Norway. In Asia, the market is dominated by Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM), maker of BlackBerry.
Analysts say that Research in Motion (RIM) will sell 70% more phones in 2015 than now, so that they will recover their losses in the U.S. and European markets.
Analysts say that Indian telephone networks are not as efficient as the ones on the European and American continents. Thus, users can not take advantage of all the capabilities of an Apple phone that needs a good internet connection. Specifically 3G networks in India are not the same as in America or Europe. Instead, RIM has the right product and best applications for it – the BlackBerry messaging service and software that works even on the lower speed 3G networks.
In the quarter ended June 30, Apple sold only 62,043 phones in India, less than in Belgium or Israel, in the same period, according to IDC.
Further, Apple has a market share of only 2.6% compared to the 15% of RIM, 21% of Samsung and Nokia, which dominates the sector by 46%.
Moreover, Apple products are not intended for mass-market, and in India this is a problem. The World Bank estimates that nearly 900 million people live on less than $2 per day. Price for Apple phone is not cheap for the Indian market. The cost of a device starts at $705 as opposed to the online stores in the U.S. where it sells $199.
Meanwhile, BlackBerry phones are more affordable. In the second quarter, RIM sold 40% of phones in India at a cost under $200.