The Apple Watch is continuing its international rollout by going on sale in India — shortly before the country’s Diwali festival, and just one month after the Indian debut of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Apple’s first wearable device — which has so far shipped close to 7 million units around the world — starts at Rs 30,900 ($469) for the 38mm Apple Watch Sport, and goes up to Rs 14.2 lakh ($21,500) for the top-priced Apple Watch Edition.
The recently-debuted Apple Watch Hermès isn’t yet available in the country.
India is among the largest untapped tech markets in the world, and one that Apple has tried its best to break into. Recently Tim Cook told India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the country holds a, “very special place in the heart of every Apple employee” because it was somewhere Steve Jobs visited as a young man searching for inspiration.
Apple also recently announced the opening of its first official Apple Stores in India, in partnership with local consumer electronics chain Croma.
On top of this, India’s Communications and I.T. Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has pushed for Apple to open an R&D center in the country, while there has also been increasing talk about Foxconn shifting iPhone production to India.
Given that initial iPhone 6s sales have reportedly been somewhat disappointing in India, and fewer than 2 million Apple handsets sell there each year, I don’t expect India to become a massive marketplace for the Apple Watch just yet. But Apple’s continued rollout of the wearable will only serve to make it more and more recognizable around the globe.
While being a great thing for Indian customers, of course.
Source: Times of India
