India might be willing to bend some laws to help Apple gain traction in the country, but when it comes to the company’s request to import and sell refurbished iPhones to the world’s second-largest mobile population, things aren’t quite so positive.
According to a new report, Apple’s application was turned down on the grounds that it might hurt local handset manufacturers.
And one of the companies behind the campaign to stop Apple? None other than decidedly non-local smartphone maker, Samsung!
Samsung was part of a group called the Mobile and Communications Council, which also includes Micromax and Intex: two more of the big phone brands which sell in India.
At present, Apple has less than 2 percent of the Indian market, although it has shown a willingness to change up its business practices to gain a foothold in the country — either by cutting iPhone prices to get them into more people’s hands, or by introducing lower-cost devices such as the iPhone SE.
With Apple increasingly at loggerheads with the Chinese government, which favors China-based brands over U.S. ones, India is a promising up-and-coming market for Apple. Recently the company stated its plans to open new flagship Apple Stores in the country, in addition to investing $25 million in a new office complex in India — bringing around 4,500 jobs to the region during the construction process.
It seems that not everything is going to be quite so straightforward for Apple, though. And particularly not when Samsung is involved.
Source: Bloomberg
