It was literally a ‘Thank God, it's Friday!' moment for all those awaiting Apple's new iPad arrival in India. Queues dotted select Apple reseller stores in Mumbai.
At Delhi's bustling Ghaffar market, electronic dealers were swarmed by 20-somethings asking for the latest iPad. The well-known grey market for electronic goods is offering the ‘best rate' on the new iPad just as it makes its debut in the Indian retail market.
Organised retailers and premium resellers note that Apple's best-selling tablet globally is finally recognising Indian purchasing power.
iWorld, an exclusive Apple reseller in India, says this time the product has arrived faster. Officials said earlier it took about three-four months for the products to hit the domestic market. The company said it sells nearly 150 iPads a month.
Mr Ajit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director, Croma, a part of Tata-owned Infiniti Retail had said last month, “When iPad 2 was launched, we ran out of supply. We hope this time around, Apple can manage its supply to the Indian consumers.”
iStore by Reliance Digital, claimed it has already sold a number of pieces. “We have already sold around 10 new iPad's today. Since ours is a standalone store, sales are lower than that of our big stores like the one in Palladium at Phoenix mills. Around 20 pieces have been sold at the Palladium store,” said Mr Sudhakar Kanakraj, assistant store manager at the Apple premium reseller store in Mumbai.
Reliance Digital, which is a premium reseller of Apple products through its retail venture iStore, is understood to be scaling up its iStore from 19 to 22.
Sleek & sharper
The new iPad is sleeker, sharper and thinner, though slightly heavier than the earlier model. It is available in different versions and price points – starting from the cheapest 16GB Wi-Fi model at Rs 30,500 to the 64GB (Wi-Fi+4G) at Rs 50,900.
It's not just any model of the new iPad, people want the high-end version. “Most of the pieces that we have sold are the 64 GB (Wifi+4G) new iPads. Since these work on 3G networks, people prefer these to the other cheaper models,” added Mr Kanakraj. Airtel is already offering 4G services in the country.
“People are going in for the most expensive iPad with 4G. We have around 25 pieces at the moment and feel that they will get sold out by the weekend,” claimed Mr Faiz Khan, Department Manager, e zone (Goregaon store).
Dealers in the grey market, too, are sure of seeing a number of purchasers next week when the new iPad makes its way into their shops.
Industry estimates suggest that Indian consumers will buy around 85,000 tablet PCs in 2012. Players such as Apple, Samsung, RIM, and Motorola cater to the high-end segment of tablet PCs priced between Rs 29,000 and Rs 48,000. A Frost & Sullivan report said that Indians bought three lakh units of tablets in 2011 compared with around 60,000 tablets in 2010.