“Is he a cricketer? When did he die?”
This was the reply we got when we asked a person about Steve Jobs.
Well, you can't expect everybody to know about Jobs, you may say. But this was not just anybody. He was Kapoor, who manages Fathima Electronics in Chennai's Ritchie Street – the cluster of narrow roads that is regarded as the ‘capital' of electronics trade in Tamil Nadu.
Steve Jobs' death did not create even a ripple in Ritchie Street. Hardly anyone here is aware that someone called Steve Jobs lived and is synonymous with iPhone, iPad and all other products by Apple.
But there are exceptions.
Almost all of them said Jobs's death was a huge loss to Apple, but were unanimous that it would not affect the company. Even if it does, it would only marginally, a dealer said.
“For Apple users it is a big deal, but for Ritchie Street it is not. No company relies on just one man,” said Mr Rajiv B. Sakhrani of Life Computers. Another dealer, Mr Jitu Ranka agreed. “His death won't affect Apple. It is too big to be affected by one person's death,” he added.
Another dealer Sadam of Oasis Network said, “In India, no one really cares who the owner is. If the product is good, there will be good sales.”
Apple products are conspicuous by their absence in Ritchie Street, with the exception of iPods, that too, in a few shops.
One businessman said he doesn't trade in Apple's products. “There is hardly any communication from Apple about the prices, specifications or taxes. We just don't know what to bill. Also, the sales tax rates keep changing. In June, it was 12.5 per cent, now it is 14.5 per cent. There is only Rs 100-150 as margin. Hence, nobody really wants to go for product distribution.”
And Apple customers don't come to Ritchie Street.
“They usually want only Dell, Toshiba, Acer or HP. Not Apple,” a trader said. “We know the pulse of the people, and we know most of them just cannot afford an Apple product,” he said.
“Moreover if you have an iPhone, you have to have iTunes. You can sync only with iTunes, which puts off many people,” he said.
“If you see a user who uses a Mac, he would typically be someone who has used Macs for a long time. Or he would be in an industry like photo processing or video editing,” a trader said.
“We can't compete with the iStore as the margins are minimal. iStores also often come out with discount schemes for students every year for around three months. It is impossible for us to sell Apple products that time,” says Mr Rajiv.
Both Mr Rajiv and another dealer, say that with Apple's poor response to their queries, they just cannot satisfy customers. And their price lists were several months old.
Adds Mr Ranka, “Even when we call and get the latest price, it takes at least two days for us to get the product. And when we get it, we realise that the price is different.”
But another trader believes that Apple is a superb product.
“The fan following is also huge. Apple is like a phoenix. When people think it's falling, it will rise again.”