[xbmcuser]

Gdp per capita for India is around ~$2000. India does not have much of a market for +$500 phones nor does it have a contract system where the +$500 can be paid over time. So I don't see it help Apple much in gaining market share. At the current Apple prices I have seen multiple long time Apple users leave Apple. Unless Apple is willing to cut its margins dramatically I don't see them getting much of a foot hold in India.

[tiuPapa]

You are forgetting India is a land of 1.3 billion people. There are at least 50 - 100 million people who are willing to spend more than 500$ on a phone. That's a big enough market for Apple to consider.

[vijaybritto]

No. The sale of 500$+ phones in only in a few million.

[tiuPapa]

Yep, but it's growing. The premium segment(above 500$) is the fastest growing segment of the market. And even the segment just below it (300$ - 500$) is a chunky portion of the market who are all potential customers for the premium segment.

[robocat]

1.3 billion people, 2% own an iPhone (according to another comment here), equals 25 million iDevices in India...

[sumedh]

> The sale of 500$+ phones in only in a few million.

Its not about market size today, you have to look into the future as well.

[vijaybritto]

In the future apple's phones would be 1500 plus. They are already making loss. Apple's positioning in India is as a 'premium' brand. It's price is so high that even IT employees buy in EMI. Meanwhile Chinese android phones haves 95% of the quality at 1/5th the price. There is no market fit

[oasisbob]

The problem I see with that argument is that it dismisses what all sorts of other upmarket brands are doing in India.

Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and others are making essentially the same play. They must see a valuable enough market to warrant that kind of investment.