印度染上蘋果狂熱癥
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????“在印度任何地方，人們都不會為了買一部智能手機，排這么長的隊。”——電視記者，孟買，11月2日 ????印度可能是全球增長最快的手機市場，但對蘋果公司（Apple）公司，印度一直是“敵方的領地”。 ????印度擁有12億人口。每月手機銷量高達1,500萬部。根據調研機構IDC的報告，三星公司（Samsung）2012年第二季度占據了印度智能手機市場51%的份額，iPhone的份額則下跌到了1.2%，僅為去年同期的一半。 ????因此，上周五iPhone 5的上市盛況讓所有人都大跌眼鏡。在新德里、孟買和班加羅爾的盛大發布會上，伴隨著搖滾音樂，不少模特、歌星紛紛登臺亮相。許多顧客早已提前好幾小時在店前排起了長龍。新聞媒體自然不會放過如此不同尋常的景象。 ????蘋果在印度遇到了棘手的問題：印度人更喜歡后付費手機——例如沒有運營商補貼的手機——而且對價格很是敏感。印度市場售出的手機70%價格在100美元以下，而無補貼版iPhone 5的售價高達45,500盧比（約合845美元），簡直堪比奢侈品。此外，印度有關法規禁止蘋果開設自有品牌零售店，要求蘋果必須與印度全國性、地區性或當地分銷商合作，這些商家自然要收取傭金。 ????蒂姆?庫克去年夏天曾對分析師說：“我喜歡印度。但多層分銷體系增加了我們的銷售成本。” ????這一次，蘋果改變了策略。根據《華爾街日報》（the Wall Street Journal）“印度時事”專欄報道，蘋果已經與兩家大型電器商Ingram Micro和Reddington達成了分銷協議。正是后者簽約了明星、宣傳造勢，并吸引了大眾。這一次，iPhone 5進入印度的速度大大加快，僅僅比美國晚42天，而此時印度的iPhone熱尚未消退。 ????新方式似乎已經奏效。新德里、孟買和班加羅爾這三個城市都出現了斷貨的情況，表明在印度可能有足夠多的、可支配收入較高且青睞高品質電子設備的買家，從而使得蘋果終于能擴大在這個國家小得可憐的市場份額。 ????譯者：項航 |
????"Nowhere in India will you see this kind of queue to buy a smartphone." -- TV reporter, Mumbai, Nov. 2 ????India may be the fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world, but it's been hostile territory for Apple (AAPL). ????In a country of 1.2 billion that buys 15 million cell phones a month, Samsung commanded a 51% share of the smartphone market in Q2, according to IDC, while the iPhone's share shrank to 1.2% -- half of what it was the year before. ????Which is what made Friday's launch of the iPhone 5 in India so surprising. At elaborately staged events in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore -- complete with models, starlets and disco music -- buyers queued up hours in advance, a sight unusual enough there to be considered newsworthy. ????Apple faces special challenges in India, where customers prefer their cell phones post-paid -- i.e. without carrier subsidies -- and inexpensive. Seventy percent of the mobiles sold in the country cost less than $100, which makes selling unsubsidized iPhones -- the iPhone 5 starts at 45,500 rupees ($845) -- especially daunting. Moreover, because local regulations prevent Apple from opening its own branded stores, it has been forced to work with national, regional and local distributors, each of which takes its cut. ????"I love India," Tim Cook told analysts last summer. "But the sort of the multilayer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market." ????This time the company tried something different. According to the Wall Street Journal's India Realtime, it cut deals with two large electronics chains -- Ingram Micro and Reddington -- that signed up the celebrities, generated the publicity and turned out the crowds. It also brought the iPhone 5 to Indians faster than ever before -- 42 days after the device launched in the U.S. -- while the buzz was still high. ????The new approach seems to have worked. There were stock-outs in all three cities, suggesting that there may be enough buyers in India with disposable income and a taste for quality electronics for Apple to finally gain more than the toe hold it now has on the subcontinent. |
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