Apple to launch first online store in India next week

Apple will launch its first online store in India on September 23, the iPhone maker said on Friday, coinciding with the country’s festive season that rakes in some of the biggest sales for retailers every year.

The company currently sells its products in India through third-party vendors and e-commerce firms such as Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart.

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India, with more than 1 billion wireless subscribers of which about a third rely on basic handsets, provides huge growth prospects for smartphone makers, as well as cheap labor to manufacture the devices.

Apple assembles some smartphones, including the iPhone 11, at Foxconn and Wistron’s plants in two southern Indian states.

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Through its online retail platform, Apple plans to offer assistance to customers in English and Hindi, while allowing users to engrave their iPads, Apple Pencil and Airpods in English and also in a handful of Indian languages, including Bengali and Gujarati.

Earlier this week, Apple rolled out a virtual fitness service and a bundle of all its subscriptions, Apple One, focusing on services that are the backbone of Apple’s growth strategy and that cater to customers working at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.