Apple made history by launching iPhone 3G which was long awaited. Apple captured the European markets, US markets and witnessed a great beginning worldwide. India seems to be way behind the league, and a subsequent disappointment has set in at last.

India, was never the priority market for Apple and hence, the company chose to ship only 100,000 phones by December 2009. The coveted phone hasn’t been showing great sales figures either. Clearly, Apple didn’t keep its hope too high. Sources claim that only 50,000 phones were shipped during the launch in August 2008, out of which the proud owners of 8 GB iPhone 3G is a surprising number of 11,000 people only.

Analysts believe that Apple has played their cards really wrong in the fastest growing economy, and the second largest economy in terms of growth of the telecom industry. By underplaying the Indian economy with its ever-increasing purchasing power, Apple lost a big opportunity to sell its blockbuster product and also in laying a stronger foundation for its other brands as well.

The steep pricing of iPhone 3G is only one of the obvious reasons that led to the poor sales figure. Business analysts, experts and even Apple’s rivals in India feel that the main reason for the failure of iPhone 3G was due to its flawed sales and distribution and also the poor methods of communication and ineffective advertisement campaigns. Availability of the iPhone 3G only at the service provider’s outlet and inexperience in the complex Indian retail environment only added to their woes. The next question in your mind would be, did the existence of Apple iPhone 3G really need to be communicated? Lets face it, the iPhone 3G targets the niche market, which consists of the educated lot, and hence, they would know about the famous phone. But the fact remains, that phone was not communicated to the market as a lifestyle product that would enthuse the potential customers more like the way the advertisements campaigns did in USA and other companies.

A couple of hoardings in some corners and television commercials for a few weeks definitely were not aggressive enough as marketing tactics. Also the phone was expected to be priced $199 in the Indian markets. The telecom industry depends mostly on prepaid connections in India, so the service providers which also happen to be license holders like Vodafone Essar Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd couldn’t subsidize the cost and to recover the same priced it at a whopping Rs.31000.

With tough competition from Nokia’s N96, Samsung and RIM with their own versions of the iPhone, and Google Inc. with its Android ready to side with the competitors, Apple flagship model has to tread its each step very carefully. Effective communication, sales and distribution techniques could be the key to its success and also sustenance in the Indian shores.

Via: LiveMint