The Lost Apple

Apple Inc. have has been a global phenomenon after its launch of iPod in 2001 and the iPhone in 2007. It managed to create an almost style statement to hold a iPod/iPhone in hand and even its doomed Macintosh systems also got a new lease of life after Apple's new found fame. Today Apple products signifies with itself as something Cool & Chic.

Its all good but somehow Apple couldn't get a hold of the lucrative Indian market till date. India has been one of the important global telecom markets after 2001 when private participants were allowed into the sector and since then have been kind of a dream run, but of the pillars on which the Indian telecom market grew leaps and bounds was the Pricing and the product placing strategy along with marketing.

And this is where I feel Apple losed out. The real downer for me was their marketing strategy in India. For once we couldn't see Apple actually trying to lure consumers. They were more happy with the word of mouth policy where only the niche few would own it either as a gift or from someone of their American friends. Apple tied up with Airtel and Vodafone, two of leading names in the telecom industry but really couldn't make any mark in the Indian minds. Another factor I will guess has been the Pricing strategy. In a price sensitive market like India, we could not ever see any innovative pricing or promotion schemes from Apple.
The same applies to its iPod brand of portable music players too. Though it managed to create a complete new generation for music listeners on the move and iPod became the name of any brand of mp3 players but Apple iPod itself couldn't make much of a mark. Here also I would say the Pricing strategy and the promotion really has not been there.

And finally the last major ultra cool product from Apple the iPad could hardly make any mark in the Indian minds, better still the Samsung Galaxy Tab created a lot of buzz in this space. Apple had an early mover advantage and grab a pie of Nokia's share but somehow on the Indian shores, the Apple strategy still remains elusive. It could have created a complete new generation of Apple loyalists but perhaps it remained ahead of time. To sum it up just like what Facebook did to Orkut in India, Apple could have been the Facebook in India and stopping Nokia's onslaught.

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