Apple's iPhone sales drop in India: Is the EMI dream over?

It seems Apple’s EMI magic has worn off as far as the India market is concerned. According to data research firm IDC, Apple’s Q1 in India has seen a 50 percent dip as far as sales numbers go. Manasi Yadav, senior research analyst told us, ‘In Q4 of 2012, we saw exceptional sales numbers for Apple as they had aligned with Reddignton and Ingram Micro. In Q1 of 2013, those numbers have not been replicated.’ According to an Economic Times report  which quotes IDC numbers Apple sold some 120,000 iPhones in India while in  October-December 2012 it had sold 230,000. Another data research firm Canalys told Zdnet said Apple sold 130,000 units in India in Q1 of 2013. Analyst Jessica Kwee put the decline due to seasonal demand and told the website, ‘In terms of demand, first quarter is usually a quieter period for India anyway, especially because of the major holidays in the fourth quarter. Possibly there was some leftover inventory from fourth quarter that got carried over to the first.’ [caption id=“attachment_963529” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] iPhone 5 is seen in this file photo. Getty Images[/caption] The numbers dip comes as a surprise given that the last quarter had been so positive for Apple in India. With the launch of an attractive EMI scheme on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, Apple had seen a surge in numbers with the company grabbing the number two spot in India in terms of revenue. At Firstpost  we had previously reported that Apple’s revenue share in India was at 15 percent for Q4 of 2012. But clearly Apple’s dream run has not lasted until the Q1 of 2013, despite the EMI offer still continuing. So what are the possible reasons for the slump? One of the factors that can’t be overlooked is that rival firms such as Samsung, Sony, BlackBerry are now also offering EMI options for their smartphones. This means a lot more competition for Apple and even with the EMI offering, the Cupertino giant’s offerings are still more expensive. For example, Samsung Galaxy S4 which was launched at Rs 41,500 — still less than Apple’s iPhone 5 which is priced at Rs 45,500 — is now retailing at Rs 39,500 on a site like Flikpart, while a website like Infibeam is offering cashback on the phone. The other issue is of course seasonal as Canalys’ analyst rightly pointed out. October to December are months with festivals like Diwali, Christmas, etc and people do tend to indulge in a lot more shopping during this time. The spending in Q1 of 2013 is unlikely to match sales made during the October-December. For Apple the fall in India numbers is definitely not good news given that India is now the third largest smartphone market in the world after the US and China.