Indian Government Approves 100% Foreign Direct Investment for Single-Brand Retail; Signaling a Major Win for Apple

The Union Cabinet today approved changes to the FDI norms for India. The government has eased norms across various key sectors at a meeting led by the PM Narendra Modi, such as construction, aviation, etc. However, the most notable and relevant change comes in the single-brand retail sector. The Indian Government has now approved 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for single-brand retail in India via the Automatic Route. Previously, it was possible to invest up to 49 percent via the automatic route — anything higher than 49 percent required a government approval.

The amendments announced today are “intended to liberalize and simplify the FDI policy so as to provide ease of doing business in the country”, said a release by the Press Information Bureau.

This change is a major win for Apple, who has been trying to setup their own stores in India for a while now. The company did get a step closer in their attempts in April of 2016, but the Indian government wasn’t ready to relax the local sourcing norms for Apple. However, in June that year, the government announced some radical changes to the FDI policy that raised our hopes yet again. Today’s announcements have hopefully brought Apple India a little closer to their goal.

The government has also decided to permit entities to “set off” the 30% local sourcing norms for the first five years, beginning 1st April of the year of opening the first store.

I have been waiting for a really long time to see company-run Apple Stores in India, not for the sales experience, but rather to experience Apple’s incredible support first-hand. It sure seems that the dream is closer to being a reality now.

January 10, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple Being Probed Over iPhone Planned Obsolescence in France

Natasha Lomas, writing for TechCrunch:

Programmed obsolescence is illegal in France under a 2015 law which prohibits “the use of techniques by which the person responsible for the marketing of a product aims to deliberately reduce the duration to increase the replacement rate “.

The law carries a penalty of a maximum sentence of two years in prison and up to 5 per cent of a company’s annual turnover.

AFP cites a judicial source stating that the Paris prosecutor’s office of the Directorate General of Competition, Consumption and Repression of Frauds opened a preliminary investigation against Apple on January 5, for “programmed obsolescence” and “deception”.

This whole thing is getting pretty nasty for Apple now.

January 9, 2018 ✚ Permalink

App Store Sees Record-Breaking Numbers

Apple has announced that its App Store had a fantastic run in 2017, especially during the holiday season leading up to the new year.

App Store customers around the world made apps and games a bigger part of their holiday season in 2017 than ever before, culminating in $300 million in purchases made on New Year’s Day 2018. During the week starting on Christmas Eve, a record number of customers made purchases or downloaded apps from the App Store, spending over $890 million in that seven-day period.

Apple says that it paid out $26.5 Billion to iOS developers, an increase of over 30 percent compared to 2016. Since its launch in 2008, the App Store has made $86 Billion for iOS developers around the world.

The new App Store introduced in iOS 11 got a lot of things right, and Apple knocked it out of the park with their approach. I’m loving the curation on the US App Store — I just wish I had landed that App Store Editor job I had applied for at Apple India.

January 5, 2018 ✚ Permalink

A Look at What the T2 Chip Does in the iMac Pro

The new iMac Pro that went on sale last month includes a new custom chip built by Apple that the company is calling the T2. Jason Snell, writing for Macworld, has an interesting look at all the various functions and responsibilities that the custom T2 Chip handles in the iMac Pro.

[…] this new Mac is completely different from all past Mac models.

The iMac Pro may be an outlier today, but in the future we’ll probably look back on it as the start of a new era for the Mac, all because of the Apple-built T2 chip it carries inside.

January 4, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple Developer Program Membership Fee Waivers

We’re pleased to announce that Apple Developer Program membership is now available at no cost for eligible organizations. Nonprofit organizations, accredited educational institutions, and government entities based in the United States that will distribute only free apps on the App Store can request to have their annual membership fee waived.

If you’re a nonprofit organization, accredited educational institution, or government entity based in the United States and plan to distribute only free apps on the App Store, you’re eligible for this fee waiver. You have to apply and wait for Apple to review your request and approve it.

I hope this comes to other countries as well.

January 4, 2018 ✚ Permalink

A Tear Down of the new iMac Pro

The folks at MacSales.com got their hands on a new iMac Pro and of course got down to tearing it down to reveal what’s on the inside.

The iMac Pro is a gorgeous machine on the outside, but as this video shows, it’s far more beautiful on the inside too. The tight integration of components in the little available space is handled incredibly well by Apple.

December 28, 2017 ✚ Permalink

Official India Pricing for iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, Apple TV 4K and Apple Watch Series 3

Apple today announced a new generation of iPhone models at its annual keynote event in Cupertino. This year, the company held its iPhone launch event at the newly constructed Steve Jobs Theater in its swanky new HQ — the Apple Park. From what I’ve seen in the photos and heard from friends who were lucky enough to attend the event, the Steve Jobs Theater looks every bit as stunning as you’d imagine.

Unlike the keynote event WWDC 2017 which was jam-packed, today’s keynote event felt purposefully natural and deliberate. Tim Cook and other Apple executives seemed in no hurry to finish a demo or move on to the next slide. It was also quite a bit weird to see them stutter when delivering the lines, which leads me to believe that the keynote either wasn’t rehearsed that well or they just didn’t find the time to.

Apple announced the following products today:

  • iPhone X
  • iPhone 8
  • iPhone 8 Plus
  • Apple TV 4K
  • Apple Watch Series 3

I’m still going through the material made available after today’s announcements and will be posting my thoughts, comments, and observations here very soon. In the mean time, here is the official pricing of all the products announced today.

(more…)

September 13, 2017 ✚ Permalink

Apple AirPods Review — Intelligent Wireless Earbuds

Apple AirPods Review in India

AirPods were introduced by Apple on September 7th, 2016 at an event that also gave us the iPhone 7 and the Apple Watch Series 2. Unlike these devices though, the AirPods didn’t actually go on sale immediately and instead, Apple did not start accepting orders until December that year. It has been quite difficult to get your hands on the AirPods, and the product is still seeing long shipping estimates, as late as six weeks at times.

I had made up my mind not to buy the AirPods. There was no way I could manage to somehow get my hands on one, and I had already spent ₹25,000 on the incredible Bose QC20i noise-cancelling earphones [Buy Now on Amazon or Flipkart]. There was no way I could afford them. But more importantly, I just didn’t feel the need to spend ₹15,400 on another pair of earphones, just to get rid of the wires.

Then, over the last six months of 2017, I witnessed several people that I follow on Twitter slowly end up buying AirPods for themselves and tweeting about their experiences using them. Every single person who bought these AirPods had high praises to sing for them. It was great to hear about the experience of owning the AirPods from people I know and look up to. Six months ago, I had made up my mind to not buy them, and by the start of June 2017, I was torn. I wasn’t immediately looking to buy them since they weren’t officially available in India anyway, but a big part of me really wanted them. Badly.

Apple wasn’t sending me a review unit, so in the end, I decided to dive in on my own and by June 13th, I was holding a pair of AirPods in my hand.

(more…)

July 30, 2017 ✚ Permalink