Apple needs to apply afresh for single brand retail

After reports emerged last month that Apple was seeking approval to open its own stores in India, ET is reporting today that the company will have to resubmit its application:

Apple […] will have to submit a fresh application for opening single brand retail stores in the country, as certain gaps have been found in the initial proposal.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has explained the gaps to the company and wants them to submit a fresh application, seeking more information on their proposal for further processing, according to sources.

February 9, 2016 ✚ Permalink

Apple Seeks Approval to Open Own Stores in India

ETtech this morning is reporting that Apple is seeking DIPP nod to open own stores in India.

Apple India has filed an application to open its own Apple branded stores in India with the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Confirming the development, DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant said, “We have just received Apple’s proposal. We are examining it.”

Back in November 2015, I had reported how Apple Stores in India may soon be possible after the Government of India had issued a press release announcing FDI reforms across 15 sectors, following which the DIPP had considered making exceptions in “certain high technology segments”.

Seems like Apple’s going for the kill.

January 20, 2016 ✚ Permalink

CloudFlare Launches 3 Data Centers in India

Literally all of the popular iXyr Media websites, including this one, are powered by the amazing CloudFlare architecture. There is tremendous value that CloudFlare gives out for Free and I couldn’t be happier with the product. A few days ago, CloudFlare made this big announcement that has long been my only feature request to them:

India is home to 400 million Internet users, second only to China, and will add more new users this year than any other country in the world. CloudFlare protects and accelerates 4 million websites, mobile apps and APIs, and is trusted by over 10,000 new customers each day. Combine these forces, and we are positioned to connect hundreds of millions of Indian users with the millions of Internet applications they use each day.

Today, we accelerate this momentum with the announcement of three new points of presence (PoPs) in Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi. These new sites represent the 66th, 67th and 68th data centers respectively across our global network.

They didn’t just announce a POP in India, they went all out and announced three of them.

As of this moment, our data centers in Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi are serving all CloudFlare customer content in under 50 milliseconds to users across the entire Indian subcontinent, about 7 times faster than the blink of an eye. And we’re not done yet—we’re still making tweaks to further decrease latency.

As someone whose sole livelihood depends on building and running websites, this is the best thing to happen this year.

December 13, 2015 ✚ Permalink

Federico Viticci’s iPad Pro Review

Federico Viticci’s mammoth review of iPad Pro is now available on MacStories. Viticci has some great insights on using it as your primary device, so make sure you settle down before you start reading it.

The iPad Pro is positioned as a more productive take on the iPad for those who need to get work done on it. My recommendation couldn’t be more straightforward: if iOS is your main computing platform, or if you plan to turn an iPad into your primary computer, you’ll want an iPad Pro. Its powerful hardware, multitasking interface, and extensible nature are superior to every other iPad. I don’t see myself using a Mac as my primary computer ever again.

November 11, 2015 ✚ Permalink

Apple Stores in India May Be Possible Now

Just last week, I linked to an Economic Times report that claimed that the Indian Government was planning to relax Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules relating to compulsory local outsourcing. In case of Apple, the rules meant that they’d have to source at least 30% of the raw material from India for their products if they planned to invest in opening Apple Stores in the country.

Today, the Indian Government has issued a press release announcing FDI reforms across fifteen sectors, including some big changes related to Single Brand Retail Trading (SBRT) and E-commerce companies.

The relaxed norms contain the following two notable points:

Presently, the FDI policy considers the date of receipt of the FDI for sourcing 30% of the value of goods. With the changes announced today, the period starting from the date of opening of the first store will instead be considered.

Secondly, and more importantly, the govt. has also considered making special exceptions. Section 8 (i) of the press note states that:

Further, it is seen that in certain high technology segments, it is not possible for retail entity to comply with the sourcing norms. To provide opportunity to such single brand entities, it has been decided that in case of ‘state-of-art’ and ‘cutting- edge technology’ sourcing norms can be relaxed subject to Government approval.

This means that for some companies (Hint: Apple), it is now possible to get an approval from the govt. without the fulfilling the sourcing requirement. Seeing company-operated Apple Stores in India doesn’t seem like a distant dream any more.

November 10, 2015 ✚ Permalink

Relaxed rules may help Apple open its stores in India

Ruchika Chitravanshi reporting for the Economic Times:

The government may consider relaxing compulsory local sourcing conditions for high-end, hi-tech, single-brand retailers. Such a move might help persuade Apple, which is seeking to widen market access in India, to establish wholly owned stores in the country.

The department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) is considering such a move to enable investments by foreign brands such as Apple, a senior government official told ET.

This is a big IF. The Govt. may consider this, and even if does end up happening, it’ll be years before we see a company-run Apple Store in India. I wouldn’t get my hopes high yet.

November 4, 2015 ✚ Permalink

A Look at Video Streaming Services in India — Part I: Spuul

This is Part I of a multi-part series that takes a look at the various video streaming services available for India.

If you’re a savvy internet user like me, you know there are quite a few streaming services now available for the Indian audience, both for audio and video content. I have tried and/or extensively used quite a lot of these video streaming services over the last year or so, and while we’re still far from seeing Netflix or Hulu launch here in India, the services that we do have available are definitely showing some promise.

I’m starting off this series with a look at Spuul. Spuul is one of the first streaming services that I had come across, somewhere around 2013, a year after its public launch. Spuul currently focuses on offering a large catalogue of Indian movies and TV shows to a global audience and offers a Universal iOS app, an Android app, as well as the option to streaming movies in a broswer (Flash required).

(more…)

November 4, 2015 ✚ Permalink

Apple Watch Pricing in India

The Apple Watch is all set to officially launch in India on November 6th, 2015, just in time for Diwali. Although the pricing for it hasn’t been announced by Apple, the folks at Gadgets 360° have managed to get their hands onto the pricing information for India.

the Apple Watch Sport will start at Rs. 30,900 for the 38mm variant. The 42mm variant of the Apple Watch Sport will retail at Rs. 34,900. Both prices are MRP, inclusive of all taxes. It’s worth noting that the 38mm and 42mm models retail in the US at $349 (Rs. 22,700 approximately) and $399 (Rs. 25,900 approximately) respectively, before taxes.

I was actually expecting the pricing to start at around ₹32,900, so this is nice to hear. The article has the pricing info for other watch models and also the bands, so go ahead and check it out. There’s also this bit:

Apple is planning to launch the entire Watch lineup in India, with the most expensive model (Apple Watch Edition with Gold Case and Modern Buckle) costing a cool Rs. 14.2 lakhs, compared to its US price of $17,000 (Rs. 11 lakh approximately), before taxes.

You can’t help but chuckle at that. It’d be cheaper for someone to actually fly to the US and buy that Apple Watch Edition than pay a whopping 3 Lakh premium for it here.

Nice scoop by Kunal and his team.

October 28, 2015 ✚ Permalink