Tim Cook’s visit to India may have paid off supplementary than people were expecting. According to the source, Apple will launch the next iPhone 7 in India at the same time as most major markets like the US and the UK, who is in proximity to the launch planning.
In India, Apple loses major of its initial sales push to the Grey market imports, or to people purchasing the iPhone overseas. Apple wants to cut this down by launching at the same time as the major markets. India is one of the strongest growing smartphone markets in the world and Apple sees the large potential in the market.
Our source (who explicitly wished to remain unidentified due to his transactions with Apple) also stated that Apple is working hard on bringing not only the official Apple Stores experience to the main cities, but also to the online Apple Store which does not exist in India.
While this information is not far from what Apple has officially proclaimed, and the company is in talks with the Indian government to allow certifying for the retail stores. We still have to see if Apple will bring the full Apple experience to India. Something which many users complain has been missing, especially the Apple Care experience which is possibly the best anywhere an official Apple store exists.
If Apple does launch the “full experience” online Apple Store, people may finally be able to customise their MacBooks and iMac as per required specs, have them shipped directly to their houses and also finally be able to get “I’m Batman” laser engraved on their iPad or iPhone.