Apple Not Able to Open Retail Stores in India Without Selling 30% Locally Sourced Goods

[BrentT]

Introducing iCurry. Problem solved.

 

[apolloa]

hahahahahahahaha they aren't cutting edge technology

Well done India, play hard ball, do not give in to Apple and get the best for yourselves, I mean it's not like many of them can afford Apple's products!

 

[Edd.Dantes]

To be perfect candid, India has had running water and toilets since 3300 BC -
"Among other things, they contain the world's earliest known system of flush toilets"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilisation

You may want to read a little history before asserting the inferiority of their race.
Do you not think India's image, it's synonymity poverty, had anything to do with the fact it was under foreign rule in one for or another since the 10th century, especially in the north-western states; 1000 years of Islamic conquests followed by 300 years of British imperialistic sovereignty, had left the numerous princely states ravished, it's wealth looted, and the people broken.

While all you said is true, at some point they have to make decisions to rise above that image. I, personally, wouldn't own anything made in India. It's not racism, it's just that everything I have used with "made in India" stamped, forged, or stickered on an item was complete trash.

The USA used to be pretty great too and I have no problem insulting things here. We all know how things fall apart in countries. We have varying opinions in the USA about "why" but it all points to Washington. At some point, there isn't anything the people can do.

With that said, Indian communities should do things on a local level to clean up their towns and image. If you can't change the country, change your home. They have plenty of people to do amazing things.

Proper sanitation, housing and food should not be an issue. Also, birth control wouldn't be such a bad idea. This planet can hold tons more people but the few we have now are doing a bang up job at raping it. I'm no environmentalist but even I know we have done some pretty bad things to this planet. No hippie here but consumerism and exploiting developing (err... Non-developing) countries has taken its toll. Again, developing countries can only be exploited because of their own governments oppressing the people through politics and human rights.

The USA is always a powder keg but at least we will never be taken over by any foreign force. We have way too many guns

We are being torn apart from the inside, via Washington and corporations. The terrorists think they do good when they kill a few Americans. Ha! Islam has nothing on what we do to ourselves.

 

[GSPice]

Irony being that the USA's economy is often very much a house of cards. While a "rich" country - there seems to be an incredible amount of people who aren't working, can't east, schools that can't afford books and supplies and are overcrowded, and so on.

I'm not saying India is better off or without it's problems. But Let's not stoop to insulting an entire country. And you're not the only one doing it - so I'm not just talking about you...

Believe me I don't feel you're calling me out or anything, but.. you can't really compare US poverty with Indian poverty.

 

[Mtmspa]

Cook should say that those facilities and jobs are no longer coming to India.

 

[samcraig]

Believe me I don't feel you're calling me out or anything, but.. you can't really compare US poverty with Indian poverty.

No. I agree with that But perhaps selfishly I think we could do a better job domestically before criticizing our foreign neighbors.

 

[brendu]

And probably a good reason why Tim Cook is the man for the job. Apple's challenges in the international field now go way beyond just coming up with the next big thing.

He may not be much of a product guy, but I am sure he can steer Apple through these challenges.

I bout the same thing just after posting earlier. The next big thing in tech is still several years away. Despite what macrumors readers want, what Apple needs right now is an operations guy and Cook is one of the best.

 

[diegogaja]

"The waiver is available only for investment in "state of the art" or "cutting-edge technology""

Reading comprehension is important.

but the ministry of finance has decided Apple's products do not fall into the cutting-edge technology category

if that isn't a slap in the face, I don't know what is

 

[kdarling]

How absurd, here is a country with plenty of poverty yet the Communist thinking Government won't allow this so that folks can get jobs and feed their families. Not a fan of Made in China or even a fan of India but the Indian Government is pretty backwards thinking. Specially after Cook just had such a high profile visit to the country. Wow!

Just to reiterate what others have already said, it makes a lot of sense for the Indian government to want thousands of factory jobs in addition to the relatively few Apple store jobs.

It'll be interesting to see what Cook does. He's been really counting on China and India to prop up sales increases in the future, so he's pretty committed to doing whatever it takes. Heck, and he's got the war chest to do it.

 

[2010mini]

Next time Tim, bring 2 suitcases full of money. One won't cut it anymore.

 

[Apple Corps]

And probably a good reason why Tim Cook is the man for the job. Apple's challenges in the international field now go way beyond just coming up with the next big thing.

He may not be much of a product guy, but I am sure he can steer Apple through these challenges.

Laughable - if you come up with the next Big Thing all of the markets will be scrambling for your products. Lacking the next Big Thing Cook is relegated to peddling his line of smoke & mirrors & magical pipeline. Cook is hardly the person for the job based on what we are seeing over the past 5 years.

 

[ForkHandles]

They're really expensive, and that doesn't justify the initiation of force that is the Indian government keeping Apple from building stores there. If they Want to build stores there, its because they see value in it and think that their customers will see value in it as well. The Indian government is robbing its people of value, and their rights.



They have no right to initiate force to do that. Apple products are extremely expensive there because of rights violating, protectionist games like these. Purely evil.



They are Violating Apple's rights in initiating force against them to stop them from building these stores. They have no right to do it. Little fascist policies like these keep the prices of these devices high in this country, violate the rights of everyone involved, and rob the Indian people of value.

And who gives a damn what the Indian government wants? They have no RIGHT to INITIATE force against anyone, for any reason, ever. That includes Apple, for the purpose of achieving x economic goal, at any point in time. To advocate for an initiation of force by right is a gross misunderstanding of the fundamental basis on which rights rest.



Speaking of missing the point, why don't you go ahead and explain to me how the fact that Apple products are already sole there at hugely inflated prices, then permits the Indian government to violate the rights of Apple, and the Indian people by Initiating force against them to prevent Apple from providing the economic value of an Apple Store to the Indian people. Explain to me by what right or whim they negate property rights, and intervene in a voluntary exchange of economic value.



By what right do they negate property rights, and intervene in a voluntary exchange of economic value?



Trade wars hurt everyone. uncompromising freedom is the only proper solution.

And with any luck, we'll get the evil B**** or the full blown fascist instead of that stealth fascist parading around as a champion of free markets and Capitalism.



What about them? Does the fact that Apple products are available from other sources at hugely inflated prices permit the Indian government the right to violate the rights of Apple and its people by negating property rights, and individual rights more broadly? Just because they want to accomplish some arbitrary economic metric?



Like hell it is. That's pure fascism, and that's some scary s*** to be reading. I really hope you don't live in America. India does not make the rules, reality does. The only purpose of any legitimate government is the uncompromising protection of individual rights, and that does not mean violating the rights of Apple, and the Indian people just because some backwards arm of their backwards government want to accomplish some arbitrary economic goal.



Protectionism hurst everyone involved. This government is Violating Apple's rights by initiating force against them to prevent them from providing this economic value to India's people, and it is violating the rights of its people by refusing them the right to voluntarily engage in economic trade to mutual benefit with other individuals. Everybody loses. Where does it say that the indian people must produce the products they buy? Whats wrong with creating other types of value and then trading for that value instead? And how the hell does anyone think that they're smart enough to get the arbitrary number of this arbitrary metric right? Because they work for the government? Ridiculous, and inexcusable violation of rights.

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And you know, not a single response came out in defense of the rights of Apple, or the Indian people. Crazy. What the hell is happening to the world...

What I loved about your posting was your uncompromising view that India should be the same as the USA. Whilst your views are perfectly valid in your country, you seemed to overlook the fact that other countries are Do not have to be the same, not better, certainly no worse, they can be different. Perhaps with a set of ideals that are not centered around the Almighty Dollar.

America has its own protectionism in place that stops of lot of European companies doing business there. India is welcome to do exactly the same.

 

[Laserducky]

"The waiver is available only for investment in "state of the art" or "cutting-edge technology", he added."

Looks like someone forgot to do the needful to the right person. Bummer.

It's hard to tell what cutting edge in India means. Running water and toilets? Air conditioning?

Its not the job of private companies to provide running water, toilets, air conditioning et al.

That's the job of the government which have over the years not succeeded in doing this for their vast and ever increasing population.

Good joke anyways, I'm sure will elicit a laugh or two from the bogans.

Cheers !

 

[KPandian1]

How absurd, here is a country with plenty of poverty yet the Communist thinking Government won't allow this so that folks can get jobs and feed their families.

Specially after Cook just had such a high profile visit to the country. Wow!

-Mike

Apple store are going to provide jobs to how many Indians, on top of what the existing third party sellers provide? 500 per store, 15 in the nation by 2025!

India or Chine - which is more communist? USA flexed its anti-communist muscle against Cuba, but a decade later became BFF with the dangerously dictatorial communist China. Wimp much?

India is full of faults that holds back it people - much like Russia or USA does.

What India needs is a K-12 education system that is nationwide and abolition of child labor - the main reasons why India, after 70 years of "Independence", is still a cesspool! (See my name)

Who is Tim Cook for anyone to respect or show deference? Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak? Even they will not command such special treatment!

 

[Tec972]

This is absolutely classic!!!! "but the ministry of finance has decided Apple's products do not fall into the cutting-edge technology category."

I totally agree, and when Apple's product don't qualify as cutting edge for a third world country, guess what?, for a technology company you have issues. Heres cutting edge for you 10/100 ethernet port on your brand new apple TV and USB 2.0 on your brand new iPad Pro 9.7. Not to mention countless other things. India telling apple what they don't already know. APPLE WAKE UP AND STOP BEAN COUNTING SO MUCH. LOL!!!!!

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

It must suck to shop in India. Which foreign companies make at least 30% of their products in India?

 

[smacrumon]

Yeah - brilliant business & economic strategy for India. How have their strategies worked out so far for their standard of living and well being of their population?

An iPod in someone's pocket isn't going to lift that individual's
standard of living. However if India is able to negociate manufacturing leading to jobs, those things will help the population. Apple doesn't have a right to set up shop wherever it likes. It's not Apple world. Let them negociate.

 

[Thunderhawks]

A 30% overhead for getting my app out to millions of users is cheap and much lower that other retail distribution systems. Running the app store is very labor intensive and not even a profit center for Apple.

Previous app stores in the Palm and Newton days were taking at much as 50% to 75% of the revenue stream of all apps sold via their portal. One even forbid the developer to have developer contact info inside any app sold in their portal.

Apple knows third party apps sells their hardware. Thus the app store is a loss lead for their hardware margins.

Woha Wilbur, loss leader?

Maybe they break even or make a smaller profit.

Steve who was still around during app store times didn't even know the four letter word LOSS.

 

[Rocketman]

The Indian PM heard about Trump and put a 30% tarriff on Apple. While shaking Cook's hand and smiling for the cameras.

 

[vvs14]

Yeah - brilliant business & economic strategy for India. How have their strategies worked out so far for their standard of living and well being of their population?

How about we were a completely impoverishes nation when we got independence less than 70 years ago and in such a short time we are back in the reckoning on our own? Yes the speed is slower than what we would want it to be. But if the policies were so bad we would not be where we are today. Try reading up a bit instead of ranting on the internet.

 

[interstella]

I worked in India for 5 years. It's an amazing country but a real pain to do business with. Everything imported is taxed by up to 40%, if there;s the slightest problem with paperwork (like the semi-colon I inserted by mistake a few words ago!) your entire cargo gets rejected. My company had a $50,000 satellite internet system "lost" in Indian import procedures for an entire year. My ship was even taxed 40% on the 100 tonnes of diesel fuel we had on board on arrival as this was fuel "not required for the voyage". No, I can't see the logic either. The whole country is a paperwork and bureaucracy nightmare designed to make everything grind to a halt via a massive army of civil servants whose job seems to be to slow everything down as much as possible. If India was to modernise and scrap 99% of its restrictions it would knock China off its pedestal but I wouldn't hold your breath on this one. There are harder places to do business with (Nigeria, Angola) but few, if any, have 1.2 billion people who are becoming increasingly affluent and keen to buy in to the latest technology.

By the way I'm still wondering what the civil servants did with the 120 passport photos of me that they accumulated in 5 years, why I once had to travel for 6 hours to sign a piece of paper before I was allowed to leave the country and why loading fuel on a ship required 36 signatures from me! Unknown anywhere else...normal in India.

 

[Edd.Dantes]

I worked in India for 5 years. It's an amazing country but a real pain to do business with. Everything imported is taxed by up to 40%, if there;s the slightest problem with paperwork (like the semi-colon I inserted by mistake a few words ago!) your entire cargo gets rejected. My company had a $50,000 satellite internet system "lost" in Indian import procedures for an entire year. My ship was even taxed 40% on the 100 tonnes of diesel fuel we had on board on arrival as this was fuel "not required for the voyage". No, I can't see the logic either. The whole country is a paperwork and bureaucracy nightmare designed to make everything grind to a halt via a massive army of civil servants whose job seems to be to slow everything down as much as possible. If India was to modernise and scrap 99% of its restrictions it would knock China off its pedestal but I wouldn't hold your breath on this one. There are harder places to do business with (Nigeria, Angola) but few, if any, have 1.2 billion people who are becoming increasingly affluent and keen to buy in to the latest technology.

By the way I'm still wondering what the civil servants did with the 120 passport photos of me that they accumulated in 5 years, why I once had to travel for 6 hours to sign a piece of paper before I was allowed to leave the country and why loading fuel on a ship required 36 signatures from me! Unknown anywhere else...normal in India.

I swear this popped into my head and wasn't even remotely racist or pun-intended...

Too many chiefs and not enough Indians...

Think about that in the innocent way it was meant. That's what it sounds like to me. 36 signatures shows me that everyone wants to feel like they have power/control. Like the 35 signatures that preceded the 36th just didn't sit right with the 36th guy/department that wanted it

 

[guychicago]

Tim Cook went to India to meet a famous Bollywood actress who has been calling him since the early 90's. See the video at the 30 second mark

 

[Laserducky]

I worked in India for 5 years. It's an amazing country but a real pain to do business with. Everything imported is taxed by up to 40%, if there;s the slightest problem with paperwork (like the semi-colon I inserted by mistake a few words ago!) your entire cargo gets rejected. My company had a $50,000 satellite internet system "lost" in Indian import procedures for an entire year. My ship was even taxed 40% on the 100 tonnes of diesel fuel we had on board on arrival as this was fuel "not required for the voyage". No, I can't see the logic either. The whole country is a paperwork and bureaucracy nightmare designed to make everything grind to a halt via a massive army of civil servants whose job seems to be to slow everything down as much as possible. If India was to modernise and scrap 99% of its restrictions it would knock China off its pedestal but I wouldn't hold your breath on this one. There are harder places to do business with (Nigeria, Angola) but few, if any, have 1.2 billion people who are becoming increasingly affluent and keen to buy in to the latest technology.

By the way I'm still wondering what the civil servants did with the 120 passport photos of me that they accumulated in 5 years, why I once had to travel for 6 hours to sign a piece of paper before I was allowed to leave the country and why loading fuel on a ship required 36 signatures from me! Unknown anywhere else...normal in India.

I know what you mean ! Having to deal with Indian customs was such a pain in the neck.

The officers would not come to work before 12. There were signs everywhere proclaiming "Do not give bribes" but every single person I visited wanted one or else refused to sign my paper work. Forced to go through an 'agent' who guess what, wanted 'something' for himself.

Really pathetic state of affairs. I'm sure not all government offices or officers are like this but these experiences left a bad taste ......

Cheers!

 

[picciano]

Funny. If the U.S. passed a law requiring stores to sell at least 30% U.S.-made products, progressive heads would explode and liberals would scream racism. Oh wait, this isn't the political forum? Sorry.