No, but it is prett bad there. That's part of the reason why so many Indians come to the US. In India, even if you're rich you can't escape the pollution and the corruption.
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Apple Not Able to Open Retail Stores in India Without Selling 30% Locally Sourced Goods
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Apple can just open an apple store (selling real Indian apples) next to their tech store, complete with a Steve Jobs statue and a meditation area 
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Apple should start selling clothing. They could devote 30% of the store to that - unless it's 30% by dollar volume.
Well said! This kind of enlightened policy is exactly why India is the economic powerhouse that it is.
FFS!
Just how many staff were the stores going to employ? A million per store?
Apple's plan to open three Apple Store locations in India may fall through following a ruling from the Indian finance ministry that says Apple must sell locally sourced goods if it wants to open stores in the country, reports Reuters.
In India, 30 percent of goods sold by foreign companies must be manufactured or produced in the country, a requirement Apple does not meet as its products are largely made in China. India last year exempted retailers selling state-of-the-art goods from the rule, prompting Apple to file a new application with the Indian government.
Apple was expected to receive an exemption from the rule, earning a recommendation from country's Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, but the ministry of finance has decided Apple's products do not fall into the cutting-edge technology category. A source told Reuters Apple did not provide enough material to justify the exemption.Without the ability to open its own retail stores in the country, Apple will need to continue selling iOS and Mac devices in India through third-party distributors. Apple is eager to expand its business in India as it is a largely untapped market. Last quarter, Apple saw its revenue from India grow 56 percent, surpassing $1 billion.
The ministry of finance's ruling comes just after Tim Cook spent several days in India, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other local business leaders, actors, politicians, and developers.
Apple has also announced the launch of a Maps development center in Hyderabad and an iOS app and design accelerator in Bangalore.
Article Link: Apple Not Able to Open Retail Stores in India Without Selling 30% Locally Sourced Goods
The problem with Apple not being cutting edge has to do with their long product lifecycle. It simply takes too long for devices to make it from the drawing board to the consumer. Meanwhile more nimble tech companies are passing Apple by with inventions of their own. Just look at some of the projects on Indiegogo and Kickstarter.
Apple also has taken way too long to even bump up the specs of their most basic devices. Android phones have more memory, more storage space and in some cases better processors. Device manufacturers are not tied to the OS so they have more freedom to create more cutting edge devices. Plus, the Android market has a lot of competitors, so there is incentive for innovation to stay ahead of the competition. Apple has no competition in the iOS category, so they have no real obligations to develop better devices.
Apple also has taken way too long to even bump up the specs of their most basic devices. Android phones have more memory, more storage space and in some cases better processors. Device manufacturers are not tied to the OS so they have more freedom to create more cutting edge devices. Plus, the Android market has a lot of competitors, so there is incentive for innovation to stay ahead of the competition. Apple has no competition in the iOS category, so they have no real obligations to develop better devices.
Entitled to what exactly? Rights? Yeah I am. Other than that I have no idea what you're talking about. Empty post.
Of course the government is initiating force against them, by what method do you propose that they are preventing Apple from opening these stores? Do you think they're initiating reason? As though they're persuading them to pretty pretty please don't open the store here? Because we have this guideline that you don't meet?
What do you think the meaning of the policy is? If foreign companies must produce 30% of the goods they sell in the country in order to be allowed to setup their stores there, how is that not equated to a policy which encourages companies to distort labor to a market where they otherwise would not be investing in that type of labor?
What exactly has Walmart or China ever done to me besides save me a ton of money on the stuff I buy from there? What they've done to the middle class.. What a joke. Drop the gun and your socialism already.
It is absurd to contend that Apple has no right in India, because they're not domiciled there, and they try to keep as much of their money from getting extorted from them as possible. Like you don't. Whens the last time you made a generous, selfless donation to your friendly, benevolent Federal, State or Local fascist? Exactly. And interestingly enough, how do you contend that they not keep as much of their money as possible, and simultaneously complying with their fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders? Reality must be such a pain...
That last part is so ridiculous, it doesn't even merit a response. ... But I can't help it. If you think it's so damn easy to run a company, then why don't you go get your own glass tower, and sit on your ass and do nothing and get rich. When that kind of.... I'll improperly classify it as 'thinking', leads you to living in a dump, on welfare checks which are supplied by the looting of the value which was produced by the more rational around you, then why don't you go ahead and not let me know how you make out? How about that?
I never said that India should be like the USA. The USA is certainly much better, but it is by no means perfect. What I said was that the only proper function of a legitimate government is the uncompromising protection of individual rights. Period. That means the complete repudiation of the initiation of physical force from human affairs.
To assert that my views are valid in one country and invalid, or not necessarily valid in another, is to assert that there is no such thing as an objective truth, and that reality changes depending on location, or popularity, or authority. It is to completely disregard the fact that reality exists completely independent of location, popularity, or authority. Reality doesn't care what you, a dictator, or most people think, it exists completely independent of these things. Therefore, the principles by which a proper government exists are as absolute, and uncompromising as the reality on which they are founded.
To hold the view that other countries don't have to be better, or worse, they can simply be "different" is to validate my assertion that you hold the view that there is no such thing as objective truth, which is to hold the view that reality exists as anyone wants to see it exist, or feels like it exists. It is also to reject the virtue of justice; to reject the judgement of values as immoral, and treat all countries as though they are equally legitimate. This is ghastly and absurd. You cannot tell me with a straight face, and a clean conscience that America is morally equivalent to Stalin's Russia, or Hitler's Germany.
The difference in the moralities of these countries is not rooted in a view of the "Almighty Dollar," it is rooted in the fact that America was a country which largely protected individual rights, while these other countries, and hundreds like them throughout history, rejected these rights. The right to keep the wealth you produce is a product of this underlying ethic, not a primary. To reject this right, you must first say, "The individual has no right to exist for himself, he is only an animal whose purpose is indentured servitude to others." Then, you may rob him in the name of some mystical, "Greater Good."
America has certainly made its own mistakes throughout history, but India is NOT welcome to make them as well.
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To all: It seems that you are holding the view that people and their companies get their rights from the government. What you are failing to recognizes the fact that government is a creation of man. You cannot have a created entity be the root of anything. It was created by something, and that something which created it would be a further reduction, and therefore be closer to the root.
Man's rights are rooted in the fact that man, by his nature, is a thinking being; the fact that thinking is his primary means of survival. Since force is the opposite of thinking, man has a right to establish a government for the purpose of removing the initiation of physical force from his affairs, so that he may live in accordance with his nature as a rational being. Governments get their rights from the consent of the individuals it governs, and it is only possible for individuals to delegate rights to a government which they have in the first place. Since force is the opposite of thinking, and the ability to think is what gives rise to rights, no individual has the right to initiate force against any other individual, and therefore cannot have the right to delegate that non-right to any government. To assert that you, or anyone else has a "right" to initiate the opposite of the foundation of rights, is a fantastic contradiction, and a gross misunderstanding of the very concept of rights.
The views you hold are self refuting in reality. You cannot assert the "right" to initiate force, and every policy which has been defended here ultimately lies on the premise of granting exactly that. Any attempt to continue to assert your policies, and escape these facts, will inevitably result in wild self contradiction, and can only be held by consciously evading the truth; by consciously, willingly, and disgracefully negating the very faculty which makes your existence possible, and asserting that your will, and desires are more powerful than the reality by which we are all surrounded.
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Perhaps you didn't read the article, because you would've saw the exceptions in there.
how about they sell accessories like bands and cases made in India?
I totally support the Indian goverment, they have 1+ billion humans in there and the last thing they need is to import foreign manufactured products.
I totally support the Indian goverment, they have 1+ billion humans in there and the last thing they need is to import foreign manufactured products.
India's population is 26x larger than South Korea, so of course India is the priority. Also they can only open a limited number of stores each year.
The factories are not there I think. Most of the local manufacturing seems to be automotive based (Other global car/bike companies source locally to meet the requirements).
Are you aware different countries have different laws?
Good question. So I tracked it down:
Foreign owned single brand stores with more than 51% foreign investment are required to locally source at least 30% of the value of products sold.
The intention is to help with a problem often seen in other countries. Some big retailer like Walmart comes in, and boom... goodbye to lots of local merchants and their related jobs and sourcing. Heck, we could use rules like this in rural America.
The only way to avoid the requirement, is if your store sells only high tech products that cannot be sourced in India.
Hmm. I wonder how much of an Apple store's sales are made up of power supplies, cases and other such accessories that could be sourced in India. If it's not at least 30%, I foresee an Indian iPhone factory. Or... Apple stores half owned by Indians.
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There is no reason not to start building them. There are a billion people, cheap labour, educated white collars, and open to international trade. Maybe Apple should learn to not rely so much on the Chinese, diversification is good.
Dealing with government officials is the usual game going into Asian market. Government policies have almost no relevance as the officials are mostly corrupt and exceptions can be made. It's all about building the relationship. Samsung did it in India. I think this is just a process for Apple, and I'm sure things will move along just fine. I mean Apple managed to deal in China so I think they will be fine. India is full of red tapes, so things take time. Of course the armchair tech journalists only have attention span of a gold fish.
Same thing in Singapore. Singapore is like Apple's tiny island with so many people sporting iPhone. Yet still no Apple Store. Only authorized distributors. The high rent cost of space is difficult to support since Apple has no problem opening stores in Hong Kong.
What the hell are you talking about. The rules are in place way before Apple wanted to open stores in India. Stop acting like Apple is the victim here. Its called respecting law of the land. You want to earn huge profits but don't want to comply with the rules?
India still treats imports and foreign investment very negatively. For example, India along with North Korea are few of the countries in the world that do not allow Apple to open a retail store in India, unless it partners with an Indian company. So while TCS, Infosys etc., have full freedom to invest in the US without having to find a local partner, India has a one way street. It puts onerous conditions such as local sourcing for the products. So unless Apple manufactures iPhone's in India, tough luck for Apple. No amount of charm from Cook will move the bureaucracy to allow even a retail store. Likewise work permit and student visa. For air travel, while US started signing bilateral agreements for open skies policy between countries in 1979, India is yet to even consider something like this. Result? Fares to India are at least 40-50% more costly than flights to China. India is yet to deregulate its labor laws. It is very difficult to shut down loss making factories or sack unruly "permanent" workers.
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Maybe TCS and Infosys and other Indian investment in the US must be held to the same standard.
Similar to cutting edge unlimited data plans in US. Or public transportation.
But its the truth...
Apple may be the 800 lb Gorilla, but they're no longer the leading edge innovator they once where.
Surprised that one didn't make first comment.
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Don't forget microsoft.
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There are over a billion people in India. Pretty sure even a small percentage equates to A LOT of people.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!