After Years of Study, Apple's (AAPL) Foray Into India is Taking Hold...Big Time
According to analysts at Credit Suisse, sales of Apple's iPhone have surged 300 percent to 400 percent over the last few months. The firm said that from sales of 70,000 to 80,000 units per month, Apple is now selling about 400,000 units per month, according to channel checks.
The number equates to about 3 percent of handsets in a market largely dominated by low-cost alternatives.
Key items Apple has done include figuring out trends in consumer demand in the country as well as introducing an EMI scheme, which positions the iPhone not as a high-end device, but now a more affordable one.
On the EMI schemes, the Credit Suisse analyst commented, "The 4-9% implicit discount coupled with the option of easy EMIs spread over 6-12 months became popular. Within a few months, our discussions with handset retailers indicated that iPhone sales went up 3-4x, forcing companies to respond."
Apple recently began to offer an 18 percent cash discount on top of earlier iPhone offers, making a down payment on the device nearly free.
Shares of Apple are up 0.5 percent Friday afternoon.