New Apple iPhone 6S not quite flying off dealers’ shelves

Apple's aggressive sales strategy in India may have failed to yield quite the desired results as bookings for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have fallen short of expectations, according to a report citing some Apple trade partners.

Against a bold target of tripling pre-bookings for the devices, which will be available in India on Friday, these have risen by just 10-15 per cent compared with last year for the previous models, the partners said. They said buyers expect lower prices online once the phone becomes widely available, according to an Economic Times report.

Thanks to lower online prices, Apple's ambitious sales target for the new generation of devices could still eventually be met. Earlier this year, Apple had allowed its distributors to sell at the lowest price to the ecommerce channel, leading to a surge in sales after having followed a conservative line that meant all vendors had to hold their rates at the company-mandated level.

Adding to buyers' hesitation on pre-bookings is the price. The entry level model costs Rs 8,500-9,500 more than last year's launch price, said the trade executives.

"Almost a couple of thousand potential customers who we had reached out for pre-bookings said they would wait and watch since they feel prices online would crash two-three weeks after the launch just ahead of Diwali (in November)," said the chief executive officer of a leading consumer electronics chain who didn't want to be named.

He pointed out that even during the current online festive sales, the biggest discounts were on older Apple products among mainstream brands.

Leading cellphone and consumer electronics retail chains said they were forced to reach out to customers for pre-bookings, unlike the previous year when demand outstripped supply.

The India experience thus far runs counter to the global scenario - Apple recently reported record sales for the latest iPhones with more than 13 million units sold three days after the initial launch (See: Apple sells 13 mn new iPhones by weekend).

An executive at a leading ecommerce company said iPhone pre-bookings have been muted, largely because of high prices.

Retail chains such as Big C and Lot Mobile in the south have even offered 'one-month price protection' to drum up bookings. This means that, in the event of prices dropping in a month, bookers will be paid the difference. Others have offered instant buyback at 50 per cent of the price for older iPhone models. These initiatives don't seem to have helped much though.

"We reached out to 10,000 customers but have managed to pre-book just 1,300 models amounting to Rs6 crore, which is a slight jump over last year. Expectation of online discount has dampened business," said Lot Mobiles executive director K Krishna Pawan.

Bengaluru-based retailer Sangeetha Mobile's managing director Subhash Chandra said prebookings of the latest iPhones were below expectations. "However, consumers may want to see the models once they are launched and then may buy," he said.

Apple will launch the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus at midnight on October 16 in India. The company has priced the 6s at Rs62,000 (16GB),Rs72,000 (64GB) and Rs82,000 (128GB) while the larger-screen 6s Plus will cost Rs72,000 (16GB),Rs82,000 (64GB) and Rs92,000 (128GB).

Bookings started at the beginning of the month. Telecom operators such as Airtel and Vodafone have partnered Apple this year to offer pre-booking plans.