Apple’s India growth outpaces China

India has emerged as a strong growth engine for Apple, the world's most valuable company that sells the iPhone smartphones, iPad devices and Mac line of computers.

Its growth in India outpaced that of China with sales in India up 93 per cent in April-June against 87 per cent growth in China, as per numbers released by the company, while announcing quarterly results on Tuesday.

However, it needs to be pointed out that China was many times bigger for Apple in terms of absolute volume and revenue, contributing almost 25 per cent to the $49.6-billion revenue that the company clocked in April-June quarter.

India, however, is only a billion-dollar market for Apple, and that too on an annual basis.

A top distributor for the company told The Times of India, Apple's strategy to make phones available under the Rs 15,000-price range had also helped the brand.

The report said the iPhone 4S was witnessing great demand, as the low entry price of the phone meant that a highly aspirational product was being made available at price points which were never seen before.

Meanwhile The Economic Times reported that  Apple was looking to hire a government affairs officer for India, who would work with policy makers and trade associations and maintain relationships with key stakeholders for the brand in India.

According to commentators if this were to happen and Apple was successful, India could be seeing a lot more offers, than it currently had on Apple products in the country.

Also, there was a big chance that one could see exclusive Apple Stores arrive in India that would, in addition to bringing more offers, also strengthen buyer confidence for the brand, in the country.