As it turned out Indian authorities decided to make concessions. It seems that the case related to the opening of Apple stores in India comes to an end. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/06/20/technology/20reuters-india-fdi-apple.html?_r=0 What do you think, how it will affect the Indian market? Will Apple products be attractive in this country?
Most of India's population is very poor. Even the well educated can't find jobs that would push them to upper middle class. A reason why so many in India are turning to the financial markets there to make their wealth. The only smartphones that do well there are the feature-packed low-end ones from Nokia, Xiaomi and Huawei. Those consumers aren't about to pay twice or three times as much (thanks to import tariffs) for an iPhone.
My cheap Huawei Honor 6plus is great, never seen anyone else with 1 which is a bonus rather than most like sheep. I'm sure you will get the snobs that want cause its Apple but why pay 3x's the price for the same thing, when both from a bad fall or water become worthless junk.
All I can think of when I read this kind of stuff is "...when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed." Ayn Rand
Well, will it be really a bad idea for Apple to develop here? Why are they so interested in the Indian market?
Moves by Apple to invest in Chinese ride-hailing company (and major Uber competitor) Didi shows that Apple's board (and I say board because I have no faith in Tim Cook's leadership) has finally accepted that the iPhone will not carry Apple into the next decade. India, China, Brazil, and other emerging markets are where they can really expand a diversified portfolio (think self-driving cars, enterprise cloud/security and automation).