IPhone : Too expensive for a Laggard market

The IPhone has arrived in a grandeur style in India with a hefty price tag of 30 k and 36 k for the two variants

The customer base in India , is basically dominant in the Late Majority and Laggards segment. The percentage of the Early Adopters and Innovators is a tiny one , and doesn’t stand any comparison with the norms in UK,US & China.

( The Innovators are those who purchase the product at the beginning of the life cycle. They are not afraid of trying new products that suit their lifestyle.
Early adopters are those who are usually opinion leaders and naturally adopt products after the innovators )

The long queue of people waiting the entire night in US,UK to grab a copy of the IPhone (initially priced at $399 and $499) was clearly missing in India.
Reports suggest not more than a handful of people waited to grab the first set of phones .

Was it because of the innumerable “missing features” ?
No
The compatibility ,operator or operation issues ? No

There was only one obvious reason : The IPhone was way too expensive, even to those Innovators , who usually doesnt mind paying a price premium on products . The IPhone has joined in the list of yet another set of brilliantly designed products that failed because of the price tag.

[The Ford Fusion is a prime example and tops the above list. A wonderful car , perfect for the Indian roads, bombed in the market when people found out it was simply too expensive for 6 Lakhs]

Irrespective of its sleek design , 3 G,Gps,music player,touch screen etc, IPhone still faces a major threat from existing players like Nokia ,Sony and Samsung who offers more advanced features for just Rs.20000

Apple must have realised from their huge mistake of slashing the phone’s prices by more than $ 100-150 after the first week, instantly causing irreparable damage of lost trust and faith from its early adopters.The people who stood all night along to buy the phone felt cheated at the price reduction ,though Apple gave them back talktime vouchers for the equal amount.The day is not quite far for Apple to make the same mistake here.

After talking to several people who already own the IPhone (bought from the US) ,a typical reply is “I can tell u 10 reasons why you should buy the phone. But I can also tell u 20 reasons why you shouldnt buy the IPhone

It’s also quite clear that the phone is completely suited for the Indian scenario.
Peope can download songs only through the ITunes software (ur usual cut and paste stuff for normal multimedia phones doesnt work here )

A common pasttime for all Indian cell users is forwarding messages.
The innumerable “send this message to 10 people” sms’s throughout the night is not possible in an IPhone.

You cannot share your pics with others through bluetooth

The phone comes only with a Vodafone or Airtel connection

Only Apple can change the battery

You drop it once and its gone ! Dead !

and the list goes on

Will you buy it ??