For Apple, the Indian smartphone arena is a great market and hence, the tech titan has tied up with service provider Vodafone to provide its devices such as the recent iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on monthly installments for a period of two years. Vodafone being the second largest telco in the country is in plans to rope in subscribers for premium data services.
Furthermore, Vodafone has introduced tariff plans based on these installments and they start from Rs 2,009 per month for the Apple iPhone 4s and this includes talk time, SMS and 3G data as well. The iPhone 5c can be bought for Rs 2,499 per month and iPhone 5s for Rs 2,999 per month. Those looking for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will have to pay Rs 3,599 onwards per month for a couple of years.
Notably, the iPhone 6 16 GB variant priced at Rs 53,000 will be available for Rs 3,599 for two years and hence, buyers will be ending up paying a total sum of Rs 86,376 for the device in this two year time period along with bundled plans.
Regarding the announcement of special plans for the iPhone 6 models, Marten Pieters, MD and CEO of Vodafone India claimed that the telco has all inclusive and completely loaded data plans that will let subscribers to enjoy trouble free experience with no upfront pricing and carry out additional savings on their monthly plans. It is claimed that data is a strong growth driver for the telcos in the coming years and such innovative offerings will be adding to the strength when it comes to growth in this segment.
So far, it was always Airtel and Reliance that have partnered with Apple to provide such monthly installment plans for the iPhones. It is clear that Vodafone is planning to witness growth in the segment by coming with such plans for these smartphones. In the meantime, Apple is clearly trying to extend its reach in the country to enhance its sales figures.
Contradictorily, Tarun Pathak, a Senior Analyst at Hong Kong based Counterpoint Technologies suggested that EMIs will not be of great help to Apple. He added that the firm will have to come up with more promotional activities such as buybacks to make this offer work out better.
