Apple To Launch First Online Store In India Next Week

BENGALURU: Apple Inc will launch its first online store in India on Sept. 23, the iPhone maker said on Friday, coinciding with the country’s festive season that rakes in some of the biggest sales for retailers every year.

The company currently sells its products in India through third-party vendors and e-commerce firms such as Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc-owned Flipkart.

India, with more than 1 billion wireless subscribers of which about a third rely on basic handsets, provides huge growth prospects for smartphone makers, as well as cheap labor to manufacture the devices.