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Tech-savvy Indians cry out for Apple's attention

RIM unveils launch date, price for iPad rival
Montreal (AFP) March 22, 2011 - Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) announced Tuesday that its iPad rival, the PlayBook, would go on sale next month at a price identical to that of the hot-selling Apple tablet computer. The BlackBerry PlayBook will be available at Best Buy and other stores in the United States and Canada on April 19, the Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM said in a statement. Orders can be placed online as of Tuesday. RIM is offering three models of the PlayBook. A version with 16 gigabytes of storage will cost $499, a 32GB model will sell for $599 and one with 64GB will cost $699. The prices are the same as for comparable models of the iPad.

The PlayBook features Wi-Fi connectivity to the Internet while Apple sells both Wi-Fi and 3G versions of the iPad. "Tablets are becoming a bigger part of our business everyday and the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook will heighten the level of excitement in this category," said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. RIM describes the PlayBook as the first "professional-grade" tablet and has stressed its integration with its BlackBerry smartphone, a favorite among many business users. The PlayBook is RIM's first foray outside the mobile phone realm.

BlackBerry users can pair their handset with the PlayBook using a Bluetooth connection to view their email, calendar, documents or other content. The PlayBook has a seven-inch (17.8-centimeter) touchscreen, smaller than the iPad's 9.7 inches (24.7-cm), and also plays Adobe Flash video software, which is banned from the Apple device. At less than a pound (425 grams), the PlayBook is lighter than the iPad 2's 1.3 pounds (590 grams) and is also thinner. It features front- and rear-facing cameras for video conferencing, a feature which was added to the iPad 2 which went on sale in the United States on March 11. Apple sold over 15 million iPads last year and scores of other companies have been scrambling to release their own tablet computes in a bid to grab a share of the fast-growing market.
by Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) March 22, 2011
Namrata, a Delhi University student, turned an iPad tablet computer round in her hands at an electronics store in the city. It is Apple's latest must-have item -- yet it is already out of date.

"No, I'll wait for the iPad 2," she said, putting it back on the shelf, aware that the improved version has already gone on sale in the United States. "Perhaps my aunt in Australia will be able to send me one soon," she said.

India looks like a massive emerging market for Apple's iPads, iPods and iPhones, with an increasingly wealthy, young population hungry for information, entertainment and the latest craze in consumer culture.

But the original iPad finally arrived in India a full nine months after it was available in the United States -- and the iPad 2 has no scheduled release date in the country of 1.18 billion people.

The iPad 2 hit the shops in the US on March 11 having been unveiled by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, and it will be released in dozens of other countries -- including Britain and Australia -- on March 25.

Popular tech blogger Soumyadip Choudhury targeted Jobs, accusing him of using India as a dumping ground for out-of-date Apple technology.

"Is India, for Apple, only a market where you can hold your clearance sale, just before you are ready with the product's next generation?" he wrote on his blog, addressing Jobs directly.

"You officially began selling your blockbuster tablet device (the original iPad) in India exactly 30 days before announcing the new one (iPad 2)," Choudhury said.

The iPad 2 is selling in the United States at about the same prices as the iPad 1, ranging from $499.

"You have not only miffed Indian consumers with your delayed-till-it-is-obsolete releases but also with your unreasonable pricing," Choudhury wrote.

The iPad 2 is thinner, lighter and faster -- but, with no release scheduled in India, the country's vast ranks of Apple fans have been left to buy the old model, priced between about $540 and $920, or else import the new one.

"This surely has inhibited non-Apple consumers from buying Apple products," online technology magazine Pluggd.in founder Ashish Sinha told AFP.

"There is a huge demand for Apple products in India -- especially the information technology sector, which is high on consuming gadgets."

An Apple spokesman who asked not to be named said that the company did not disclose sales figures for India or discuss future release dates for products. He also declined to comment on criticism of Apple's strategy in India.

Blogger Archana Shukla said that Apple was reluctant to "reach out to local customers" in India.

"The silence is intriguing, especially at a time when most top-league multinationals are ramping up their operations and going all out to woo Indian consumers," she said.

The US-based information technology research firm Gartner suggests that Apple has been making a judgement call, balancing the unpredictability of the present Indian market and its future potential.

"Apple always targets the niche market and never focuses on the mass market," Gartner's principal research analyst Vishal Tripathi told AFP.

"It seems Apple is not getting the right signal from the market or is strategically missing the growth opportunities India offers," the analyst from the Connecticut-based firm said.

"Apple knows that hardcore Apple lovers will get the devices from abroad but what they are missing out on is new potential buyers."

Other companies are hoping to take advantage of Apple's apparent reluctance, with Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Motorola's Xoom, both priced around $650, vying to grab India's tablet computer market.

"It is a nascent market but we see the tablet segment growing to one million this year as there are some exciting clients here," Samsung spokeswoman Ruchika Batra told AFP.



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