the article misses a big point on why Apple products are slow to come to India. the Indian government has imposed a 51% FDI (foreign ownership) cap on single-brand retail stores, hence the most apple could own if they started apple stores in India is 51%.<p>India sells very little electronics online as of yet so most of Apple sales happen online. so if you are Apple and you arbitrarily have to give up 49% for no reason wouldn't you wait for regulations to change instead of helping prop up some arbitrary partner that you are forced to do business with? moreover, if you have to prioritize markets, wouldn't you prioritize markets where you own all of the business that you created before giving inventory that is in short-supply to a market where you are forced to sell through 3rd parties?<p>also, this does not even start to address the duties and other fees imposed on apple for selling in India which jacks up prices for their products and reduces their addressable market. again, if you have to prioritize wouldn't you choose markets that were more friendly assuming limited supplies of your product were available. wouldn't you only come in when supplies were high enough or products were saturated enough in other markets that were more favorable to you?<p>the article also confuses the population for India with Apple's available market in India, because of income levels in India a very small portion of the population has the income and desire to buy Apple products (Remember, India is the market of the TATA Nano, the 1 lakh car or about $2000 to $2500 USD based on the USD-INR exchange rate). Indians tend to very cost sensitive. Yes, India has over a billion people, but I bet Apple's market in India is 0.1% of the population or 1 million people max (and even then I think that 0.11% is high and overly generous). Compare that to Dubai or Singapore or Belgium where the population is much smaller but Apple's addressable market is higher due to incomes and purchasing behaviors.<p>I am Indian and live in Mumbai and would prefer new Apple products to be available in India sooner rather than later (I have a iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, and MacBook Pro), but I understand why Apple has made certain business decisions in how they prioritize their markets.