Despite failing in the smartphone business, BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) has been dominating the enterprises. But now, it seems that International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), who recently partnered with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), plans to challenge the Canadian firm dominance in India. IBM plans to sell Apple iPads and iPhones, and its software bundles, to Indian enterprises on monthly installments.
IBM to help Apple expand market share
In an interview with ET, Vice president and partner for Asia pacific of IBM, Will Duckworth told that under the agreement with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the company will resell all the existing Apple mobile devices, activate them and deploy and support them for two to three years. The company will provide installment benefits, which will help the customers eliminate any capital cost by either paying per year or per month.
One of the personnel at IDC India told that the partnership will enable Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to make a strong bid to the enterprise users. Along with this, the facility of easy payment option would make products affordable and attractive to small and mid-size businesses. This will help Apple to potentially build its market share in the expanding market of commercial tablet and smartphone business India.
To lure price sensitive Indians, IBM will resell all iOS devices that are currently sold by Apple in India, including iPhone 4S. Such older devices have been discontinued in the developed markets.
Apple-IBM, a good match
Last week, the technology giants unveiled first 10 of some 150 odd apps that IBM is developing on the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) platform. According to Duckworth, these apps are already been tested with few of the customers in India. These apps are jointly developed by IBM India labs and centers in the US, Canada and Australia.
Apple-IBM partnership along with improvement in the quality of enterprise apps on the mobile platform, also, bring an evolution in terms of User interface experience. Such availability will extend the usage and universal applicability of IOS-based devices. Wal-Mart India has is already using the iPads and iPhones.
Analysts believe this strategy could help Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) regain market share in India. Analysts believe that the Apple enjoys some benefits over Android as the latter devices are highly fragmented whereas Apple devices are suitably secure for enterprise users and require lesser maintenance.
