Every day Himanshu Chakrawarti'siPhone gets flooded with SMSes and calls with personal requests for speedy delivery of iPhone 5S. But the CEO of India's largest cellphone retail chain The MobileStore is unable to pay heed because he says the waiting list for Apple's top-end smartphone is more than twice the number he has sold till now.
The story is no different in other leading retail chains such as UniverCell Telecom, PlanetM Retail, Future Group and Videocon Group's Digiworld.
iPhone 5S is out of stock in almost all retail outlets about three weeks after its launch due to huge demand as well as limited supply.
Two senior trade partners of Apple in India said the company has not been able to keep pace with iPhone 5S demand in India since the company is sending more stock of its best-seller to western markets ahead of the year-end Christmas shopping season starting with Black Friday on November 29.
"There is acute shortage of supply of iPhone 5S in India, with consignments coming mostly once a week and that too only 2,000-3,000 units at best," one of them said.
Apple iPhone 5S out of stock in India as supplies head west Retailers say whenever fresh stock of iPhone 5S hits the store shelves, they get sold off within 24 hours due to pre-booking. CEO of a leading mobile phone retail chain said Apple is providing just one-third of the requirement. "It's like a daily call to their distributor for fresh stock, but they are not able to guarantee much," he said.
Gartner principal research analyst Vishal Tripathi said Apple might have underestimated demand for the Rs 40,000-50,000 smartphone in India, which is considered a low-cost device market. "The demand surpassed what it anticipated and therefore allocation is also taking time," he said.
An email sent to Apple spokesperson in regional headquarters in London was not answered till late on Wednesday. Jessica Kwee, analyst at market researcher Canalys, said the poor supply may hurt Apple's sales and market share in the country, but some other analysts and retailers said lack of availability is only fuelling consumer interest in iPhone 5S.
Manasi Yadav, senior analyst at market tracker IDC India, said that while there has been a global supply shortage of iPhone 5s, it looks like Apple is now using this as a covert marketing strategy to propel demand further.
"This scenario will ensure Apple maintains its niche brand positioning and also keep prices intact, which usually tend to dive once the launch craze is over," Yadav said.
D Sathish Babu, CEO of the country's second largest cellphone chain UniverCell Telecom, said iPhone 5S consumers are dedicated Apple fans who would rather wait than move to another brand due to unavailability of the model. "The shortage is creating a viral effect which is creating demand even in smaller towns," he said.
In India too, where there is huge demand for iPhone 5S, the plastic-body iPhone 5C is not selling much. This has prompted Apple to launch a buyback, cash back and zero-interest EMI scheme on iPhone 5C and its now entry-level iPhone 4S models this week.
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