Apple forays into India by borrowing from its China playbook

New York

APPLE CEO Tim Cook is on a goodwill tour through India, a country that he looks at and sees dollar signs. And no wonder, given the enormous promise in India for a smartphone industry with disappearing growth. Research firm IDC has predicted that India will leapfrog the US next year as the second biggest smartphone market in the world behind China. Mr Cook said last month that the country is where China was seven to 10 years ago - on the cusp of hypergrowth as India's mobile phone obsessed consumers start to buy Internet-connected smartphones in droves.

But many barriers stand between Apple and a windfall from India. IPhones are expensive there. The company has run into regulatory roadblocks to sell used iPhones and to open its own retail shops in the country. Right now, Apple's share of smartphone sales in India is around 2 per cent.