Apple assures Reliance Communications of iPhone 5S supply

Reliance Communications has been assured by Apple of guaranteed iPhone 5S supplies from December 10.

NEW DELHI: Reliance Communications has been assured by Apple of guaranteed iPhone 5S supplies from December 10 which will help it clear a backlog of around 50,000 pre-booked orders as well as cater to new demand, a person familiar with the matter said.

Mobile phone operator RCom started selling the popular iPhone 5S model along with the less popular iPhone 5C model early November through bundled offers with much fanfare, but have been struggling to meet the huge demand for the handsets, especially the iPhone 5s.

The Anil Ambani-group flagship company could only sell over 3,000 handsets, leaving some 50,000 pre-booked orders in its hand, most of them for the iPhone 5S. They were at first taking paid bookings, but have since stopped those as well, due to the supply shortage.

The person said that following its deal with Apple, RCom would be able to assure handset delivery. He added that the EMIs for the Apple models - Rs 2,599 for 24 months for an iPhone 5C and Rs 2,999 for 24 months for iPhone 5S - could be raised by Rs 500 each beyond December 8.

RCom will also shortly offer the iPhone 4S model through a similar bundled offer wherein one will need to pay around Rs 2,500 for 24 months for the handset along with an RCom connection with unlimited data usage among other benefits. Reliance Communications (RCom) and Apple declined to comment.

Hopes of additional supplies rose after news came in that major assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, also known as Foxconn, had raised production capacity for the iPhone 5S at the expense of the lower priced and less popular iPhone 5C models under Apple's request.

However, senior trade partners of Apple in India told ET two weeks back that the enhanced production wouldn't bridge the supply-demand gap in India as stocks would mostly be diverted towards Apple's major markets in the US and Europe ahead of the year-end Christmas shopping season which started with Black Friday on November 29.

Analysts say Apple may have widely underestimated demand for the iPhone 5S smartphone in India, traditionally viewed as a low cost market. They are, however, of the view that the US technology major may be gradually changing its outlook towards India, given their recent comments and marketing strategies.

Post its fiscal fourth quarter results ended September 28, Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, said that the iPhone sales were ahead of our expectations
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