Apple to triple franchise stores in India
The India Times is reporting that Apple plans to triple the number of franchisee stores it has in the country to 200 locations by 2015. Speaking under the conditions of anonymity, some of the 17 Indian franchisees told the India Times that Apple has asked the franchisees to dramatically scale up operations in the country as they plan for aggressive growth. In addition to expanding the number of Apple Premium Resellers, Apple also plans to expand its presence in multi-brand stores, according to the Indian Times.
The importance of India to Apple's future is becoming clear. Along with Brazil and China, India will see some of the largest growth on the planet in the smartphone market. Just last month, the iPhone became the number two selling smartphone in India (three months earlier it wasn't even in the top five). That move was in part due to Apple rolling out iPhone payment installment plans in the country in February.
