oppn parties Apple: Will SE Spoil the Party?

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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
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  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
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Apple: Will SE Spoil the Party?

By Ashwini Agarwal
First publised on 2016-04-26 16:44:21

Apple launched a new device, iphone SE, sometime back. It got a very negative response from buyers, due mainly to its high price tag. Faced with such a situation, most companies would have gone for a price correction. But trust Apple to be different.

It has gone ahead and raised prices of all its other devices by up to 29 percent. The company has said that this was to push up the sales of the SE as it found that devices bigger than SE, like iphone 6 and 6S, were priced at lower rates. The company thought this was hampering SE sales.

This kind of inverted pricing logic is not going to work. The latest price revision will take all its devices out of reach of a large majority. Even those who buy Apple just to flaunt will think twice before dishing out a fortune as better products at lower prices are available in the market. "But an iphone is an iphone” will cease to matter if it is priced beyond a certain level.

Already, Apple’s market is shrinking across the world, including India. KGI Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted that with no pathbreaking innovation, users are going to shrink further and Apple will be one of the top 5 underperforming smartphone brands in 2016.

This illogical price rise will dampen buyer mood in India. As it is, people were not converting to iphone 6 or 6S as prices were high and resale value of old device was low. A major rethink is necessary at Apple regarding pricing policy and features innovation.