Apple's first India store might not be ready for 2020

Source: iMore

What you need to know

India's first-ever Apple store is delayed, and might not be ready until 2021.
A TechCrunch report quotes a source that says the new deadline is July-September 2020.
But there's also a chance it might not be ready this year.

A report suggests that India's first-ever Apple store is delayed and might not be ready in 2020.

According to TechCrunch, the deadline for the store has been pushed back to later this year, but there's a chance 2020 might be out of reach.

India's first-ever Apple store will be located in Mumbai's Maker Maxity mall within the Bandra Kurla Complex, occupying three levels and 20-25,000 square feet.

According to latest reports, however, the store is delayed:

While the company never shared a firm timeline on when the online and brick-and-mortar stores would be set up in India, it was originally aiming to start the online sales in the country in the first quarter of this year, the source said. (The Q1 launch timeline was first signaled by Bloomberg, which reported that the operations would begin "within months.")

An Apple spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

The source said the company was still working on the logistics of setting up the store and that the quarter between July and September was the new deadline. Apple CEO Tim Cook would likely plan an India trip for the announcement, the source said.

The company's first official physical store in India, to be situated in Mumbai, will take an additional few months of time for setting up and might not be ready by this year, the source said.

The report also notes how Apple has struggled to establish its online retail in the country for several years, in part due to government rules. One industry executive stated that Apple had finally overcome those hurdles, but were now unable to launch the store. Apple products in India are sold through third-party retailers and through e-commerce sites like Amazon.

Enjoying plenty of good fortune elsewhere, Apple only commands a 1% share of the smartphone market in India.

If reports are correct, Apple might be able to get this new store open in time for the September iPhone launch, but it seems possible that it may be 2021 before India will get its first brick-and-mortar offering from Apple.