“在印度任何地方，人们都不会为了买一部智能手机，排这么长的队。”——电视记者，孟买，11月2日

    印度可能是全球增长最快的手机市场，但对苹果公司（Apple）公司，印度一直是“敌方的领地”。

    印度拥有12亿人口。每月手机销量高达1,500万部。根据调研机构IDC的报告，三星公司（Samsung）2012年第二季度占据了印度智能手机市场51%的份额，iPhone的份额则下跌到了1.2%，仅为去年同期的一半。

    因此，上周五iPhone 5的上市盛况让所有人都大跌眼镜。在新德里、孟买和班加罗尔的盛大发布会上，伴随着摇滚音乐，不少模特、歌星纷纷登台亮相。许多顾客早已提前好几小时在店前排起了长龙。新闻媒体自然不会放过如此不同寻常的景象。

    苹果在印度遇到了棘手的问题：印度人更喜欢后付费手机——例如没有运营商补贴的手机——而且对价格很是敏感。印度市场售出的手机70%价格在100美元以下，而无补贴版iPhone 5的售价高达45,500卢比（约合845美元），简直堪比奢侈品。此外，印度有关法规禁止苹果开设自有品牌零售店，要求苹果必须与印度全国性、地区性或当地分销商合作，这些商家自然要收取佣金。

    蒂姆•库克去年夏天曾对分析师说：“我喜欢印度。但多层分销体系增加了我们的销售成本。”

    这一次，苹果改变了策略。根据《华尔街日报》（the Wall Street Journal）“印度时事”专栏报道，苹果已经与两家大型电器商Ingram Micro和Reddington达成了分销协议。正是后者签约了明星、宣传造势，并吸引了大众。这一次，iPhone 5进入印度的速度大大加快，仅仅比美国晚42天，而此时印度的iPhone热尚未消退。

    新方式似乎已经奏效。新德里、孟买和班加罗尔这三个城市都出现了断货的情况，表明在印度可能有足够多的、可支配收入较高且青睐高品质电子设备的买家，从而使得苹果终于能扩大在这个国家小得可怜的市场份额。

    译者：项航

    "Nowhere in India will you see this kind of queue to buy a smartphone." -- TV reporter, Mumbai, Nov. 2

    India may be the fastest-growing mobile phone market in the world, but it's been hostile territory for Apple (AAPL).

    In a country of 1.2 billion that buys 15 million cell phones a month, Samsung commanded a 51% share of the smartphone market in Q2, according to IDC, while the iPhone's share shrank to 1.2% -- half of what it was the year before.

    Which is what made Friday's launch of the iPhone 5 in India so surprising. At elaborately staged events in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore -- complete with models, starlets and disco music -- buyers queued up hours in advance, a sight unusual enough there to be considered newsworthy.

    Apple faces special challenges in India, where customers prefer their cell phones post-paid -- i.e. without carrier subsidies -- and inexpensive. Seventy percent of the mobiles sold in the country cost less than $100, which makes selling unsubsidized iPhones -- the iPhone 5 starts at 45,500 rupees ($845) -- especially daunting. Moreover, because local regulations prevent Apple from opening its own branded stores, it has been forced to work with national, regional and local distributors, each of which takes its cut.

    "I love India," Tim Cook told analysts last summer. "But the sort of the multilayer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market."

    This time the company tried something different. According to the Wall Street Journal's India Realtime, it cut deals with two large electronics chains -- Ingram Micro and Reddington -- that signed up the celebrities, generated the publicity and turned out the crowds. It also brought the iPhone 5 to Indians faster than ever before -- 42 days after the device launched in the U.S. -- while the buzz was still high.

    The new approach seems to have worked. There were stock-outs in all three cities, suggesting that there may be enough buyers in India with disposable income and a taste for quality electronics for Apple to finally gain more than the toe hold it now has on the subcontinent.