BANGALORE: Apple Computer is ready to make headway in the Indian market by
expanding its target segments and in geographies. For the start, Apple has
increased its reseller network to 80, from 45 three months ago. It is also
targeting various corporates, which it did not earlier. Thanks to its new Mac OS
X (pronounced as ten), Apple is bidding high on its features against other PC
vendors. It is also bringing in iPod, Apple’s new MP3 player, to India in
January.
Apple Computer International’s marketing manager in India, Parminder Singh,
said, "The unique feature about OS X is that it’s a Unix in a desktop and
this wins us a lot of bids and orders. Offering feature rich systems can be a
compelling reason to invest on Macs. Inhibitions about Mac being a different
system has been wiped out with awareness creating programs such as seminars and
meetings. By increasing our reseller network and offering more information we
have made it accessible to the market."
While OS X is offered free of cost with a Mac along with a lot of other
utilities, the operating system is available for Rs 6,800 for an upgrade.
Banking on its loyal customer base in India and around the globe, Apple feels
its new OS will increase its installation base simultaneously. Not stating a
figure, Singh confirmed that it’s a significant number in the country and
worldwide they had shipped five million iMacs five months ago.
Some of the features in the Mac OS X include protected memory, pre-emptive
multitasking, advanced memory management, symmetric multiprocessing, plug and
play supports for fire wire and USB and Darwin open source for integrating
technologies. Internet tools in OS X also include mail, IE, quick time player,
Sherlock (a search engine), iTools, apart from the regular features. The OS X
also supports MP3 player and can read and write CDs. Keeping its strength in
graphics, Mac OS X elevates Apple dominance in the graphic space operation.