Apple In Talks With Reliance Retail For Apple Store
Macheads across India would probably get goose pimples at the thought of this: Reliance Retail is in negotiations with Apple for opening Apple stores in India, reports the Financial Express. Apple stores are single brand retail outlets, and Apple Inc can hold 51 percent equity in the venture. Currently there are Apple stores in Britain, Canada, Italy and Japan, and around over 160 in the US. More than the iPod, it’s probably the mobile opportunity in India that Apple must be eying, with the iPhone due to be launched on the 29th of this month…hey, it might be launched in India four years from now.
This is very incorrect. I have direct knowledge of who Apple is tying up with and it is not Reliance.
There is already a big Apple store in Forum Mall, Bangalore in association with Ample.
So Anil: there's a tip box on the left that you can use to send us an anonymous tip-off. :)
It is true. Something with reliance is going to come up in a bit way. Im sure it will be pretty interesting too. Apple retail outlet is different from the stores they have already (like Forum in Bangalore etc) Its way bigger, probably 2-3 floors etc etc etc.
With the launch of iPhone™ around the corner on June 29th, the excitement is high. The new mobile device is a 3-in-1(Phone, i-Pod and Internet communicator). The iPhone provides internet connectivity using WiFi (IEEE 802.11b/g) or EDGE. This can enable the use of many applications while in the WiFi Hotspots such as mail( Yahoo or Gmail), browsing and media downloads. Google( including Google Earth™) and Yahoo search engines will be available with the phone.
iPhone has also been enabled for YouTube™ which is a fine way to upload and download vides or watch them streaming. Videos on the phone will use the Apple format and will be based on H.264.
There are some questions on the iPhone and live mobile TV which users in India will be waiting for. Watching streaming TV channels is certainly possible using the WiFi or EDGE but the phone has not been enabled for cellular video. Nor will it support MobiTV which is aggregated content as delivered via various operators. Does it indicate a direction which Apple wishes to set for the industry?
What about the DVB-H, MediaFLO and DMB based Mobile TV broadcast systems?
Or Cellular videos delivered via streaming? Does it have something to do with what Apple believes to be the future of live TV on Mobiles?
iPhone also does not support Flash based videos nor does it support Java. In fact Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying “The iPhone will not support Java applications. Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”
Of course, it supports i-Tunes and music stores. Should we be seeing more of those around as action builds up?
Amitabh Kumar
http://www.mobiletvhome.com/
Reliance does not leave any opportunity for business. Great!