If you think paying out $9.99 to unlock the entire game in Super Mario Run is a bit much, imagine paying out a $44 million ransom to unlock the right to sell the iPhone 7 for just one country! Apple has agreed to invest around $44 million in Indonesia, in order to gain the rights to sell the iPhone in the country.
“Apple has committed around $44 million to invest in R&D over three years,” [government official] Suryawirawan said. “Therefore, they can distribute devices priced 6 million rupiah ($448) and above. That means all iPhones can be distributed.”
Indonesia is the worlds fourth most populous country behind China, India, and the United States, making it an important market in Apple’s plans for worldwide domination.
Indonesia’s rules are similar to India’s, both requiring foreign companies to create jobs in the country, in order to gain approval to sell their products there. Both countries require companies to source at least 30% of their products locally. Indonesia allow companies to meet the requirement by any combination of manufacturing, software development or other investments in the local economy.
Apple still faces an uphill battle to gain market share in the country, as Samsung currently holds 26% of the Indonesian smartphone market by sales volume, followed by China’s OPPO with 19%. Both companies have production facilities in the country.
