Apple Store Online has gone live in India, in time for the annual festival season that starts from October. Apple’s online store will let customers purchase products and accessories directly through its website with some features such as the Apple Trade-In program, Configure Mac, personal sessions, Apple Support and AppleCare+, to name a few. Until now, Apple had been selling its products in the country through authorized resellers and e-tailers Amazon and Flipkart.
Amidst the ongoing Cornavirus pandemic, Apple Store Online presents a much-needed way to purchase products from the comfort of your home. The company says that orders will be shipped in 24 to 72 hours but it may take longer for custom products like when configuring a Mac or a personalised engraving on iPad or Apple Pencil and more.
Apple is also offering free delivery of products purchased from its online store and all orders ship with no-contact delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Apple has integrated its Store Online with its website and now users can browse for products across the website and click on the “Buy Now” button to add the product to the shopping bag. The interface is pretty simple, as you would expect from the company, and lets you choose the colour and storage variants.
Apple is also accepting orders for custom Mac configurations and allows buyers to customise the Mac for additional storage, more graphics performance, storage, afterburner cards and more. We tried configuring the Mac Pro to its limit and you can check out the configuration below, along with the price, of course.
The Apple Store Online also lets you chat with an Apple Specialist for assistance in shopping for a particular product. These specialists are fluent in both English and Hindi and can advise users on a number of things including helping them to configure their Mac or informing users about their newest product purchase. The company is also offering personal sessions for all users purchasing a new product from the online store.
The online store accepts different modes of payments including credit/debit cards, RuPay cards, UPI, Net Banking and more. It also offers EMI finance options on credit cards for users and there are special discount offers for students, their parents and lecturers and university staffs.
Currently, HDFC Bank Credit cardholders are eligible to get upto 6% cash back or up to Rs 10,000 on all orders above Rs 20,900. This offer is valid till October 16.
Apple is also offering its Trade-In program in India that lets users purchase a new iPhone in exchange for their old smartphones. For this, users need to answer a couple of questions and the company will offer a trade-in value that can be used to purchase an iPhone. For instance, Apple is offering around Rs 19,000 as the trade-in value for the OnePlus 7T going up to Rs 36,000 for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus. In case you already own an iPhone and want to get a newer one, Apple offers up to Rs 35,000 discount on exchanging the iPhone XS Max.
AppleCare+ also comes to India and offers warranty extensions for upto 2 years and users get upto two incidents of accidental damage protection including repair and replacement.
Apple has also announced its upcoming Today at Apple sessions that will begin in October and will witness Indian content creators talk about photography and music with the backdrop of Apple products.