After earlier reports claiming that Apple was planning to open a new office of sorts in Hyderabad, India, today the company has confirmed to local publications that it will indeed expand in the area with a new development office planned for later this year. Apple’s statement via a report from The Economic Times is below:
Etsy has long been an online marketplace for unique, often handmade items available directly from their creators, but a new feature of the app will connect shoppers with nearby sellers in the real world. The new Etsy Local feature, available from within the Etsy iOS app, will alert users when they are close to a seller’s real world location, including pop-up shops, flea markets, craft fairs, and local stores.
Sellers will just have to add their local store and event information in order for it to appear for app users. For users, this is how it works within the app:
When a shopper opens the Local tab in the app, recommended nearby retailers and events are tailored to their tastes, based on shops and sellers they have previously engaged with, through favoriting, purchasing, and browsing. Buyers can also discover great new places to shop by viewing local boutiques that carry Etsy merchandise — just one more way to support local communities online and off.
You’ll find the new Local feature on the app’s home page on both your iPhone and iPad, and you’ll be able to view store info and navigate to local shops and events from within the app.
You can access the new Etsy Local feature through the Etsy app for iPhone and iPad.
Apple is planning to change up retail in India in a big—and small—way, according to a report by The Economic Times. According to the Times, Apple plans to open a collection of small, iOS-centric stores. The stores will be setup by local distribution partners, not by first-party retail staff. While the main focus of these locations will be on mobile devices, Apple’s other offerings will also be represented to some degree in each store.
In fact, the focus of these stores will not even be Apple’s latest devices, according to the report. Instead, these local shops will focus on the less-expensive models that Apple offers, including the iPad 2 and iPhone 4s. Macs and other products in these smaller stores will also be lower-priced models. The goal of the local establishments seems to be to place Apple’s most affordable products as close as possible potential customers—a neccessary move if Apple is to continue gaining ground in the country.