Next generation India may be Mac lovers

There’s hope for all Mac lovers in India. The low awareness, even lower preference for Apple in India, maybe a thing of the past. But one will have to wait a generation for that to happen, it seems. Apple re-sellers in India, like the Reliance owned iStore are conducting summer classes for the young, initiating them on the Mac and what it can do. The iStore in Bangalore’s M G Road foe example, conducts Young Creator workshops for kids aged 8-18, where they can create their own movies and other creative projects.

The iPod is the first Apple experience for these kids. And when I have observed them at the Apple stores, they come and play a bit on the Macbooks & iMacs – fiddle with Coverflow, Expose, PhotoBooth effects and then go home. The overwhelming familiarity of the PC, the relatively higher price tag of Apple leading to sub-optimal value perceptions, perceived lack of software applications (specially the MS Office kind), lack of games are all reasons. Not surprisingly, most Apple re-sellers tout Boot Camp as a huge carrot and even install XP on new Macs. Efforts like the Young Creator ar small steps but hopefully pay dividend in the years to come.