Word on the street has it that Apple has a low-cost iPhone planned, supposedly to help the Cupertino company fight against the competition who are able to offer lower priced products to capture emerging markets. Well it looks like Apple might want to hurry up with that rumored device because in at least one emerging market, India, Nokia and Windows Phone appears to be playing catchup. According to a report from TimesDigit, it seems that Nokia’s budget Lumia 520 is quite a hit in India with the handset reportedly selling out in various online retailers within the country.
While the graph from Statcounter shows that iOS is still dominating the market share in India, it appears to be on the decline albeit a slow one, and we can also see that the Windows Phone market share increasing as well, albeit slowly too. We’re not sure how long it will take for Windows Phone to catchup to iOS in India, but at the rate this is going, and assuming Apple hasn’t released the alleged low-cost iPhone, we’re thinking probably sooner rather than later. What do you guys think? Will iOS eventually lose ground to Windows Phone in India where low-cost offerings will appeal to those unwilling to pay for Apple’s premium device?