For Apple, Iran’s 78 million people offer a particularly attractive new market, as 42% of its people are under age 30.
The country also boasts a relative large middle class highly interested in its products. In fact, many well-off Iranians keenly follow foreign brands and trends.
Currently, Samsung is successfully selling their mobile devices in Iran and Apple wants in on the action in a more official way, reports Investors.com.
Back in 2014, international media reported that Apple was making every effort to work with new Iranian distributors but no formal announcement was ever made, apart from statements from a slew of companies claiming otherwise.
Now with the new nuclear deal out of the way, western sanctions have been lifted and the door is to swing wide open for US tech companies like Apple.
The US Treasury Department has said that once the nuclear deal is implemented, it would let international subsidiaries of US companies explore opportunities in Iran.
The report noted that Iran’s relatively young, well-educated and tech-savvy consumers are considered appealing to western brands like Apple, which already has a following in Iran.
“Hewlett-Packard’s Swiss subsidiary was attempting to work out a deal to sell its products in Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported last month. Apple has also mulled opening stores there for some time,” it added.
Chinese tech companies are also sensing an opportunity to slice off Samsung’s share of the market with the likes of Huawei now in second place in terms of market share in the country.
This could be a great market for Apple over the next several years, should they be able to bring several flagship Apple stores to Iran.
The city of Tehran has a population of over 12 million, with Mashhad having over 4 million and Isfahan and Karaj with millions each.
Whether Apple will be able to open stores in Iran remains an open question, and one that many in the country looking forward to for a very long time.
Apple’s first Middle Eastern store opened in Dubai last year, after a decade-long contract with a local distributor expired.
