Apple reportedly won an ‘Exclusive Zone’ clause in their Mumbai Store lease that bans 22 tech brands from having a presence near their store

Earlier this morning Apple announced the opening dates of their new retails stores in Mumbai and Delhi. We’re now learning that Apple’s lease agreement stipulated that 22 technology companies shouldn’t be allowed to have presence near its soon-to-be-inaugurated store at the Reliance Jio World Drive mall in Mumbai, owned by Reliance Industries.

This stipulation in the lease, that was witnessed by data analytic firm CRE Matrix, covered these specific brands: Amazon, Facebook, Google, LG, Microsoft, Bose, Dell, Devialet, Foxconn, Garmin, Hitachi, HP, HTC, IBM, Intel, Lenovo, Nest, Panasonic and Toshiba and Sony. Although not listed in the report, Apple competitors Samsung, Huawei and/or Xiaomi were likely other candidates listed as well in what Apple dubbed the “exclusive zone.”

India’s Economic Times further noted in their report that Apple’s agreement stated that “The licensor will not give on license, sub-license, lease, sub-lease or any other arrangement nor allot any of the brands listed as ‘Competing Brands’ to occupy any space for setting up of retail stores for retailing, advertising, selling, offering, displaying and merchandising their products and services within the area of the shopping centre depicted on exclusivity zone,” as per the agreement.

“Anchor stores can understandably ask for certain exclusions with competing brands, which landlords usually agree to provide, whether as an informal understanding or as part of the documented agreement, but it is unusual to have a long list of companies that may not be direct competitors across the entire product range,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder of retail consulting firm Third Eyesight. For more, read the full report from The Economic Times.

Some background: Huawei is famous for advertising near Apple Stores as noted below. The first image illustrates a massive billboard sized ad that sat behind the construction site of Apple’s amphitheater in Milan back in 2018. The second example, is a Huawei ad placed right outside an Apple Store in China.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

In North America, it’s common to see a McDonalds restaurant challenged by Burger King, Wendy’s or other burger places in the hopes of siphoning off some business from the main attraction. Apple has learned from this over the years. To be sure, Apple will never publicly comment on such contractual conditions.