iPhone in India
7 months after its worldwide release, the most celebrated gizmo of recent times made its official debut in India on 22 August 2008. The hype it created in India was nowhere near what we saw in the US. Reasons are pretty obvious. Indians are not quite used to the idea of network-locked phones. iPhone is brought to India by Airtel and Vodafone, which are India's biggest mobile network operators. Despite that, Indians are more comfortable with buying a phone from a phone outlet than a network operator's outlet. If at all they decide to try that out they will soon find themselves with a much lighter wallet. The iPhone3G is priced at Rs.31000 (starting from) i.e. around $750, and the non-3G version is not released in India. It’s pretty odd that in a country with no 3G network, people are forced to buy a 3G phone. It should be noted that the same iPhone3G prices are startung from $199 in the US. That would perhaps make iPhone the only thing on earth that costs cheaper in the US compared to the price in India. As if these all were not enough, the iPhone comes with a 'technical glitch' from an Indian's perspective. It seems that Apple Inc has a little bit more respect for intellectual property than the Indians. The transfer of files from an iPhone to other non-i phones is not possible. Or at least that’s what my friend with an iPhone says.
Having said all this, the iPhone remains a first-class gizmo for the upper class and middle class kids who think they are the upper class. In a country with ever-increasing number of high earning professionals who make lots of calls and like music, the iPhone do have a space.
7 months after its worldwide release, the most celebrated gizmo of recent times made its official debut in India on 22 August 2008. The hype it created in India was nowhere near what we saw in the US. Reasons are pretty obvious. Indians are not quite used to the idea of network-locked phones. iPhone is brought to India by Airtel and Vodafone, which are India's biggest mobile network operators. Despite that, Indians are more comfortable with buying a phone from a phone outlet than a network operator's outlet. If at all they decide to try that out they will soon find themselves with a much lighter wallet. The iPhone3G is priced at Rs.31000 (starting from) i.e. around $750, and the non-3G version is not released in India. It’s pretty odd that in a country with no 3G network, people are forced to buy a 3G phone. It should be noted that the same iPhone3G prices are startung from $199 in the US. That would perhaps make iPhone the only thing on earth that costs cheaper in the US compared to the price in India. As if these all were not enough, the iPhone comes with a 'technical glitch' from an Indian's perspective. It seems that Apple Inc has a little bit more respect for intellectual property than the Indians. The transfer of files from an iPhone to other non-i phones is not possible. Or at least that’s what my friend with an iPhone says.Having said all this, the iPhone remains a first-class gizmo for the upper class and middle class kids who think they are the upper class. In a country with ever-increasing number of high earning professionals who make lots of calls and like music, the iPhone do have a space.
