One of my friends went over to the Vodafone store in Sector 19, Chandigarh yesterday. He wanted to book the iPhone. They asked him to send a message to a number (Airtel and Vodafone have been playing this stupid booking game since long) which I think is kind of an alert service since they have not asked for any booking amount.
Now, on to the main news. The sales representive told my friend that the iPhone would be priced at INR 8000. Yes, Rs. 8000 which almost equals to $199. Airtel hasn’t confirmed anything about their pricing. I highly doubt what the Vodafone people are saying. The iPhone has to be imported. Where do they include the duties etc in the price? And what use is a 3G device which mainly boasts of a rich internet experience when even their existing EDGE network is shitty and expensive with no good unlimited browsing plans.
But if it does indeed launch at Rs. 8000 then there’s nothing like it in the market. I would definitely not be one of the early adopters. I’ll just fiddle with the iPhone that someone buys and make up my mind if it’s really worth getting into a contract that would surely be expensive.
My only motive of buying the iPhone would be the rich Internet browsing it’s browser offers. I’m not in for the memory, the iPod etc. It’s just the phone and the Internet on the move.
Another news that was given to my friend was that the phone would be launched when the next month commences, i.e. August.
That’s all the news I have about the iPhone due to be launched on Vodafone and Airtel in India. Gotta hand it to Apple, they manage to create an amazing hype. People don’t even know what the iPhone is and are already dying to own one.
UPDATE: iPhone to be launched on August 18th, 2008 in India. Vodafone gets a head start over Airtel.
Some other posts that might interest you :
- India gets iPhone on August 18th : I was surfing the Internet when I came across another piece of news which suggests that iPhone will be launched in India on the 18th of August, 3 days after the Independence Day. Vodafone will be joining the iPhone bash earlier than Airtel. The iPhone wll be available exclusively on Vodafone for the first fifteen [...]...
- iPhone in India on Aug 22; no subsidies : From what I saw on Zee Business, the iPhone is to be launched in India by Airtel on the 22nd of August. They also telecast a telephonic interview with some president of Airtel who confirmed that there would be no subsidy on the iPhone. That final statement alone is a deal breaker for me. 3G [...]...
- Airtel Broadband redirecting erroneous traffic : Airtel has started redirecting traffic from dead links, non-existant domains and typos to a website of its own where it displays advertisements and a search box surrounded by some categories. The search box is just a dummy form element because if you type in another term it yields no result. Airtel is in partnership with [...]...
- Airtel Broadband still redirecting traffic : The last time I reported, Airtel Broadband was redirecting the erroneous traffic to a partnered website (onspeedsearch) where they displayed advertisements. Just five minutes back, I noticed that erroneous traffic is now being redirected to a page hosted by OpenDNS. Now, I have no clue if Airtel has in some way partnered with OpenDNS to [...]...
- Facebook headed for Indian shores! : Yesterday, I voiced my concern regarding the website facebook.in which appeared a little suspicious to me. I contacted the folks over at Facebook and got a response from them today. Here’s what they had to say : Hi Rahul, We appreciate your concern. “http://www.facebook.in” is a secure Facebook login page. Please let us know if [...]...
Either that representative was drunk or he really played this one on your friend.
There is no way…and when I say no way…I mean NO DAMN WAY in this world that either of these two companies will subsidize the iPhone prices. They just can’t dude! They won’t be able to get back the money. The US iPhone economics don’t work out here in India. So don’t expect them to sell it out at 8k just like that…and if they really do…the local Autowalaahs would buy an iPhone before I do!
I totally agree with you on this one.. they just told him that it’s for 8000 bucks to get him off their back. Like I said in the post, I don’t believe what they say, it’s next to impossible. But if they somehow manage to pull this one off by binding users under contracts or something on those lines, it would be somewhat worthy of the generated hype. Otherwise, we can expect it for anywhere around 20k.
Contracts don’t really work in India, with people refusing to pay up and the court summons etc don’t really bother them.
Yeah…remember the Reliance Monsoon Hungama…! They gave out phones for 500 bucks and people went crazy buying them and throwing them away after a good amount of usage with the excuse of overheating issues with the phones!
guys..iphone’s coming on 18th AUGUST on VODAFONE, confirmed n reconfirmed..!!
though pricing details aren’t available for vodafone, AIRTEL will launch it on 3rd SEPTEMBER with a price tag of 11,500 to 12,000 subject to contract of 18 months n 699/-rs rental which includes voice n data plans.
so be there guyz..on 18th..!!
–> Harry : I remember… loads of people had those white coloured Samsung phones. They used ‘em, generating bills of more than 20,000 Rs. and simply refused to pay up. Reliance was in a hurry for mass penetration and did not really verify its customers. A small price to pay for a good start.
–> hrk : Hmmm… Its gonna be the 8GB version. But like I said, until 3G is available at an affordable price or the GPRS, EDGE unlimited plans are bundled with the rental, the iPhone will really be of no major value. It’s basis is the Internet connectivity at which the Indian providers fail miserably.
hiii rahul,hope you are doing fine.
well the actual cost of apple iphone even if you buy in US is 12700 INR including AT&T 1yr contract.so in india u can imagine what the cost would be,waise bhi im going for samsung OMNIA,though ill get my iphone in mid august.before its launched in india
Hey pal!!! Long time! Hows it been n where are you these days?
That’s what… If I had the cash ready, I would go in for Nokia E71 over the iPhone any day.
Omnia… even I kind of dig windows mobile devices… I don’t know what people have against them…
Hi,
Today only I came to know that Airtel is now providing easy EMI offer to make iphone easily acceissible for all those who can not spend 31000 or 36000 Rs in a single shot. I am sharing following link, if you want to know more. Here it is:
http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g
Rajiv
Hi all
So, finally comapny understood mindset and problem of common man of not want to spend such a big amount of Rs. 31000/36000 to buy an iphone and made it available through EMI with tying up with few banks. I saw this info on iphone section of airtel site (http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g)
Rajiv