Vodafone To Launch iPhone 3G In India On Friday, For A Whopping $715 And $830; Not 3G, But GPRS
So much for the iPhone reaching any scale in India. Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), through its Vodafone Essar joint venture, is gearing up to launch the iPhone 3G in India beginning August 22, but the device will cost almost $715 for the 8GBt model, PC World reports. The 16GB model will sell for $830. Those price points are even higher than what the first iPhone sold for in the U.S. and one that most Indians can
firstly tech2 guys u rock. u ppl were the 1st ones to giv the pricing days back.
31000 for a phone which lacks many features is not worth.
its not that ppl cant afford 31000 but its not worth the money ppl r going 2 pay.
lets see how many ppl book the iphone in dez 2 days..
i personally would never buy it at such a price.
IPHONE go back.
what happened to steve jobs promise that the iphone would be priced at 199$ or less worldwide.
were the hell did zee business get the news from??
are the launching the chinese copy of the iphone called HIPHONE 3g??
guys 1 suggestion buy a normal phone or stick 2 ur old phone nd wait itll september 4 the new ipod touch.
it will be more or less like the iphone excep the phone feature of course.
that would be a better deal
I read this on a Website – "Airtel and Vodafone are not in the business of providing subsidies." If the service providers are least bothered about their customers, why would anyone bother giving them business by buying the phone? Screw you Airtel.
Hi gaurav u r really true.. The vodafone and airtel are tied with apple to cheat indian people…what they are thinking.. ijust now gone to vodafone store and noticed that only one booking was done till now..what they are thinking of indian people.. the price of iphone is approx equal to a software company employee salary per month..did he buy it for that..so what abt normal people.. they will buy that worthless thing????
really aa Anon.. its very sad to hear from uthat u r supporting airtel and vodafone. how many of indian people will buy it?? @ that price.. utell me…with the network locked..did u get 1 lakh salary per month or did u have any heavy financial backgrnd..so u can buy that..ok congrats
Srii, When did Anon say he was supporting Airtel?
Few things to get it clear here. IPhone is not getting a cost of $199 (8 GB) , INR 9000 in India. There is another cost which Apple is putting to vodaphne & airtel of INR 4500 as subscription fee. So actual cost of IPHONE 9 8 GB) is 13,500/- and 18,000 (16 GB).
Now if Airtel and Vodaphone wants to have a profit margin of 100% JUST BY DOING HANDSET BUSINESS besides the monthly subcription of network, then we should thow them out of business.
Friends I can tell you few names who actually get Iphone form US at cost of $199 & $299. They unlock it. For this they charge $100 and then on that they keep their risk allowence of $100. So final cost of 8 GB would be $399 and $499 which is still uch much cheaper than airtel & vodaphone Iphone. Also in unlock you are not bound ot use only these two network in future. You can switch to any network as per your choice on your own IPHONE.
Put the Iphone – back to mittal & Vodaphone – back to Sarin. Enjoy with lots of other gadgets available in market with much lesser cost.
hi,
i have been eagerly waiting for iphone launch, but looking at the prices i am least interested to own a iphone, i would rather prefer to have a good HTC Touch mobile, it has everything that you would need, and its an windows mobile for which we get lot of other sw.
here is a mail that i got regarding iphone…
=====================================
Hi,
Friends ….. planning for iPhone… THINK TWICE
BEFORE MAKING A DECISION… The short comings of iPhone are endless…
No video calling,
no AD2P on the Bluetooth,
CAN'T share ANY (mp3, images,videos….) files via bluetooth,
can't use as a wireless modem, (you pay ridiculous data charges to activate
internet on your phone, but cannot connect it to your PC and browse when
you are at home)
no copy and paste,(cannot copy a part of a…. say….. email & send
it….have to type it out yourself)
no 3.2 or 5 megapixel camera,(the 2MP camera it carries is worst camera
i've ever seen….. photos look like they have come out of a VGA camera)
no video recording with camera,
no front camera,
no flash..
no JAVA support
No physical keyboard (BELIEVE me! this alone is a dealbreaker…touch
keyboard as good as it looks…once you use it then only you come to know
about the importance of having a hard keypad)
No 3G network yet in India..so why pay for expensive 3G phone if you cant
use its 3G services … so, for India, iPhone 2.0 is no better than its
first version
No removable battery. (You cannot change battery. Have to send it to apple
outlet.. Come on now!!!!…This is not an iPod. Its a bloody phone. You
cannot live without phone for 2-3 days)
No haptic feedback and
cannot send MMS,
can't use as external storage device (16 GB of utter waste..next time you
go to your friend's house & find some interesting songs, movies, etc..sorry
you cannot connect your '16 GB' phone and share it!!!! Apple apparently has
a solution.. " BUY MUSIC & MOVIES FROM iTUNES STORE "….. Give me a break
will you APPLE!!!)
no FM radio,
can't use your mp3 files as ringtones,(This is heights man!!!)
cannot insert any other SIM [WINDOWS-1252?]card?.
completely tied to iTunes… Connect to your friend's iTunes & you risk
erasing everything on your phone.
list goes on & on & [WINDOWS-1252?]on?.
We Indians are used to these features. Most of our phones already have
these features. & we cannot do with out them…. i mean can you imagine
paying so much for a phone with which you cannot transfer files via
bluetooth. what age is this …STONE AGE???
Some features may be activated by jailbreak.. But why the hell should you
risk losing your warranty after paying so much.
And want to add third party softwares??.. YOU HAVE TO BUY THEM FROM iTUNES
STORE ONLY!!! . (Shell out more money). Apple is a bloody control freak.
Dont surrender your freedom to it.
Its good for american market (who have no idea what mobile freedom/choice
is) which is in stone age compared to asian/european markets. When they
want to buy a phone, they have to go to network operators and buy only
those phones that are available on that network. & stick to that company
till their contract expires. You want to change carriers? Not before paying
damages, & buying another phone on the other network again.
On the contrary, we in India have so much freedom. We go to handset shops &
buy which ever phone we like. Then go to carriers.. checkout the plans &
buy SIM.. Dont like the plan or rival carrier came up with a better
plan???? EASY .. just remove & replace the SIM.
Apple are trying to IMPOSE THEIR MODEL ON US riding on the hype iPhone has
created in the US (yes it was a flop in Europe .thats why Apple never talks
about its sales in Europe).
Dont fall for the subsidized price of iPhone… CHECKOUT THE DATA PLAN
ATTACHED TO ITS SIM ..they will recover the cost through ridiculous data
plans. Bill might come to around Rs 2500/month.(ATLEAST AMERICANS PAY THAT
MUCH)
Let me clear one thing though.. iphone is the best looking phone (its touch
interface is nothing like you have ever seen ), & best browsing experience
out there no doubt …. (& others are fast catching up..check out the
android demo at Google IO 2008)…. BUT AFTER A FEW DAYS IT ALL COMES DOWN
TO FUNCTIONALITY…
Those of who buy it… You will be most happy for atmost a week… & then,
MARK MY WORDS…YOU WILL START REGRETTING IT!!!
My advice…WAIT FOR HTC DREAM!! (powered by android). Still not convinced
by then…by all means go for iPhone…
So friends lets spread this info to all our friends and help them in making
a wise decision….. & those of you who have bought unlocked versions
already please share your experiences with others
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME…. GOODLUCK!!!
Regards,
Sudhir Kesharwani
Guys, I understand your concern. At the end of the day it all narrows down to demand. I guess vodafone and airtel are betting on the hype. Hope they will learn a good lesson after the lackluster launch. I think if they lock you in for 2 years, the consumers deserve a subsidy. Pretty soon, unlocked iPhones will be available legally from other carriers worldwide, which would be a better option than paying full price for a locked phone with 2 year contract.
P.S: Apple products rock!!
As an iPhone 2G owner, let me say that the iPhone is heads and shoulders above the junk phones running Windows Mobile or Chinese no-name software.
However I will never pay this much for an iPhone. Sorry Apple/Airtel/Vodafone, but you guys really blew it on this one.
@KK, @John
Did you even read the comment posted by @ Sudhir Kesharwani, can you justify ANY phone WITHOUT those features at 30 K?
As he rightly said, we Indians are accustomed to CHOICE, which the guys here in US are not used to, that's why they HYPE this phone out of this world as if it is the best . Please try out other phones even a OLDDD N95 will do, and then compare what apple has now and NOKIA had 2 years ago.
I dont belive Winmo (yeah I mean HTC) or RIM to make any dent to IPHONE, but outside US NOKIA is the only safe bet (and a very better choice).
Please don't imagine every user wants a great touchscreen experience combined with an APP store, it may work in US , but in India?? not quite.
People in US cant see beyond their thick APPLE shaded glasses, don't bring that freaking point of view here also !!