Rumors around Apple iPhone & it’s price in India
(8 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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Hope you are not getting bored reading too much about iPhone. It’s my duty to update my visitors with whatever update I have. So, there are some strong rumors about iPhone & Airtel. One of my friend updated my last week that he spoke to some Airtel guy who is knowledgeable. He told that Airtel is trying to launch iPhone in India in August first week. The price is expected to be around Rs.25,000.
I heard it $199, why Rs.25k here?
Yes, this might be a question in everyone’s mind who is interested in iPhone. In US you can get iPhone 8 GB model for $199 & 16 GB model at $299. But the catch here is you have to sign a two years contract with AT & T, a popular service provider in US. AT & T has a special service plans for iPhone, so you end up paying more for service rather than phone. So, now you know how the Apple kept iPhone price so low. It’s actually subsidized by AT & T. Apple iPhone is also available without contract also in US, but the price is different. price of Apple iPhone without contract in US is $499 & $599 respectively for 8 GB & 16 GB models. We don’t have contract system in India, so price is gonna be high here. According my knowledge you can use iPhone with your existing pre-paid or post-paid plans.
Is iPhone worth that much?
If you keep touch aside & think about features, it’s not worth that much. For the same price you can go for other options like HTC Touch, Nokia N95, Nokia N82…etc. Nokia higher end N series phones comes with 5 MP camera, Satellite GPS, 8GB memory…etc Comparatively these phones offer you better features than iPhone. Also on iPhone you can install applications built using iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) & for many apps you might have to pay. But on these phones there are thousands of applications available for free to install. But the ease of using touchscreen outsmarts every other phone. So think smart before taking any decision, because everyone’s needs are different.
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You will have to wait a long time more than 5 months at least because the 3G service has not yet launched in India so you can’t use this iphone in India because no 3G service is available even service providers like airtel and vodo are waiting for the 3G service the test run is over from the service providers side but still Service providers are waiting for clearance from the govt side.
Secondly it will not be cheap even if you get a cheap phone,you will be paying more for the service.
The 2nd thing is about GPS.
Indian government is really cautious in providing permission for maps so I am not sure how wellits going to work on mobile.There could be restrictions that will make it useless.
Data Plans :-
The cheapest unlimited gprs plan in India costs 400+ Rs. So expect at least 1000 Rs rental plan for 3G hmm .
wat ifone ds nt have:-
video Camera :- Only 2megapixel camera with no video recording option and flash and optical zoom too missing.
No MMS ,Cut and paste, expanded memory and additional Bluetooth profiles - which all too is missing.
No support for flash files while surfing :
Apple claims that the rendering speed is very high compared to other‘s
But guys you know what iphone doest support flash files
when users will browse through Web pages with Flash it will display empty spaces with missing icons huuuh.
@Tarun
Thanks for sharing good info & your views.
I want to add one thing here, launch of iPhone & 3G networks are independent of each other. Both vodafone & airtel mentioned in footer of iphone ad that currently will be released under 2G network. You can use 3G on same iphone once 3G launches in India. If the phone is 3G compatible, it doesn’t mean that you can’t use 2G on same phone. It has backward compatibility.
Hey Tarun,
Nice to read your comeents. All i can say is that you are thoroughly misinformed. Let me clear the doubts that you might have put on potential iPhone buyers.
Firstly you are right about India being devoid of 3G networks. Mostly they should come by this Dec. But the iPhone also works in “regular” GSM networks - just like any other 3G capable phone. It is not exclusively 3G. Infact you can use it in all the countries which support GSM networks, which should be all the countries. You are right of the 3G subscription costs, that will definately going to be high.
The second thing about the GPS. Google maps has extensive, and when i say extensive - i mean street by street, detailed maps of most of the cities in India. No restrictions - even for sattelite maps. There were concerns in the begining, but they have all been dispelled. How do I know? Well i use GPS enabled google maps on my phone, and bot is it useful….espeacialy in cities like bangalore and delhi !
Coming to Data plans. I use an unlimited data plan offered by BSNL, which costs only 199 per month. Very fast edge connection (thats the fastest you can get for mobiles after 3G)….and believe me its good and efficient. I do a lot of travelling and the GPRS has never failed me - Even in the jungles of Nagaland and the desserts of Rajasthan !!! … and i am not exagerating an even bit.
Video, optical zoom…the bling bling… tell me the truth who uses it? I had an N95 with 5MP camera with all the jing bling. Rarely used the camera for serious photography….i rather use my Nikkon D40 or my 3.4 MP (yes, you heard it right…3.4 MP) Kodak digital cam….and it takes better photos than my 5MP N95. Clarity of photographs dont come from MPs but depend on a lot of other factors, which mobile phone cams cant cope with…atleast till now. And MMS. Well i have never ever sent a single mms till now to anyone. Though i do have short video clips that people wrongly cal MMSs. but never sent one, nor know any one who has. Infact this can be confirmed from telephone network providers, that MMS service is a failed businessmodel !!!
By the way,,,to me flash means ads. No flash no ads. Couldnt be better. But anyway, Adobe (the maker of Flash software) is coming up with the flash update for iPhone.
An iphone is more like a PDA, with specific functionalities, which it performs better than anything else in the market.
It should not be mistaken for a digital camera or a laptop/computer. So no such capabilities should be expected. Come on man, its a phone for crying out loud !!! What do you want it to do next…screen 70mm movies on a blank wall ???
All i can say is that, its the best money can buy today, and once you run your fingers across the screen to unlock it……..you enter a world, you will never want to leave.
I promise.
Vikram
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Abe tujhe iPhone ke alava aur kuch nahin soojhta kya? Kitne din se iPhone iPhone laga rakha hai. I’m getting bored.
Below is one of the forwards I received. Makes a whole lotta sense to me!
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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 aniPod. 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 card….
completely tied to iTunes… Connect to your friend’s iTunes & you risk erasing everything on your phone.
list goes on & on & 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 inEurope ..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….
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ella bari olu maga
indian modelle sari :p
Airtel subscribers will be able to purchase the iPhone at Airtel’s Relationship Centres from August 22……
http://airtelyouthclub.blogspot.com/
The 8Gb will come ard 15 to 18K 16 GB will come ard 30K
in 16Gb tunes will be free and one of the greatest advantage is that we can swap our numbers I mean we can use our own airtel number no need to get new one and our sim will be changed into 64K(Platinum user) a separate portal of airtel iPhone will be launched like what we have for airtel live live.airtelworld.com a new portal only for iphone users separate customer care portal for airtel iPhone users and lots more and we have to pay a monthly rental which may come around Rs 900 per month and no change in http://www.me.com to dwd suffs ..airtel users need to use this site to dwd stuffs no change in it airtel will be launching both 2G and 3G version.
Iphone is iphone ,
u dont need to talk about its features ,
iphone is a brand , its for flashing around , showing off .
Definately not value for money , in india .
TARUN IS SUCH A ASS .
HE IS Talking all crap .
1) since there is no 3G network in india , iphone will not work here ,.. he he
2) no maps in iphone , government ,, blah blah.
Mr tarun , have u not used google maps , it runs on any java enabled mobile . try it if u have a mobile
also check nokia navigator 6110 . It will not only show u the path where u should go, but also play voice like ( take left , take right ) ,, everyone knnows that after seeing so many ads.
3) what are u talking about mms ..
tell me who in india uses mms ..
atleast i havent seen any of my friends use it , neither do i use ..
tu kuch mms-kand to nahin karta na !!