iPhoneIndiaBlog.com

BGR.in just confirmed that Airtel and Aircel has decided to price iPhone 4 with 8GB at Rs.37,900 ($730). Wow, this super expensive again. Has Apple gone a bit crazy after Steves death??? iPhone 4 was sold for Rs.34500 just a while back for almost 8-9 months now. Users can still get hold of the iPhone 4 16GB variant, which will be discontinued from tomorrow (as reported by BGR.in), for Rs 35,500. Have they gone out of their minds?

Airtel has finally taken the wraps off its iPhone 4 8GB and has priced it at Rs 37,900, which will be available from November 25 along with the new iPhone 4S and the older iPhone 3GS 8GB. If you still want to go for an iPhone 4, we suggest you recce the market and get hold of the 16GB variant today. Happy hunting.

Apple, you are surely going to kill iPhone in India. Congrats…

Now that the May 12th rumor has been busted, lets look further. FYI, there was a strong rumor going around which suggested that iPhone 4 will finally launch in India on the 12th May, and that too factory unlocked. But one thing is for sure, Apple will release iPhone 4 in India before this month end, that is May 2011. These phones would most probably be released not only through Airtel and Aircel but also via iMagine and iStores in India. HomeShop18.com has already started taking pre-orders for Rs.34,200 for a 16gig iPhone 4 – here is that article that I had covered last week. Looks like Apple is willing to sell iPhone 4 at a subsidized rate this time in India. Thats a big relief.

This morning BGR covered this interesting article on iPhone 4 launch in India. If Apple thinks further in a more creative way as to how to blow up Indian mobile market which is growing like crazy (just like the Chinese market), Apple will beat the Samsung, Nokia and HTCs black and blue even in Indian marktet. Indian mobile market is very price sensitive and Apple brings some contract based plans with some subsidy, they could surely do it. Lets hope for the best this time around. Here is what BGR had to say:

I have been hearing things like “You’d be surprised” and “You will be shocked when you hear the price points.” At the moment, we know that the iPhone 4 will be sold factory unlocked. How about a “reverse subsidy” model? In this model, rather than subsidizing the cost of the phone, a buyer is required to pay the full amount upfront. However, for making that commitment, the carrier pays back the subscriber every month. Think of it as an EMI. In case of a post-paid subscriber, it could be a flat discount on his monthly bill spread over two years. Depending on the usage, the subscriber could literally get the phone for free if he stays with the carrier (in this case, Aircel or Airtel) long enough. Or in case of pre-paid, it could be a package of free calling minutes, text messages and data.

Pretty interesting idea BGR, reverse subsidy model might work. Lets wait and watch, and see if Airtel or Aircel find this stuff interesting. Anyways, something that would be real cool would be having White iPhone 4 available on day 1 in Indian stores.

This news is confirmed by none other than BGR India. If this comes true, it would be the right piece of news coming from Apple whom we Indians keep bashing for its step-motherly treatment towards us. Here is what BGR India is reporting:

We can now confirm that both Airtel and Aircel will launch factory unlocked iPhone 4 in India. We do not have the exact date of launch, yet, but we have been informed that it could happen towards the end of May. Finally, we hear that a version of the iPhone 3GS (probably 16 GB) will also be available sub-Rs 30,000, followed by the two iPhone 4 variants (16 GB and 32 GB) both priced upwards of Rs 30,000.

This is just too cool, isnt it?

[via - BGR India]

I was disheartened to see the list of countries that would be getting iPhone 4 in Apple’s 3rd round of rollout last week. There was no mention of Airtel not India. But this morning I got some real good news from Fonearena . Fonearena got an interesting tip from a user who actually got a call from Airtel citing that a microSIM card is available. He went ahead and got one and shared these pics. I am going to call Airtel and check if microSIM is available in few hours from now. Will keep you updated. I am sure if these SIM  cards are genuine, iPhone 4 should be coming to India as promised by Airtel’s CEO way back in June. Till then enjoy these images:

Sometime in July 2010, Economic Times reported that Airtel might roll out the new 3G services around October so the launch of iPhone 4 around that time might be good way for them to promote new data plans and services.

“We are working with Apple. Hopefully, we will launch it in the September-October timeframe,” Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor told reporters on the sidelines of a CII industry conference.

In India iPhone 3GS 16 GB model is currently available for Rs 35,500 ($750) and 32GB model for Rs 41,500 ($877) and it is interesting to note that the phone is still sold locked to the network provider and cannot be used with other networks. iPhone 4 might be launched at the same price band too.

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Last week Airtel formally announced that its going to sell iPhone 3GS in India very soon, and was covered here. And yesterday, Airtel tweeted this:

The phone will be available from 35,500 rupees ($784) for the 16 GB model, and 41,500 rupees for the 32GB model, Bharti Airtel said.

Customers of iPhone 3GS will get 500 MB of free data every month for a year from the date of activation, the leading Indian mobile operator said. ($1=45.3 rupees)

[via - Reuters]

After iPhone 3G’s dismal performance in the Indian sub-continent way back in 2008, Apple seemed to have lost interest in selling iPhone 3GS in India. Even though 3GS was launched worldwide way back in August 2009, Airtel and Vodafone dint get rights to sell iPhone 3GS their Indian customers for almost eight months. And now Airtel gets to sell iPhone 3GS in India. The formal launch dates havent yet been announced. Airtel will sell pre-locked iPhone 3GS this time as well. That would mean that buyers will be able to use only Airtel SIM cards.

Now that Apple is planning to launch 4th Gen iPhones (4G) sometime this June (rumor) in the US, they would want to dump iPhone 3GS to Indian mobile users. Not fair Steve Jobs.

Anyways, Macworld has shared this article that says Airtel has finally announced they will be bringing the iPhone 3GS to India:

On Friday, Bharti Airtel announced in a concisely worded press release that it had struck a deal with Apple to bring the latest version of Apple’s smartphone to India “in the coming months.”

A newly updated section of the Airtel Website provides answers to some questions, making it clear that the company will continue to sell the 8GB version of the iPhone 3G in the country alongside the new 8GB and 16GB 16GB and 32GB variants of the iPhone 3GS, which will be available only at the network’s own stores.

Here is the details of the announcement on Airtel website:

New Delhi, March 19, 2010 : Bharti Airtel and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3GS, the fastest most powerful iPhone yet, to India in the coming months. For information please visit www.airtel.in/iphone3gs. For more information on iPhone, please visit www.apple.com/iphone.

Macworld shares more insights on why this delay happened:

Originally introduced by Apple in June 2009, the iPhone 3GS was scheduled for an Indian launch (along with 31 other countries) in August last year, but it failed to make an appearance on Indian shores as scheduled. Seven months later we finally have the first official murmurings of the device coming to India.

Most of the criticisms of the iPhone 3G in India—locked to a carrier, extremely high price, not officially supported by Apple, and lack of a 3G network—will probably continue to plague the iPhone 3GS. And given the widespread assumption that a new iPhone is just a few months away, the 3GS’s eventual appearance in India may be too little, too late.

[via - Macworld]

AWESOME. I just started testing this 3.0 OS on my iPhone 3G. Its response time is definitely faster. The Spotlight works damn well. I just MMS’ed, it works beautifully with my Airtel SIM. Too cool. Let me quickly share this MMS screenshot:

Tethering works on Airtel as well. Smooth ). I can now tether my iPhone 3G with my Laptop using the same Airtel connection. And the best thing about these great features is that I dont have to pay even a single paisa (penny) to Airtel . No extra charges for MMS and nothing for Tethering. But I will be paying for the data download. BTW, here is my iPhone-Dell Laptop tethering screenshot:

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During the WWDC 2009 keynotes, Apple announced that the new iPhone 3GS will hit Indian Airtel and Vodafone stores in August. The date of launch wasn’t mentioned during the keynotes, but I have been told from a reliable source that the launch date might most probably be on 9th of August 2009. Check this keynotes screenshot:

Coming to the $99 8GB iPhone story. This price band will be applicable in the US only. India will not see 8GB iPhone post iPhone 3GS launch and will not get Rs.15,000 iPhone. Simply because Apple is not looking at mass promoting iPhones in India. It wants to keep the exclusivity factor alive in India, even if that amounts to lesser sale. There would be only 2 versions, 16GB and 32GB versions with white and black option.

Airtel will continue to sell iPhone 3GS 16GB for Rs.31,000 (US$660) and 32GB for Rs.36,100 (US$770). Vodafone India might sell these 2 versions at Rs.1,500-2500 cheaper rate.