iPhone3G India

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This is really bad for people like us who are desperately waiting for nation wide launch of 3G in India. The Finance Ministry In India has asked the Telecom Department to double the minimum bid price to get 3G spectrum in India. New amount will stand for 40 billion rupees($840 million).

We don’t know the reason behind it or we are not supposed to know, but all said and done, this will only delay the 3G release date in India which was apparently set for 30 Jan.

Lets wait and watch what happens and hope for best.

[via:Economic Times]

Come on this is a bad consumer experience, well we all know they can’t just sell the iPhone at the price being set in US, but still atleast some price cuts should be made by Airtel and Vodafone. At&t in US is doing all it can to attract users towards iPhone by making regular price cuts and they will sell new refurbished iPhone for a price of $150, but in India prices are just stagnant since iPhone launch in India.

Seems like both Airtel and Vodafone has given up on iPhone and moved, that is why its even hard to see any advertising at all about iPhone in India.

Is anyone listening?

Finally Indian Mobile users will be able to use 3G, in their mobile phone’s. State owned MTNL launched 3G Services in some parts of Delhi. MTNL plans to further expand the 3G network to Mumbai in about 2 months and then followed by Chennai.

MTNL is claiming by mid 2009 customers in major Indian cities will be able to surf at speeds of about 2Mbps on their smart phones.

So, what happens with iPhone 3G users, who are bounded by contract with either Airtel or Vodafone. Well, we also don’t know it yet, but one thing is sure, they should be trying hard to launch 3G services as soon as possible, if they don’t want to loose customers due to this.

Well the wait to lay your hands on G1, can end pretty soon if you happen to be a budding Android Developer. Google is shipping a unlocked G1 for $399 (which roughly comes around Rs 20,000), for developers who want to test their android based apps and release in the Android App store.

To get one, first you have to register in the Android Market With A $25 fees and then you will be eligible to apply for brand new unlocked G1 for yourself.

To purchase an Android Dev Phone 1 device, you must first register as an Android developer on the Android Market site, if you haven’t done so already. Once you’ve logged into your developer account on Android Market, you can purchase the device by clicking the “Purchase” link. To accommodate demand, there is a limit of 1 device per developer account, for now.

The device currently costs $399 (USD) (including free shipping in the US), and will be available for purchase in 18 international markets, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary. We will continue to expand this program into new geographies over time.

Well if you are thinking to get one for yourself, even though you don’t have any intention of developing android apps for G1, you can still go ahead and order one. But here comes a word of caution from Google.

Note that Android Dev Phone 1 devices are not intended for non-developer end users. Since the devices can be configured with system software not provided by or supported by Google or any other company, end users operate these devices at their own risk.

Which means if it goes bust while using, you will be left with a pretty costly paper weight.

So, if you want to own a unlocked G1 before its release in India, this can very well be an option.

More Details at Google Devices Link

Indian government owned BSNL takes lead from the private players and is launching it 3G services by December 2008. Well its really unfortunate for the iPhone 3G owners, who spent so much money for it and are not able to use its 3G functionality, and will not be able to even after BSNL launches it. As their iPhones are bounded with their respective network(Airtel or Vodafone). Well if these mobile networks work out something with BSNL then iPhone 3G owners are in for treat coming this december.

Here is the article :

State-owned BSNL has set an ambitious target of starting next generation 3G mobile services in December to take a lead over private operators and has placed the purchase orders for the northern, eastern and western zones.

In a communication to all chief general managers of telecom circles or districts, BSNL has asked them to take further necessary actions at their end so that 3G services are launched by December, 2008. While announcing the 3G policy, communication and IT minister A Raja had given the advantage to telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL of allocating 3G spectrum ahead of others with a condition that both will pay the price equivalent to the highest bid.

This was done keeping in mind the cumbersome process to procure equipments by the PSUs vis-a-vis by the private players.

“The 3G Purchase Orders (POs) issued earlier by the circles of north and east zones were kept in abeyance because of non availability of 3G spectrum. As the 3G spectrum has now been allocated to BSNL, the 3G POs will become effective from the date of issuance of this letter (August 11, 200,” BSNL said in the letter.

Whereas for the western and southern zones, the POs for 3G equipments has been placed with the ITI under reserve quota. While releasing the radio frequency for the PSU, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has said that one time spectrum fee at a price equal to highest bid as determined in respective areas is payable by BSNL.

“Further, BSNL is also to pay annual spectrum usage charge of 1% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) after a period of one year from the date of earmarking of frequencies that is August 8, 2008,” BSNL said.

While allocating the spectrum in 2.1 GHz band to BSNL, the DoT has said that “In case any harmful interference to any of the existing operations on the allocated frequency spots, suitable remedial measures including shifting of the carrier would be taken.”

The government, which announced the broad guidelines of the 3G policy on August 1, said MTNL and BSNL would be allocated one block each in Delhi/Mumbai and rest of the country, respectively. The spectrum has been reserved for them and they just would have to match the highest bid after the auction for private companies is completed. This would give the PSUs a first-mover advantage of a minimum four months over private sector rivals.

[Via: Times Of India]

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music aka Nokia Tube is yet to be launched in India and US. But it is launched in countries like Russia and Spain. It is expected to get launched in India around Christmas or early 2009.

Currently it is selling for 420 Euros in Spain which comes to around Rs 26,300. If it comes with that price in India, then it will join the league of iPhone, whose 8gb version is selling around Rs 28,000.

Keeping in the mind that Nokia has a very good market and is a very trusted brand in India. They must be knowing how the Indian Mobile market reacts to insane prices. That’s why according to our estimations Nokia Tube prices will be around Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. And we sincerely hope it will not cross the 25k mark as it will again spell doom for the Nokia Tube sales here.

Yesterday we estimated the price of Xperia X1 in India to be around Rs 35,000 - Rs 40,000.

Well, we missed the exact price by Rs 4,500. Yes, Xperia X1 is launched in India with a insane price of Rs 44,500. Really with this price we don’t think X1 will be finding many customers, but Sony Ericsson already clarified that they are looking for premium customers for X1.

Great going Sony Ericsson, absolutely no lesson learned from iPhone debacle in India.

[Via : Techtree]

Hi Readers,

We are making a initiative to help Indian customers to search and buy second hand mobiles in their respective cities in India. For that we will require your help, so if you are from Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai or any other city in India, please let us know the address of a good second hand mobile shop in your locality by emailing us at iphonegeek@iphone3g-India.com or commenting in this post.

With your help we will compile the shop list city and state wise, which will be posted here, so anyone can read it and get information.

Hope to see a good participation