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Well I am not saying it, apparently this info is from mobile phone retailer univercell who have a pretty decent presence in south India. You can check their iPhone 3GS price listing at Link . I am not sure from where they are getting the price details but it sure looks pretty unbelievable and absurd. Lets just hope this turns out be a wrong calculation.

Wow its been almost a wild week, I have been trying to get hold of some one who can actually confirm some details on the iPhone 3GS launch date and prices in India. So, here are the details I could gather till now. Please don’t take them as written on a stone, it may vary but its unlikely.

Airtel 3GS Prices

Rs. 32000 For 16GB Version

Rs 39000 For 32GB Version

Vodafone 3GS Prices

Rs. 30500 For 16GB Version

Rs. 37000 For 32GB Version

Launch Date

9th August – Airtel and Probably It will be same for vodafone as well not confirmed though.

iPhone 3G Prices Decreasing?

One thing to note here and I can comment on Vodafone is that, they may decreasing the existing iPhone 3G prices to about Rs 5000-Rs 4000 or so. Probably to clear out their stocks. So, iPhone 3G may land up in a Rs 22-23k price range which is juicy enough to attract people.

Guys and Gals the era of iPhone dominating the Indian market is starting . Will add more details as they come.

Source: Vodafone Details – Some “Good” Insider Friend
Airtel Details – @Charan – The dude who was kind enough to share details with us.

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?

Cnet carried out a article which mentions about the under par performance of iPhone sales in India. iPhone is having rocking sales around the world, competing with BlackBerry head to head in whole world, but here in India, it remains in the hands of few. iPhone comes with a 1 year contract with Airtel or Vodafone and mobile users in India are not used to be bounded to one network only. But this flaw could have been overlooked, if the iPhone prices weren’t so insanely huge.

Both the factors spelled doom on the iPhone sales in India. We hope, Apple can think of slashing iPhone prices in India, like they did in US. Ofcourse if they want iPhone to make a mark in India, for the time being Apple is basking in the glory of iPhone sales success story in other parts of world, and India market doesn’t seem to be on their radar at all.

Cnet Article Link

In today’s TOI, India Based Mobile Retailer Univercell came with a new iPhone EMI plan advertisement. They are offering iPhone in 6 easy installments, with no processing fee and no interest in EMI. Installment will be of Rs. 5166. It is not mentioned whether it will be iPhone8gb or iPhone16gb. You can refer the advertisement below.

Click On the Pic to get the big version

Following the footsteps for Vodafone, Airtel also declared EMI options for customers, which they can use to buy iPhone on Easy Installments. So, if you have the Credit Cards from any of the 3 banks namely HDFC,SBI,ICICI, you can go ahead and use the EMI option.

(Click on Screenshot to see clear details):

Source : Airtel

Thanks Hitesh Verma For Providing the Tip.

After Vodafone decreased iPhone Prices by Rs 2000, Rediff Money claimed today that there is another price decrease expected from directly from Apple (about 15% decrease from the original price), which means the new prices will be applicable for both Airtel and Vodafone.  The reason behind is mentioned as the low sales of iPhone throughout the country, which amounts to only 5000 units sold since the launch on 22Aug.

Via: Rediff Money

Following the huge prices set up by both Airtel and Vodafone, all those who had been waiting to buy iPhone since it was announced to be launched in India are rushing towards grey market where they can get almost half the price. Its been reported by Economic Times that in Indian grey markets 16GB iPhone is selling for as low as Rs 20,000-Rs 22,000. And with some good bargaining skills you can end up saving Rs 1000-Rs 2000 on that price also.

“Sales had dipped after it was announced in May that Airtel and Vodafone will bring iPhone to India. Many postponed buying the phone from us. However, since the prices announced are almost 50-60% more than at what we sell, we are getting back business,” said a dealer at Heera Panna, Mumbai’s best known grey market for all high-end phones.

So, if you want to own a iPhone and don’t want to wait for iPhone prices to go down in India, buying from grey market can be viable option.

Update: Its reported by various users through mails and comments that iPhone Grey Market Prices are more then reported by Economic Times. The prices fall in the Rs 23000-Rs. 25000 bracket for 16GB iPhone 3g