Ok again my sincere apologies for not posting and since I am starting again, let me choose a topic which is being widely discussed among people which is the sorry state of iPhone in India.
Last year when I started this blog, iPhone 3G was about to get launched and everyone(Apple+Airtel+Vodafone) was thinking that even though the prices were absurd, people will go ahead and buy it nonetheless. Which never happened and all the dreams of Apple making iPhone a big thing in India came crashing down. I don’t remember the source but I read somewhere that in one year only 20,000 iPhone 3G were sold by Vodafone and Airtel combined, in the same period grey market sold around 80,000 piece which clearly points out that price factor played a very big role here. Ofcourse lack of proper 3G network didn’t help either.
Apple seem to be taking this debacle on heart as in US they are boasting about selling millions of iPhone’s in weeks and here in India with more then billion people, they were only able to sell only 20k.
Hence my friends iPhone 3GS is nowhere to be seen, no one is talking about it, Apple don’t care, Airtel and Vodafone are least bothered. They are busy selling their 50p per minute plans and fighting with each other. Also our great politicians keep delaying the 3G auction, probably they are not able to get their proper “cut” from companies who are bidding on it.
So, all fans of iPhone in India including me and left wondering what should we do to get a proper iPhone experience like being enjoyed by people in other parts of world. Well friends there is no solution in the current situation, if you want to get iPhone 3GS give a call to your friends, family in US, get it unlocked and use it. Why because whenever 3GS gets launched they will keep the same damn high prices. And for 3G, well we have to wait there seem to be a auction coming next month or so, hopefully it won’t get postponed AGAIN.
Hang on my friend, Tata Docomo is the player to watch out for, they will launch iPhone 3G S and shake the market and others will match them
Also I visualize a situation wherein the iPhone 3G S / even iPhone 3G will be unlocked and the consumers would be able to choose the operator and data plans to suit their needs
India is a different country – price sensitive and value for money offerings click – all the players [Apple, Airtel and Vodafone - more importantly Apple] would have realized it by now
Guys and Gals – watch out for Tata Docomo to announce and shake the market
Hi Ganesh,
Well if it happens like you said, everyone including me will be pretty happy. But the only issue is Apple doesn’t consider India as profitable market, as it seems from their attitude. But lets see how it unfolds.
Thanks for visiting iPhone3g-India.com