India Broadband Forum

panchabhut

Apple has authorised Bharti Airtel to ‘unlock’ its 3G iPhones, launched earlier, enabling the Indian company to sell it through their stores to any user, not necessarily only an Airtel subscriber.

This is in contrast to the existing practice of Apple in offering the iPhones — launched in two versions, 8 GB and 16 GB — bundled with the services of only two operators, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Essar.

According to Apple’s global support site, Bharti Airtel has been authorised to legally unlock the iconic handsets in the country. Vodafone in Australia, Orange in Austria and Movistar in Argentina are among the 40 global carriers (Airtel is the only one in India) authorised to unlock the handsets.

The companies may also charge an additional fee for the unlocking, the website said.

When asked, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson declined to comment. Apple’s spokesperson could not be spoken to.

According to sources, this means Bharti Airtel will continue to sell the handsets in the country, but it necessarily would not be exclusive to its user. A user can walk into Airtel’s retail showrooms and buy an iPhone and use it with his or her existing connection. Airtel had a signed an agreement with Apple in May 2008 and was the second provider of the service in the country.

In India, the 8 GB model officially costs around Rs 31,000, while the 16 GB is priced at Rs 36,000.

However, the sales has been pretty lukewarm till now.

Source: Business Standard

mickey

yeah i heard too,,now these guys got their mind to the right path..when iphone became a loose story for India they had to take such step...

Preeti_20

so what about the iphones which were previously brought, when this new news was not launched?

Admin

Does anyone know how much is Airtel charging to unlock the iphone so the warrenty doesnt get void?

Preeti_20

Also where can you get the phone unlocked from?

Sid

What will be the cost ??

panchabhut

these are questions that can be only answered when airtel actually launches the facility

Preeti_20

and when exactly will airtel launch this service then, any idea?

panchabhut

unfortunately, no.

deep_nx

i am using an iphone since 1 n a half year

i am using an iphone 2g on the latest 3.0 firmware which i unlocked myself as i am used to the unlocking process + using 9 pages of Cra*ked apps fully WORKING

i had got my piece from my frnd @ heera panna and unlocked it myself

i am an 100% SATISFIED iphone customer

and i wud buy an 3GS soon and will unlock it myself.

STARPER

yes its true that iphone 3gs is now available unlocked officially. but the bad news is that it is not in INDIA, its available in hongkong.If you purchase the iphone 3gS from the apple online store you don't have to get it unlocked, its officially unlocked to be used anywhere in the world. just bring the phone to INDIA and activate it through itunes and that's it. Use the phone, also you don't have to compromise with any of its features. as we see the unlocked phones disable some of the features. so its easy. The price of the phone is 16gb-5388 HK$ that's aprox 33500/-.