Thread: iPhone in India will be costliest

The much-awaited 3G iPhone is likely to cost a fortune in India, unlike in global markets, with Indian service providers unlikely to subsidise the gadget, like AT&T in the US and O2 in Germany.

Moreover, a fear of unlocking (cracking) and a likely flooding of counterfeit iPhones in the market are also likely to keep Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Essar -- the two service providers – from subsidising the handset.

According to industry sources, prices of the latest iPhone (Version 2.0) would be at least double the amount of that in the US. The 8-gb version of the gizmo is likely to be priced between Rs 16,000 and 18,000, while the 16-gb would cost around Rs 24,000 to Rs 28,000 in the country.

Prices in India would also be higher by around $25-30 (Rs 1,000-1,200) as companies are expected to levy handling and other charges.

This is in contrast with the 8-gb iPhone sold at $199 (Rs 8,000) and the 16-gb priced at $299 (Rs 11,960) by AT&T in the US. The phone is given free by O2 in the UK, while T-Mobile prices it at a meagre 1 euro (Rs
67.92) in Germany.

AT&T, O2 and T-Mobile are bundling iPhones with their services, resulting in cheaper pricing of handsets to consumers. The companies have admitted of subsidising -- the extent of the subsdy is under wraps -- with AT&T saying that it may take a hit in revenues for the next two years.

However, industry sources said without subsides the iPhone would cost around $400, double the price offered by AT&T in the US.

According to sources, Airtel and Vodafone are unlikely to subsidise them as bundling is not a "successful formula" in the country and penalty clauses are not strictly adhered to leading to lengthy court battles.

In the US, buyers have to sign a service contract for two years with AT&T and the phone has to be activated within 30 days. To discontinue the service, either the phone has to be surrendered or a cancellation fee of $175 (Rs 7,000) has to be paid.

When contacted, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said: "We have plans of bringing in the iPhone before the close of the year, though a specific launch date is yet to be announced. It is too premature to comment on pricing details."

While Vodafone-Essar did not respond to queries, an Apple spokesperson based out of Singapore said: "Apple does not comment on speculation."





P.S: I have copiedThe above information from MSN. If you are intrested enough to read the whole article could you please tell me if I buy this phone from UK (prob ask a friend) will that work in India, i mean the code cracking part.????

I am not buying any cell phone for more than Rs. 12K.

it will not be more than rs.10000

if the service providers subsidized the i phone like for Rs 16000 for 8 GB model it will be a big hit as we don't get such quality phones for such low price

Although i can tell that there will be huge number of takers for iphone as it has been hyped so much all the guys who were waiting to lay their hand on it might go for it initially and then it will subside and the rates might come down drastically.

@ manish lalit

dude it cannot be that iphone is gonna cost so much cos it has already been mentioned on their website that its gonna cost 199$ and ofcourse add ur taxes, so it shud be less than 12k.

my budget is 9000...