Disappointed at the iPhone pricing in India, 8GB – Rs 31000 ($715), 16GB – 36100 ($832)
This is slightly off topic, but I just couldn’t help but express my disappointment.
Let me start with a quote from an email I just received from iPhone@vodafone.in
Thank you for registering for your Apple iPhone 3GTM with us.
We are delighted to announce that the iPhone 3G will be available in India from August 22, 2008
It will be available in 8GB & 16GB models, priced at Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100 respectively.
According to today’s rupee-dollar exchange rate that’s $715 for 8GB and $832 for the 16GB model. The email is not very clear if there is a contract involved or not .. contracts are not very common in India so I’m guessing not.
This is not entirely new news since the guys at tech2 had leaked the pricing a few days ago and they were bang on … but it is very disappointing. The iPhone is priced at $199 with an AT&T contract in US …
I’ve been waiting to buy an iPhone ever since it was first introduced, it is a brilliant piece of technology and I might actually still buy it even at that price, but not many will.
What’s disappointing is that Apple, Vodafone (and maybe Airtel) have missed to notice this extremely exciting opportunity that had the potential of totally changing the Internet usage landscape in India. Just yesterday Tim ‘O Reilly tweeted a link to this excellent writeup on the state of the Indian mobile space .. the article states ..
India had only 3.4 million PC broadband subscribers in early 2008, and less than 60 million people are using the stationary internet – that’s 5% of the population. But 300 million people in India have a cell phone. Since April 2008, there are more cell phone users in India than in the United States.
The whole country is making mobile a natural priority. Wherever I went, it was obvious, all the way to overcrowded and old Indian trains. My 14 hour overnight train did not have a restaurant car or a bathroom as we know it. But it did have power plugs built in at each air-conditioned seat, with a metal plate next to it. It didn’t say computer power plug or shaving power plug (which would have been appropriate for these slow-moving overnight trains), but simply and only: mobile charging points.
How can Apple, Vodafone not see the potential here? At the right price and given the ease of using the web on the iPhone, it had the potential of becoming the de facto Internet device for the masses in India.
The US price of $199 (I know it comes with a contract) or Rs. 8634 is an extremely good price for a phone in India .. I mean I’ve seen vegetable vendors and auto-rickshaw drives with more expensive phones than that. If Apple, Vodafone had priced the phone at that price (or a little over it) .. iPhone could totally have become the uber device of the masses in India .. we have a lot of masses you see, so imagine the volume of business for Apple, Vodafone, Airtel, application developers, e-commerce based service providers and many others.
Maybe I’m taking this too hard, maybe they plan to fix this by December when 3G networks arrive, what do you think?
August 20th, 2008
My question, are you willing to pay 36k for a phone which will be locked ( Btw 36k would be MORE than what you would pay upfront for an unlocked iPhone in most countries )?
You will be a **** of vodafone for 2 years, with them shoving any quality of service , any price , any data plan which they see fit.
No Thanks!
I was a bit shocked when I saw the price but I was still ready to buy, but NOT WHEN ITS LOCKED.
Apple and their brothers have really got their whole India strategy wrong
August 20th, 2008
I have been waiting for iPhone since it is launched in US, but I am totally disappointed with this pricing, I mean c’mon this isn’t fair I am definitely NOT buying it even if I can afford this
I will rather go for Asus P320
August 20th, 2008
As I moved to Norway at the starting of this month, I’ve been checking up the iPhone prices here and waiting for the prices to be released in India. In Norway the easiest way to get a legitimate unlocked Iphone is to go for the cheapest 1 year iPhone plan (8GB) and opt out after the first month. You pay extra for the service provider to officially unlock your phone.
In the end you end up paying close to INR 34000 to get a completely unlocked iphone (which btw, would include one months tarrif as well, as you used it for the first month under the plan.
So now in India they have launched it at INR 31000 (8GB) – which isn’t too much better (btw – is this price inclusive of all taxes??).
Norway – one of the richer countries & India – a developing countries. It probably does show how strong the mobile market is in India, but I would wait to see how the iPhone sells in the Indian economy.
August 21st, 2008
I had also waited so much to get my iPhone ever since I was in the US and it wasn’t released there. I would have bought it there, if there was no contract tag, even if Apple sold it locked and the warranty getting void if sold locked…but no luck! Apple had announced that they are going to launch iPhone for the same price across the globe and then I saw this Airtel Ad to register for iPhones in advance and I did register while in the US. But the price in India is not even close to what it is in other countries…IT’S PAINSTAKINGLY HIGH…I have given up the idea of buying one at present as Indian market is full of competitors, who I am sure must have been working day in and day out to launch an alternative to iPhone..or I’ll wait until at least the price of iPhone is reduced to a sensible mark…It’s not worth spending more than 30K, I suggest one should rather go and buy a lappie for oneself for that amount…:)
August 21st, 2008
Guys,
I share the same feeling as most of you do…
even if i would have bought a piece of toy, esp if its buggy, i will never shell out such a hefty amount!
August 21st, 2008
Alright ! So Airtel announces now, that the phone is not going to be sim-unlocked either ….
August 22nd, 2008
To tell you the truth i think buying a 31000 phone that to sim locked is a joke. God please make those idiots realise they are fucking the indian consumer.
August 24th, 2008
The iPhone costs about 27,000+ rupees to actually make, thus, the carriers in the US (AT&T) and in other countries subsidize this high price and regain that amount by offering a fixed service plan. In India, where there is no concept of having a service plan, if the phone was to cost the same- 199$ (Rs. 8634), Vodafone or Airtel would lose 20,000 rupees per phone. They are bound to price it at the prive they get it for from Apple and obviously add their own margin which is 4,000 rupees or 8,000 rupees. So, im sorry to dissapoint but, unless a service plan is introduced and the price is therefore subsidized, there is no way the price of the phone can be lower, whether ‘Apple and Vodafone see the potential?’ or not.
March 12th, 2009
i phone at dollar 199 if purchased if it functions like ordinary phone or it will cost more