iPhone II marries all of the features of iPhone with 3G networking to make the device "twice as fast" as the first-generation iPhone.
No sooner has Steve Jobs unleashed the new 3G iPhone at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco than back home, not one but two carriers -- Bharti Airtel and Vodafone -- have announced, in conjunction with Apple, that they will be bringing the iconic device to India later this year. However, neither has specified the launch date or pricing of the 3G iPhone in India.
And now that the wraps are finally off of the much-hyped 3G iPhone, a quick recap of the stuff it's made of. iPhone II marries all of the features of iPhone with 3G networking to make the device "twice as fast" as the first-generation iPhone. iPhone II features built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services and iPhone 2.0 software with support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and is capable of running hundreds of third-party applications already built with the recently-released iPhone SDK.
Vodafone and Apple will bring iPhone 3G first to Australia, Italy, New Zealand, and Portugal on July 11. In these markets, Vodafone will make available iPhone 3G on both prepaid and contract price plans that will include value data bundles. Vodafone will then, later this year, make iPhone 3G available in other markets including the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, South Africa, Turkey, and most importantly -- India. Details of specific launch dates and price plans will be made available in the respective countries by individual Vodafone operating companies. Vodafone customers in all of these markets including India can pre-register online and in retail stores in the next few days.
Meanwhile, Airtel customers who wish to receive more information on the Apple iPhone can send an SMS with keyword "iPhone" to 54321 (toll-free number). Airtel will announce details regarding pricing and availability at a later date, the company said.
Announcing the Apple-Vodafone partnership, Frank H R Vekamp, global CMO of Vodafone Group, said, "We are very excited to bring iPhone 3G to many of our customers across Europe and emerging markets this summer. Vodafone's extensive, high-speed, and reliable networks mean customers can enjoy a great Internet and communications experience on their iPhone 3G."
On a similar note, Manoj Kohli, president and chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel, said, "We are delighted with the opportunity to bring the innovative iPhone 3G to India. As India's leading telecom operator, Bharti Airtel has always stood for innovation and customer delight. With our reach across the country and iPhone's revolutionary features, we have a valuable proposition for our customers in India."
Meanwhile, Tim Cook, chief operating officer of Apple said in separate announcements that they are thrilled to work with both Vodafone and Bharti Airtel and can't wait to get this revolutionary product in the hands of even more people around the world.
Techtree had previously reported about the possibility of Apple going multi-carrier in India. Now that it's indeed official, we asked some people for their views on the same. "Vodaphone has an international tie-up with Apple for the iPhone in a lot of countries, so it is little wonder that they got roped in for India as well. This seems to be purely from a goodwill point of view. Bharti Airtel on the other hand has a huge reach in India, and they've been roped in as well by Apple. This is purely from the business point of view," said a hard-core techie we know. A Vodafone customer said, "I'm rather more interested in knowing when they are launching the iPhone in India and what will it cost". Meanwhile, an Airtel subscriber had this to say, "I'd like to see attractive schemes like special tariffs on voice-GPRS services along with better network services and support."
All said, both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are established names in telecom; Bharti Airtel is known as India's leading integrated telecom services provider while Vodafone is known as the world's leading international mobile communications group. It will be interesting to see how the carriers' respective associations with Apple play out, to say the least.
i don't think apple has done a right decision to launch i-phone in india at so high cost.
middle class and even upper class can't buy this phone or didin't want to.
to earn confidence in south asian market company has to launch a different i-phone for them. which gives value for money features.
Hi,
Would you buy a phone that:
a) costs Rs 31000
b) does not let you use Bluetooth for anything but headset
c) Does not have any memory expansion slot
d) does not let you change the Battery
e) Does not let you sync if you are on a Linux desktop?
f) Has 3G capability but wont be useful for about 2 years since there are no 3G networks in India.
g) Is network-locked to Airtel or Vodaphone
If you answered yes to any of the above, then go get fooled into buying an iPhone!!!
You are right. Does not make any sense. With the existing network capability it will not be able to used to full capacity. Further the pricing is prohibitive. Indian customers should boycott it for the pricing
You cannot compare an Apple with an Orange. The iPhone is a hand-held computer and the others are phones with minor applications. Bluetooth transfer is not allowed because of Digital Rights Management. Good things do not come for free! 16GB an d you need a memory expansion slot! EDGE on some networks give you 160Kbps on the move. That is pretty good.
Hi, This is Prasanta from Durga pur. I am wondering why vodafone & Airtel were interested to make a tie up with an apple that is handset production company? Ya Apple has not more any idea abt to sell an handset without telecom company. it is really ambigious.
Official prices of Vodafone are out.
Its costing 31000 for 8GB and 36500 for 16GB. and launch date is 22nd Aug. For confirming the bookings you need to pay 10000 as initial amount and you will recieve a appointment time when you can collect your phone.
I've been surfing for last 2 months to get information about iPhone.Today i saw on internet that it is releasing in India also otherwise i was planning to import it from some other nation.I've seen the prices of iphone. I'm planning to buy 16 GB one which will cost me around Rs 16,000/-.
So guys just enjoy the chill of Apple iPhone.
Hey - let me ask you one question. what phone are you using rightnow and why you want iPhone? what is so special about it... I was crazy about iPhone it was going to launch, i bought it after that and now i am thinking i wasted $500... anyway give me answer of my Q.
Hi Jamshed,
Do you mind providing some more information on where can I buyt iphone in India. I am in Australia and an get someone to buy it for me if its cheaper there. 16000 for 8 gb model sounds really cheap.
Hi,
The post is really nice, n was of 10th june, i think now u may hv som extra information bout all these... actully i was lukin for release date of iPhone in india... n somwher i found tht thy will launch in india between 22-26th august... do u hv some idea bout tht???
hi would like to know if buying iphone 3G from singapore is a good idea..can it be unlocked in india? can we use a bsnl prepaid and postpaid sim card in chennai and bangalore?? please please let me know asap.
As per the latest..Vodafone is launching it in India 1st on the 22nd of August followed by Airtel (15 days after Vodafone). The price is between INR Rs. 11,500 to Rs. 12,000 for the 8gb version..
16gb getting launched later..
would i be able to get an indian sim card for my iphone for use while i am traveling in india later this year? i am leaving in sept for 8 months in india and would like to use my iphone.
My friends i want your suggestions. I want a good, stylish, multimedia phone which has good looks. Well I have chosen this nokia 7500 prism. so you guys plz tell me if this phone is good. My budget is from Rs.8000 to 9700. So please give me a good suggestion.
,itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), on Jun 26, 2008 01:12 PM
i want to register for iphone at vodaphone.in but i can't see my state in the required field under region. Does it mean iphone can't be use in northeast india?
first of all calm down guys
the iphone 3g is surely coming to india but not on 11july .iphone 3g willl b getting launched in around 22 countries but not india
it will b launching in india somwhere between aug-oct
and now d main thing d price is not gonna b 199$because this is d price for those iphones which would b sold on contarct basis ,now in us n alot of european countries tthey have contract system under which they get phones at a highly subsidised rate and d same is with iphone ....so only thise places where iphone would b sold under contract will get it for 199$also keep in mind that these contracts require u to pay heavy rentals which compromises d subsidy of d handset.....now if only in india iphone is available on vodafone or airtel on contarcts for 2 yrs then d price might b 8000 but it looks difficult coz in india contract systems r not popular....also in some countries like portugal and italy vodafone and also uk is offering iphone 3g without contract unlocked for 500euro for 8 gb so i dont think iphone 3g would come cheaper in india if it comes without contarct expect d price to b above 20k
also dont get your hopes too high for gettin a cheaper iphone from grey market coz unlike d old iphone gettin this iphone3g for 199$ n sellling it in grey market wolud b impossible coz apple have devised a new plan ...for all those places which will b offering iphone3g for 199$ will have instore activation which means d moment u buy d iphone u have to sign d contactand activate in d store itself so dat u dont have any scope it to sell it in d grey market u can read d apple and at$t site for more details
Can anyone tell me what if I buy the new iphone 3G at US at approx $200 ,can i use the same at India with my sim card. ?may be all the features of browsing and all be missing but will I b able to put my sim card in the phone and get connected? bcoz if yes it wud b much cheaper to buy from US.
The iPhone you'hv been waiting for. Coming soon on Vodafone. To book, sms IPHONE to 56789 or log on to vodafone.in and they will update you soon regarding the Price and Availability of it in Indian market. The basic information they want to book your iPhone is Your Name, Email-id, Your Mobile no. and Location. Vodafone is published a Advt. in leading newspaers regarding this. In fight for launching iPhone first in India before Bharati Airtel, they won the fight. It was speculated that Vodafone is going to launch iPhone only in December end and Bharat Airtel will launch near around Diwal festival to woo customer. But as it seems Vodafone is started booking from today, so Bharati is lacking behind only. With this Vodafone already ended many speculation whether Apple is going to launch iPhone 3G or the older version. iPhone 3G will be avilable in India in 8Gb and 16 Gb version. The date for new iPhone worlwide release is 11th July. May be they will launch iPhone 3G in India on same date.
i don't think so.
in this land of corruption, our brothers (shopkeeper/dealer) will put 10K as tax or something, plus black marketing. its estimated to hit market @22K , including service providers monopoly.
I THINK THIS IS A STUPID STEP TO LOW DOWN PRICE OF APPLE iPHONE BECAUSE iPHONE IS A COOL PHONE AND HAS MANY FEATURES .I THINK LOWERING DOWN THE PRICES WILL NOT INCREASE THE PRODUCTION OF iPHONE SO MUCH
YOU FORGOT THE REVOLUTION NOKIA DID IN 3310... THEY HIT THE LOWER SEGMENT OF CUSTOMER & SEE THEY DOMINATED/RULED THE CELLPHONE MARKET.
ITS NOT STUPID.. NEVER BE.. WHAT THEY PLANNED TO DOMINATE THE WHOLE CELLPHOE WORLD.
i think they should offer 3g in india before getting in the iphone here because ppl will like to USE 3g and then itll be a TeChNaH0-Lic BlA$t in INNDDIIAAHH!!! i love my india
thnks vodafone and airtel
india is lagging behind!!!
why isn't the iphone being launched here still now???
it has already launched in other countries.We are waiting with heart in our mouth.
i phone is an good,betterand best phone. it's INDIAN edition must satisfy us all, we INDIANS. i think that it will not come in a short while to all airtel customer offices/showrooms, whatever....but those who are in hurry can purchase it from apple's web site as soon as it is launched. and abhishek jain, i liked ur info about i phone and all. keep replying...................
Sharing my experience(I have owned Sony R 380, HTC MDA, HTC JASJAR, HP 6945, I phone, HTC Tilt nw using) of MUP (Business phones) with you all. I phone is only for those who want more of styling rather than its utility.
Lets see Pros:
great looks (International model)
gesture recog
great audio
vertical n horizontal screen recog
crystal clear screen even in extreme sun
The Cons:
SMS typin is not so fast n cool
using business application is not so easy
user interface is nt great .... limited numbr of options for 3rd party softwares
Body not very sturdy (Indian model)
No cradle provided
No belt holster in the packing ... have to buy one from market ... a gud piece costs around 1000-1200
It was my experience ... would like to hear more on this if any one has ....
This i phone is surely going to kick alot of A**ses this year. I mean a phone like iphone in just 8000 bucks, that too in indian market.. I am not sure what will be the price of ipods after this..
I watched the whole keynote of 1 hour 45 minuts. And believe me.. i liked every second of it.
I mean the way Steve Jobs ticked those 5 itmes where he mentioned that on popular demand they have
1. Introduced Enterprise Support.
2. Will support 3G
3. Will be sold in 70 countries
4. Will be affordable..
5. i don't remember the last one.
But it was awemsome.. I am not sure when the 3G will be functional but i have this intution that similar to Steve Jobs, Sunil Mittal is also planning something like that. I mean announcing the 3G in India with iPhone.
Overall Its great, I am looking forward to it. No way you can get the phone for 8500 now. Since 3G version will be launched in 22 countries first on 11 July. May be they get leaked since the shipping of the iphones will start i guess in the last week of july. so might be someone leaks it and sells it earlier than the launch date.
we can expect it to be launched by aug end . and price will vary ... between 8500 to 9500 for 8gb and an extra 4000 to 5000 for 16 gb. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE MODEL CUSTOM MADE FOR INDIA IS FAR AWAY BY THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS. THE BODY IS CURVY AND PLASTIC MADE AS COMPARED TO STEEL AND SLEEK BODY FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS. AND I M STILL IN DOUBT THAT WITH THE SAME PROCESSOR WILL IT BE ABLE TO PERFORM ON 3G WITH HIGH STANDARDS AS ALL THESE FEATURES NEED HIGH RAM AND PROCESSOR CAPABILITY .... SO ALL THESE NEED TO CURTAIN RAISED AFTER ITS LAUNCH AND EXPERIENCE.... TILL THEN ITS NOT MORE THAN A MYSTERIOUS MOVIE
when will i phone be launched in punjab? by airtel.tell me soon.it's very affordable. i don't know what will be the price of my i pod nano after it's launch. airtel, do hurry and launch it in punjab first.
Hi, I am really eager to know what per month charges Airtel/Vodaphone will charge us for 3G? Any Idea? I mean $200-300 sounds good, but what about 3G services charges???? Any Idea Guys?
Well if you see ... predownloaded maps hardly makes any difference ... i use G maps ... and they are quite handy ... they work on both GPS and Cell site tech ... so i dont thnk it is matter of concern as of nw
i m frm india; i already used iphone, i buyed it in usa. and in india it cost from 25000 to 30000 for 8 , 16 gb. but it is the shit phone. i just used it for a week and sold it bcoz of following reasons:-
1. u cant forward sms
2. u cant set ur own ringtone, can choose frm inbuilt list only
3. cant access sim phone book. i manually feed my 350 contacts in it
4. u cant share pic and song vis bluetooth ; with bluetooth u can just use headphones
5. speaker sound is very slow, u cant hear in ur room also
6. to download pics and song in ur iphone u r dependent on itunes
7. camera is not gud,
the main gud thing is the touch work of iphone and the browsing on iphone.
samm sirjee, it seems that u havent taken phone for its extreme ... i also had one rather before i sold it as i got a price for it .... I really dont know y wer u nt able to fwd sms ... did you buy it with service provider or direct from manufacturer... i bot a cingular unlocked set ... and worked fine for me ... forwarded a lot of msgs ... might be ur service provider locked that feature .... choosing ringtone was child's play .... just right click n set as ringtone .... thats all .... sim phonebook was again piece of cake ... while dialing it automatically picked nums from sim ... and copy wasnt tought wither .... bt i was nt able to transfer my sms' .... I dont remember sharing things via bluetooth ... so i m nt sure abt this feature .... yes speaker is a bit low bt considering the fact the it is not made for indian conditions .... the new model for india might get this thng improved .... nw abt ur itunes ... there are a lot of softwares available on the net which can over take itunes sync feature ... like flola .... and yes cam is okay types nthng great to boast off
A lot comments has been written on iphone just below. But This is FYI.
SMS to 54321 is not toll free. 3.00 Rs will charged for that. And not much of the informantion in reply. So dont do it.
@pple as u know is a gr8 phone,but it does not support video recording, no mms, no java application support, and no radio....the product is not "mature" in basic features like this!
some new features explained in the new iphone are simply silly, "bulk delete, contact search" etc.. but the pricing is fantastic!,u will not get anything like this under this price!
If you wait for launch of 3G you will end up wating forever :) 3G was supposed to launch in 2003 then 2006 then 2008 but still the spectrum issue is not resolved :)
well, i think i have a few answers here after watching Apple's Keynote....
1. the iphone 2.0 is expected to be in india by sept-oct 2008
2. Steve Jobs mentioned that the pricing in the respective countries will not exceed the US price of $199 / $299 respectively. So I assume that the Indian pricing will be around INR 8500 / INR 12500
3. Abt the india launch, i agree...... Airtel and Vodafone are horrible in terms of the network. There are going to be a lot more "unlocked iphones" in india due to the easier availability.
4. i have not understood why Apple cud not get small things like a camera flash, video recording and FM receiver into the iphone. in asian countries, these would have been great USPs, esp India. atleast for india, 3G is virtually not applicable.
while it is true that both bharti and vodafone are BIG names, their connection quality, even in central areas in metros leaves a lot to be desired. Their billing systems have several bugs as well. Worst, their customer care is trained to siphon off money by providing wrong answers as well as cancelling the call if the question is not to their liking. The emails are never answered anyway. These are companies riding only on their size, not quality.
Apple definitely has a good product here but I doubt if it will sell at international prices here (8000 and 12000 INR for the 8 and 16 GB versions respectively). I'm sure it will be around 12000 and 16000 respectively. Add to that the typical hidden charges and incorrect billings from these companies - and many people may be in for disappointments - and since this is carrier based, you would not be able to change carrier as well as the phone. My advise is - wait. Let the reviews trickle in. Let the moneyed people buy it and test it. Then, if the thing turns out to be satisfactory, others should go for it.
Personally, I hate this carrier based pricing concept as it severely takes a lot of choice away from you. In developed countries, law is strong and companies cannot get away with incorrect billings easily. In India, that is not the case which makes it even worse.
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Yes you are right about the billing problems and customer care of these companies. Billing from airtel is just like a stab in the back and their customer care is well trained to make customers get used to it.
Hi there, this is shree from a'bad.
I am excited too after listening about the news that Iphone is being launched in India very soon.
So can you please let me know when will b this one available and will it be available with some kind of CDMA in conjunction with airtel/vodaphone or also available in GSM modes,
I have an airtel connection and don?t want to change the no. too.
Additionnaly, also want to get kind of price wise of the iphone if possible.
Thanks in advance for the updates dude.
Sweet Dreams to wonder ... they had made us wait for 2 years for the first original version of the iphone and we havent seen it as yet ..they talk of launching this one within less than six months hope it dosent take 6 years and we still dont see it
Just heard the News on TV, 8GB iPhone is launched in India at just Rs.8500 today itself, but exclusively by the Airtel and Vodafone service provider. But there must be some terms and conditions for selling it at just $200..
No terms and conditions. Steve Jobs said that iPhone will be launched at $199 in all countries. Thats equivalent to Rs. 8500. Enjoy people.
P.S. - Its launching in 22 countries on July 11th. India is NOT among them. So you will not get it atleast by July.
No need to rush for it, samsung has also launched same type mobile with 5 MP cameaa, others will also follow in 2-3 months. Better to keep a watch and see how thinghs come up