Apple iPhone likely to launch in India next month!

Last month Airtel & Vodafone started iPhone pre-registration campaign. Being an Apple loyalist, I register with both the companies.

Today I got first email from Airtel since my registration for iPhone. Unfortunately it did not contain exact iPhone launch date or price but raises speculations that iPhone may launch in coming days.

What’s important is timing of this email! Yesterday, Deepak shared a tech2 post, according to which Vodafone is releasing iPhone on August 18. News is not yet confirmed by Vodafone, but considering the craze of iPhone, one who will launch earlier will most likely to get larger chunk of iPhone users.

Now some bad news…

There is lots of guessing going on about iPhone’s price tag. In US, iPhone starts with $199 and that makes many people in India think, iPhone will be available at around Rs.8000!

But as per Economic Times article, published last month, the price will be anywhere above Rs. 20000. Reason is, Apple sells iPhone to AT&T around $499 and subsidy to consumer is provided by AT&T. But as per Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli,

“US operators are able to subsidise handsets because they can make up for that with their call charges. They charge rates like 25 cents a minute. In India, the charge is 1.5 to 2 cents a minute.” (source)

I personally think consumer will benefit from Vodafone & Airtel battle over iPhone user base. Even if in India, call rates are very cheap, telecom companies will figure out some way to get some extra revenue from value added services like Internet, iPhone apps, etc. So I am hoping for competitive price around Rs.15000.

Let us know what do you think about iPhone fever & its price tag!

iPhone Registration Links: Airtel | Vodafone