Official launch of iPhone 4.0 is still 10 days and 4 months away in US & India subsequently but people have already started talking, evaluating about its features, affordability and charm of having new Apple jeans in hand. Few of people even started imagine, demanding and proposing the furthermore feature in iPhone 5.0. It shows the craze about the new species of Apple called iPhone4.0.
The official price of iPhone 4.0 has already been announced in US which is more or less similar to the older version of iPhone but Apple left Indians keep guessing about the best possible launch price of iPhone 4.0
At the launch of iPhone 3G in india few of the news channels procrastinated the cost likely as Rs 13,000 or 15,000/- which latter got shattered with the announced price of Rs. 30,000/- almost double the price they announced…Surely no prizes for guessing.
Technology innovation has repeated itself again and now Indian Mobile consumers are standing at the same place where it need to guess the aprox cost of Apple’s new baby. Keeping the previous launch of other baby of Apple in India this time none of the News channels are fighting for announcing the iPhone 4.0 price in advance but people are very keen to know and also lots of expectations from Mr. Steve about new pricing structure of iPhone 4.0 in India.
Let’s start with a very basic comparison…Why there is differentiation in USA costing module and India costing module of iPhone. I am sure Steve is well versed with the facts that India stands among Top 5 countries in the world where mobile users as well handsets are capturing market rapidly. Then why iPhone is available less than the half price in USA compare to India ?
All right..I understand few foreign policies of Indian Govt and tax always.. I also understand the cross border price impact on any product….So…To justify that keep USD 100 ( Rs.4700/-) extra on the launch price of iPhone in US….even though it makes final cost not more than Rs 15,000/- in India then why companies in india are charging Rs 30,000+? Specially when Indian market is known for its lowest and toughest competition in whole world ?
Here are the Facts :
In last one week I have faced above questions many time while sitting in various conferences & discussion. At one of point of time I was also convinced with the logic raised by the people in India…Instead of getting carried away with this thought, I decide to do some research on this and found few facts which proves that iPhone in India is AVAILABLE AT THE COST LESSER THAN USA….
So here is the myth buster: iPhone is not over priced in India, its Not subsidized. And I feel that its cheaper this way, as the monthly AT&T commitment in US ensures that you pay almost rs 46,000/- extra yearly as mobile bills. Unsubsidized and contract free iPhone costs $599 in US aswell – this translates to approx Rs 30000. Very close to the iPhone pricing in India.
And if you were thinking if one can just fill up a ATT form in US, get an iPhone and then come back here in India and use the iPhone for $199 … well that doesn’t happen . There are proper credit checks before you take a iPhone now, not any tom, dck and harry can pickup an iPhone without convincing Apple / ATT that he would be paying the monthly bills.
In my honest opinion you should buy the iPhone in India – only officially from Vodafone or Airtel. The warranty services provided by Apple is amazing and is valuable (Update: In India you need to go to the service provider to get warranty – which is a Pain.. as @b50 informs me, But some warranty support in India is better buying a US version which lands up even in the grey market at almost the same rate ). And BSNL, MTNL, LOOP, Aircel etc subscribers can always unlock the 3GS and use it with their existing SIM.
So if you pay Rs 35,000/- for an iPhone 4.0 in India which get followed with aprox Rs 24,000 bill yearly ( Rs 2.000/month), total iPhone as a package would be served to you at the cost of Rs 60,000/- which is still less than the cost of iPhone in US which turnout to be aprox Rs 65,000/-.
That way of you follow the norm of AT&T to get an iPhone in India, iPhone would cost you not more than Rs.15,000/- (Less Rs 47,000 of AT&T bill out of Rs 60,000/- ).
Despite of all above if you feel that having an iPhone with similar arrangement with any carrier in India would be a better option then keep the fingers crossed..You never know when Mr. Steve will come out the new release price and a stunning offer for Indian Fans which taste more sweet for all of us.
where i buy in pune.