“Although Airtel had started iPhone 4 pre-registrations earlier this month, it looks like Aircel will be the first operator that will be bringing it to India,” Vikas SN reports for The Next Web.
“Aircel has just sent a press release announcing that they will be launching the iPhone 4 this Friday for both prepaid and postpaid customers,” SN reports. “It will start retailing at Rs 34,500 ($763) for the 16GB model and Rs 40,900 ($905) for the 32GB model.”
SN reports, “However, the phone will follow a reverse-subsidized model: you will have to pay the iPhone price upfront, but you have the opportunity to recover its full cost in terms of monthly credits over the next 2 years.”
Full article, with a breakdown of prepaid and postpaid plans from Aircel, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
That’s a milestone to be prepared for… millions of phones will disappear from store shelves and will prove to be a significant boost in Apple’s quarterly sales.
Imagine the sheer numbers of faithful MDN members in India who are pondering the value of another MDN iOS app. iPad customers probably don’t care anymore, Safari gets the job done nicely. iPhone and Touch users on the other hand probably care more since they have such tiny screens and an app designed specifically for that venue would probably be well received.
I personally don’t care anymore and unless there is something compelling about the new app, which isn’t likely, I’m content with Safari’s delivery.
Holy cow! Reverse subsidy! No wonder Apple is having difficulty selling iPhones in India, their retail partners are idiots!
Two things. I don’t think the adoption rate in India will be all that significant given the more than crazy prices and two, I don’t think the Indians are that stupid to want to buy a model that will be superseded in less than 3 months, four tops. The price will be the real disincentive.
Both of you are thinking like americans. The rest of the world operates on an entirely different frequency.
Phones are held in higher esteem than computers in Southwest Asia. Computers are a luxury in terms of space and time, not finances, and in countries where power can be extremely intermittent, computers are not practical.
A good smartphone on the other hand, is the technological sweet spot. As in most of Asia, many families forego computers and will instead buy phones. Asia has been building sophisticated smart phones running on extremely fast networks for the last ten-years and if Japan would forsake its own brand of smartphone for an own an iPhone, the rest of the world will follow suit.
Personally, when I am in India, I plug in my laptop only to charge the battery. The rest of the time, I run on battery power to protect the computer from damage due to power fluctuations. Seems perfectly practical to me.
It’s very practical to travel with a mobile computer, and to depend on its internal power source. Phones fall into that category as well.
What isn’t practical are desktops, unless of course your using one in the many Internet cafes available to the locals.
Why is there no Apple Store in India yet?