In an unprecedented move, Airtel has slashed it 3G data tariffs across India. The new plans look much more economical than the predecessors and Airtel is also offering its Smartbytes solution on its 3G network now. Smartbytes solution allows users to buy additional data quota if they run out of the free quota in a bill period. The new 3G plans are as follows:

Smartbytes plans are available to postpaid customers in the following denominations:

A very good move by Airtel. The competition should follow suit.

[via Airtel.in]

Samsung has opened pre booking for its latest Galaxy phone, the S III in India via its online store samsungindiaestore.com. One has to pay INR 2000 to book a Galaxy S III. Samsung will send a coupon of the same amount to the customer which can be redeemed against the full payment of the phone when its launched for sale (the rumored date is 31-May-2012). Furthermore, users buying the phone within 3 days of the launch will also get a bluetooth headset worth INR 2900 free with the phone.

To book one for yourself, head over to samsungindiaestore.com now.

[via BGR.in]

Adobe India has launched its online store at shop.adobe.com/in where users can buy Adobe software. The titles are available as digital downloads and payments can me made in Indian currency. Most Adobe software are available as full copy or upgrades if you have a previous version. The Adobe Creative Suite 6 (CS6) is also available for pre order on the store. Adobe plans to launch sale of physical products (software on CD, DVD etc.) in the near future as downloads can be pretty heavy for many users in india owing to low internet speeds.

After about a year, Croma has finally launched its online store today at cromaretail.com. The Tata group backed electronics megastore chain aims to establish an online presence in the emerging Indian ecommerce market. However, a quick glance at the store reveals that most products are available at MRP or with little or no discounts. This is another example of companies assuming an ecommerce portal as merely another channel for selling items as opposed to looking at it as a potential channel for massive sales if they offer products at attractive prices.  Moreover, limited products are available on the site which will make excited new customers unhappy in my opinion. Hopefully things should improve going forward.

Popular electronics & home appliance retailer Vijay Sales has also launched it online store in India today at vijaysales.com. The store offers limited inventory just like croma. However, prices are competitive and Vijay Sales seems to be offering some discount on the MRP. Unfortunately, many of the items are out of stock on the store making this launch a total flop (WTF?). I am not sure why they felt the need to launch the store when they did not have enough stock. Perhaps they succumbed to peer pressure from Croma? Vijay Sales informed us in a tweet that their online store is live since January 2012. Very well. But it would be great if they can stock up their warehouses.

Now that the non compete agreement between the two Ambani brothers is terminated, Mukesh Ambani is planning to revolutionize wireless broadband in the same way he revolutionized mobile voice communication. His company, Reliance Infotel is planning to install 100,000 cell towers across India in the next 3 years to offer high speed 4G LTE wireless broadband services. Rumors say that the company plans to offer wireless broadband at a very sensible (as opposed to absurd) pricing of INR 10 per GB. This means that a 100GB plan with 5 – 6 times speed will cost you just INR 1000 which is just 1/5th of what it costs today.

Wireless broadband leverages the 4G LTE technology which offers 100 Mbps downloads and up to 40 Mbps uploads. Service providers around the world are upgrading their infrastructure in order to meet the growing demand of mobile internet fueled by the rapid popularity of smartphones and tablets. Infotel won the pan India license of wireless broadband in the telecom auctions and Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries purchased it soon after it was awarded the license. Many players in India including Airtel and Tikona are betting on 4G LTE. Tikona has even announced its plans to invest INR 1000 crores in its network and is planning to combine WiFi and LTE networks to offer wireless broadband.

Relance Infotel plans to start its services by 2012 end. They will rent towers from other firms while they install their own over a span of next 3 years.

[via BGR India]

The new iPad with the awesome retina display and quad core graphics will be available in India on April 27, 2012 at a starting price of INR 30,500 says Apple India’s website. It will be available at all apple authorized resellers. As per the press release, the prices of all the models will be as follows:

WiFi only:

16GB: INR 30,500

32GB: INR 36,500

64GB: INR 42,500

WiFi + 4G:

16GB: INR 38,900

32GB: INR 44,900

64GB: INR 50,900

The iPad 2 will be available at a lower price of INR 24,500 for 16GB WiFi only model and INR 32,900 for 16GB WiFi + 3G model. Following the trend worldwide, the 32GB and 64GB models of the iPad 2 will be discontinued.

[via Apple PR & BGR India]