Vodafone sent out emails to all its pre-registered users for pricing information on iPhone 3G here in India.
After all its going to be 31,000 INR for 8GB version and 36,100 INR for the 16 GB Version. (that’s a 713$ and 823$)
The initial rumours and earlier posts were partly true.
More details on the mail below
Hello User,
Thank you for registering for your Apple iPhone 3GTM with us.
We are delighted to announce that the iPhone 3G will be available in India from August 22, 2008It will be available in 8GB & 16GB models, priced at Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100 respectively.
Be the first to get the iPhone.We have received a large number of registrations. As there are limited stocks, make sure that you get yours first, by paying an advance of Rs 10,000 to confirm your booking.
Where can you make this advance payment?
The iPhone 3G will be available at select Vodafone Stores. All you need to do is drop in at any select Vodafone Store between August 20 and 21 and make the advance payment by cash or credit card. Don´t forget to show the iPhone booking SMS, which you would have received from us, when you visit the Vodafone Store to pay the advance.Get an appointment now. No queues for you.
Once you pay the advance, we will immediately give you an appointment date and time, starting August 22 when you can come and experience a full demonstration and collect your iPhone, all ready to use with your contacts and settings, by paying the balance amount. Hurry! Limited stocks.Remember, the sooner you confirm your booking, the earlier you´ll get your iPhone. We have limited stocks and it will be on first come, first serve basis.
Buy a Vodafone connection now!As you are not a Vodafone customer, you will need a Vodafone connection for your iPhone 3G.
We recommend that when you come to confirm your booking, please do get yourself a Vodafone connection too. Remember to carry a passport sized picture, photo ID proof and address proof as these are required for activating your Vodafone SIM card.
Happy to help. If you have any queries, log on to www.vodafone.in/iphone or call us on 919885098850 and we´ll be happy to help.
Hurry and be one of the first to make the iPhone 3G your own.
Updated details on this can be found at Vodafone’s website.
Now its turn Airtel releases more info on this. Watch this space for further updates. But from a business sense, now that Vodafone released its high prices,
Airtel might go like this
“31,000 Huh, why wouldn’t I want to go for a little cheaper and still make money of it.. So hmm. 30,000 ?”
All fun apart, this phone was a hope/a messiah to eradicate the other ugly priced phones, I guess things don’t change that easily here in India 🙂
Vodafone, Airtel, iPhone are registered trademarks of their respective companies.
UPDATE 1:
Amit from Digital Inspiration posted some more details which are highly depressing. Seems like the Indian service providers have planned to use iPhone and 3G network as money minting opportunities 🙁
UPDATE 2:
Airtel announces the prices too. Ditto as Vodafone. We Indian buyers are screwed 😡
11 responses to “iPhone 3G in India: Official price announced”
Seriously no. I have a Nokia N95 and I do not find iPhone comparable to the one I have in terms of features. Then why would I pay more for it?
I wanted another phone for my wife within a range of 12-14K and since, this is more than twice that cost, its out of my radar.
@Anurag: I agree that N95 easily beats iPhone when it comes to features.
But iPhone has it's positives too and seriously I don't think that iPhone could be priced 12-14k without the service contract/EMIs.
Read http://woikr.com/iphone-3g-price-in-india/
Also i'd be posting a basic comparison of N95/E71 and iPhone soon. It'd be great if you visit again and comment on that 🙂
31K is too much. By the way why such a huge difference between US markets and here?
its $200 at states, isnt it ?
@Karan,
Yes you are right, Its almost 4 times and the just out information is that Airtel prices it the same. The actual iPhone production costs Apple around 170$, but the Apple earns upto 570$(25,000 INR) on one piece of iPhone for offering it exclusively from AT&T in the US.
The sad part is that would still have been a competitive price in India, what with the high prices on Nokia phones.
Rs. 31000 may seem too much for iPhone but we got to remember that it is the positioning for which they are charging this premium. Even with such steep price for iPhone, Nokia thinks it to be of considerable threat and hence decided to come out with comparable product and pricing.
Now that's what you call competition.
Chirag from woikr has some woiks lined up for these comparisons, keep checking back for more on this.
@Karan: The major issue that 199$ is just the contract opening price. In western countries, the call rates are really high, that's why AT&T etc can afford to subsidize the mobile phone prices. Don't forget AT&T is getting $60-70/month for next 2 years, which they may or may not share with Apple.
Do you know O2 in UK offers N95 free of cost in a expensive monthly contract!
@Chanakya: You are right. They are charging just because they can 🙂 They have targeted the high-end market in India so the product gets high flaunt value. And I'm pretty sure iPhone will still attract a lot of buyers.
we are definitely going to see a sump in the prices soon to compete in indian market where nokia etc are already deep rooted, i guess only few chumps will pay such a hefty price, it may attract much higher number but still 31K will make it out of reach for many…
@Amritash:
Yes, the iPhone will remain to be the style factor, but still compete in the smart phone market with other windows based mobiles.
Thanks to 2.0 for it's exchange, push mail support etc.
We at woikr, first gen iphone users are happy we bought it much earlier.
Nice work guys!!!!!
[…] on past experience, it can be easily said that the phone will be priced absurdly high. We will not be surprised if the […]