About which America’s various news papers and magazines printed around 11,000 articles till date, search engines like Google received 6.9 crore search commends, and what the new generation’s tech-maniacs had been waiting for about a year, Apple’s iPhone finally arrived in America on June 27, 2007. Its sales figure crossed hundreds in hours. And exactly on seventh day it touched seven lacks!

From technology standpoint Apple’s iPhone is unparalleled. The world has not seen a mobile phone equivalent of it. The phone has been adorned with many gems of technology, for which Apple has registered total of 200 patents. That’s the reason iPhone is distinct from a normal mobile phone. For example:

* Traditional mobile phones have a pushbutton key-pad, whereas iPhone does not have a key-pad at all. It is equipped with a touch-pad. Meaning, entire key-pad appears as a graphic on the screen, and typing happens as the user touches an alphabet or a number on the screen with a finger. Most of the spelling mistakes are automatically corrected by the phone’s computer.
* The display screen of the iPhone is interactive. Meaning, as per phone’s horizontal or vertical axis it adjusts itself automatically. This trait is attributed to the electronic device called accelerometer, which continually measures the horizontal and vertical movements of the phone. As a result the moment you rotate the phone 90 degree left or right the accelerometer will rotate the display object accordingly. Apple’s engineers are probably the first to have succeeded in using this technology.
* The iPhone is a fully touch-screen phone. A user has to give commands touching the screen with a finger. Despite this, the phone’s sensor identifies pretty well which command is given for what action. E.g. After clicking a picture if the user puts his thumb and a finger on the screen and moves them in opposite direction from each other the picture enlarges automatically. If the same action is done at the time of typing or using internet the phone would not accept the command.

Answered by Sharad Singh , an ibibo Master, at 7:29 PM on September 26, 2008

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD), through its Vodafone Essar joint venture, is gearing up to launch the iPhone 3G in India beginning August 22, but the device will cost almost $715 for the 8GBt model, PC World reports. The 16GB model will sell for $830.

Those price points are even higher than what the first iPhone sold for in the U.S. and one that most Indians can’t afford. Even considering an IT professional’s average annual salary of $12,000 to $24,000 in India, it’s hard to imagine the device selling well among that segment. Vodafone put up a website to detail its iPhone 3G pricing and availability.

The details on Voda’s website: “The iPhone 3G is available in 8GB and 16GB at Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100 respectively. And as you have already pre-registered with us, you can get it before others do. All you need to do is drop in at a select Vodafone Store between August 20 and 21 and confirm your booking by paying Rs 10000 through 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 make the deposit.”

Guess this mean people may still flock to the gray-market versions, which are cheaper in this case, possibly as much as Rs 4K-Rs 5K, according to this BS story.

Bharti Airtel has also said it plans to begin selling the device on the same day, but hasn’t disclosed pricing.

Turns out of course even though it is called iPhone 3G, and that’s what the site lists it as, it is actually only GPRS, which is enhanced 2G. On this Voda page, it says in fine print: “Currently compatible only with 2G networks. Only select features and services are currently available in India.” Remember, India still has no 3G networks to speak of.

The Indian government plans to auction off spectrum for the higher-speed networks later this year with commercial deployments expected in the first half of 2009...even that has been delayed due to political issues.

For more information-
http://www.mocon ews.net/entry/419-vodafone-to- launch-iphone-3g-in-india-on-f riday-for-715-and-830/

Answered by Nagendra , an ibibo Master, at 7:19 PM on September 02, 2008

well ranjan i dont think iphone is sucessfull in india ...as youth has come to an imression that spending such lots of money in buying such phones are useless and also getting the latest 3G and nano technology soon is what making youth not to buy the iphone also

Answered by raj u , an ibibo Master, at 1:55 PM on September 02, 2008

well, Apple Inc's iPhone 3G made its debut in India on Friday minus the mass hysteria and winding queues that had marked its launch in the US, Europe and parts of Asia last month.

A midnight launch in the Indian capital drew a scant crowd but didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the four buyers who showed up at a Vodafone store in the city’s Connaught Place commercial district.

Rudra Khurana, a 14-year-old high school student, was among the first in the country to buy the iPhone a minute past midnight on Friday.

“I can’t wait to show it off at school, it’s way better than having a PlayStation,” said the jeans-clad teenager, standing next to his beaming father.

There was more drama in Mumbai where the launch of the device, which combines a music and video player, cellphone and web browser, was accompanied by a shower of confetti and cheerleaders waving red pom-poms.

Answered by Romi , an ibibo Master, at 1:43 PM on September 02, 2008

without 3 G no one prefer it ...acoording to my point of view...it remove lots of feature ..It would nt be successful

Answered by shaista , an ibibo Master, at 1:39 PM on September 02, 2008

No, What i think is iPhone will not be successful in India, Because many of the features have been removed to pull the price down to 10,000. Instead of iPhone I suggest you to consider following options.

* If you are looking for Style statement + Good phone, then buy iPod Touch and a good phone. Hacked iPhone are an other option that people can consider.
* If you are looking for a smart phone then consider Blackberry, which will be way cheaper if you wait for sometime and buy it after iPhone launch.
* If you are looking for a Video device, something that you can use to watch movies / videos while on journey/ while you commute to office, consider Archos [Link] and Cowon [Link]. They can play video in any format unlike iPhone which plays very few formats. They can also be connected to Television (TV) and record your favorite programs. You can buy some dockets to play them loud on speakers or connect them to your speakers.
* If you are looking for iPhone like phones which can play all video formats and has good applications, then consider Neo Freerunner (Link)
* You can even wait for Android based handsets. HTC will reportedly be shipping the first Android based handset. It will surely be worth waiting. Take my word for it. Android (Link) is the mobile platform from Google.
* If you are looking for GPS phones then consider latest Samsung phone and Nokia phones, N78 has it I guess.

Answered by KHURSHEED , an ibibo Master, at 1:19 PM on September 02, 2008

well, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, both are bringing the iPhone 3G to India and have started bookings for the phone as well. But what no one is talking about right now is that there is actually no 3G network in India yet. If we look at the promises the telecom department has been making for the past few years, there is no deadline for 3G roll-out in India. There was a dialogue in Matrix movie where Neo, when arrested by agents, asks for a phone call. Agent Smith says, "How good is a phone call, when you can't speak?" as he had sealed his lips. So, here one can say, "How good is the iPhone 3G when there is no 3G network in the country?" Should consumers fall for that and buy iPhone 3G, which will not be able to offer 3G services despite being a 3G device?
A Non 3G, iPhone 3G
Nathan Burley, an Australia-based analyst with the international research firm, Ovum, explains, "There is no other iPhone model to sell so that is the only model available. Apple is pushing the 3G model very aggressively. I think there are a lot of un-locked or cracked iPhone available in India. But through this, Apple will get the Indian market. Well, the iPhone 3G will run on 2G network as well, so you will be able to do a lot of things like the Internet access and other stuff, but the experience will not be that good as compared to running these on a 3G network. Still since iPhone is more about a style statement and the rich interface so at least people will be able to use it and flaunt it."

When Will It Be 3G?
It is going to take quite a while for Indians to reap the benefits of 3G that the device offers? Looking back in history, there have been more promises made than met. The frequency that 3G networks use was assigned to defence forces in India, and it took quite a time to release that frequency as defence forces needed to build the infrastructure to migrate from that frequency. That was followed by the expulsion of the much adored minister Dayanidhi Maran due to some political issues. The change of minister further delayed the arrival of 3G in India.

A. Raja took over as the minister of communications and information technology in May last year and after taking his time to settle down has started the 3G drive. The government is trying to put things in place by announcing 3G guidelines and policies. There will soon be an auction of the 3G spectrum in India by the end of September.

Just few days ago, Indian government approved the release of one block of the 3G Spectrum each to BSNL and MTNL, the two public sector telephone service providers. The Spectrum blocks released for the two companies have the size of 2x5 MHz in 2.1 GHz Band. “Besides this special consideration for BSNL and MTNL, 3G/BWA Spectrum would be allocated through an auction
process to be conducted by a specialised agency. For the Spectrum blocks released to them, BSNL and MTNL will pay a price equal to the highest bid in the respective service areas,” a press statement says.


For more: http://www.efytimes.com/efytim es/fullnewsp.asp?edid=28149

Answered by Satya ~ , an ibibo Master, at 12:23 PM on September 02, 2008

Well Ranjan , the only problem with Apple iphones in India are prices.

4 GB phone would cost 31000 and 8 GB phones would cost 36000.

Features of the phone is pretty good and if it is affordable to all , it would be a big success in India.
We Indians are fond of good things.

Answered by Alok Gupta , an ibibo Guru, at 12:13 PM on September 02, 2008

I don't think so. Rather the prices after the launch has backstepped most of the awaited customers. I think people will definately search for other options.

Answered by Hem@nt .... , an ibibo Master, at 12:11 PM on September 02, 2008