The iPhone 3G dilemma: To buy or not to buy?
Well, if you use your mobile phone just to make calls, send text messages or click photographs — the iPhone 3G is not for you.But in case you are a tech freak who loves tinkering with gadgets, this Apple smartphone might be your dream come true.
Downloadable GPS, games, AIM, Facebook on the go and of course 24-hour access to the iTunes store are just some of its pluses, but at 30,000 rupees (give or take a few hundred) for the 8GB model, the iPhone certainly doesn’t come cheap.
Slight problem though. Added applications are great on a phone that provides basic features like message and business card forwarding and video recording.
Unfortunately, these very basic features are not available on Steve Jobs’ latest offering as default.
Chayan Hazra, 30, is one iPhone owner who says he is willing to switch brands if something better comes up.
“If Nokia comes up with a phone that allows you to download applications and has a touch screen I will switch to it in a heartbeat because I know it will have all the basic features that I have become accustomed to in addition to these cool new apps,” he said.
Hazra fits right into mobile service provider Airtel’s category of “Achievers – young working, corporate professionals,” a target segment for the iPhone.
Losing sleep over Apple’s iPhone 3G
I am not crazy about cellphones. So when I was asked to cover the midnight launch of the Apple iPhone 3G in India, it didn’t really seem worth sacrificing my sleep.
I walked half-heartedly to the Vodafone store in nearby Connaught Place, hoping to see frenzied youngsters jostling for vantage position outside its shutters. I had read horror stories of people abroad queuing up 60 hours ahead of schedule for a chance to buy the iPhone first.
There was jostling all right, but only among photographers and journalists. There was not a customer in sight.
Till midnight, the media was cloistered inside the store in New Delhi listening to a live band and staring aimlessly at the wall.
At a minute past, the action started. The first buyer was handed the iPhone. He grinned and posed interminably for photos and the news channels. Then the second, third and fourth customer appeared in quick succession.
All of them didn’t mind paying 31,000 rupees ($712) for a phone including some features that don’t even work in India, because the country doesn’t support 3G services yet.
I step outside for a breath of fresh air. A stray dog saunters past — flummoxed by the hubbub no doubt. There are no curious onlookers nearby. Is India really aware the iPhone is out today? Do the majority of its people really care about the high-tech smartphone?
check this out for my comments http://www.betanews.com/article/Apples_i Phone_3G_gets_hohum_response_in_Poland_a nd_India/1219424595
2007 estimated per capita ANNUAL income GDP for India is US $937. you still wont want to target a $712 phone at a family even if both the partners made $10000 each a year typing computer code, unless the employer was paying for it
Factor that with the facts that
* Cheaper “unlocked” phones are available for equivalent of $100 (there is no such thing as an unlocked phone. all phones are made free. its the north american and european operators who lock them to get their customers into their slavery contracts in the free modern world of west)
* no 3G is service available
* the daily lives and the spending profiles are nowhere close to that of the west. (The west should really take their moment and study the indian culture and the mentality of the indian consumer)
and add in these facts
* you would get locked into a phone with high initial cost and monthly bills
* the phone does not offer indian languages probably (yep, ever since the british had a stronghold on india some of the country speaks english very well. even though it is a software powerhouse for most countries of the world in the respective country’s local language, availability of local language software in any indian language is almost ZERO)
* the iphone reportedly had a battery that is soldered inside and you need to go back to apple to even have the battery replaced
* you could easily get mugged on the street if the wrong person found out you had an expensive iphone … OR what if you simply lost or broke it
* why would an indian consumer pay 90cents to apple itunes to purchase an mp3 of a indian song made in india and uploaded to a non indian server, and give 10 cents to the music company? they get their music literally for free & ipods which are cheaper do a good job of playing the music like all other much cheaper mp3 players (i dunno if the costs are the other way around or different, irrespective of the numbers… the question holds)
Score: 0 By robinmcool2008 edited Aug 27, 2008 – 1:58 PM
I was not accurate about the battery. thie new 3G iphone does not have a soldered battery but hey …
* still no slots for adding memory cards like those 8GB micro SDHC or 32GB SDHC cards
* no Java and flash support …
* no support for voice dialing? (voice command dialing)
Vodafone to sell 3G iPhone in India from Rs 31,000. Pricey?
It’s official. Vodafone will sell the 8GB 3G iPhone for 31,000 rupees ($712) and the 16GB model for 36,100 rupees ($828). And this for a 3G model when India does not even have 3G services yet.
Vodafone and Airtel will launch the 3G Apple iPhone in India on August 22. Airtel is yet to announce its price for the phones but it’s unlikely the pricing will differ much.
The price of the 8GB model in the U.S. is $199 and $299 for the 16GB model. So is buying the iPhone in India worth it or will the grey market rule?
Who will buy the new iPhone? All those who had pre-booked? The ones who want to get the latest gizmo on day one of its official launch in India or the geeks who cherish anything Apple?
Many of our offices wont allow camera phones, and I dont thinkit is any fun to browse net through a mobile phone. And there are 100’s of models which are cheaper but of better quality than the rotten Apple.
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http://www.watblog.com/2009/06/15/why-ip hone-prices-wont-come-down-in-india/