International iPhone 3G Launches: India, Singapore, Estonia, Romania

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

During their Q3 2008 financial results (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/21/apple-announces-1-07-billion-in-profit-for-q3-2008/) conference call, Apple announced that they would be launching the iPhone 3G in 20 additional countries on August 22nd. Several carriers have started announcing their plans:

- Singtel of Singapore sent out an email (image) (http://marketingim.singtel.com/maimages/email/200808/edm_iPhone3G.gif) telling interested customers that they will be sending out more details next week. Those you sign up at singtel.com/iphone (http://www.singtel.com/iphone) will receive priority.
- TeliaSonera announced (http://www.teliasonera.com/press/pressreleases/item.page?prs.itemId=371133) that they would be bringing the iPhone 3G to Estonia on August 22nd.
- Airtel announced (http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g/) the iPhone 3G will be "coming soon" to India. (via TechTickerBlog (http://www.techtickerblog.com/2008/08/06/its-official-iphone-3g-coming-this-august-in-india/))
- Orange announced (http://orange.ro/about/archive/pr2008-0806.html) that they will be bringing the iPhone 3G to Romania on August 22nd.

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/06/international-iphone-3g-launches-india-singapore-estonia-romania/)

[irishgrizzly]

How about getting enough units into existing territories first :rolleyes:

[BoyBach]

How about getting enough units into existing territories first :rolleyes:


Apple Ramps Production to 800,000 iPhones a Week? (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/04/apple-ramps-production-to-800000-iphones-a-week/)

[decimortis]

but what about Canada???

err, sorry, had a memory lapse there for a second.

[patricksan]

Apple Ramps Production to 800,000 iPhones a Week? (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/04/apple-ramps-production-to-800000-iphones-a-week/)


We don't find iPhone here in Belgium anymore.
Why send to news countries if they don't have a good stock?

[Rocketman]

Once released in India, nobody will be able to get iPhones worldwide due to excess demand. :)

Rocketman

[happydude]

i wonder what the good people in estonia will think of their brand new cracking iphones? :p

[Compile 'em all]

what are the 20 other countries?

[avigalante]

Once released in India, nobody will be able to get iPhones worldwide due to excess demand. :)

Rocketman

Surely.

I sold my first-generation iPhone in neighboring Pakistan for USD $700. Demand in the region is unbelievably high.

[Napsju]

T-Mobile Slovakia (http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-mobile.sk%2Fiphone%2Fnajnovsie_informacie.html&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=cs&sl=es&tl=en&tl=en) as well. 22-08!! :D

Hopefully they are going to sell it contract free. 27th i'm going to visit Bratislava. :)

[letaalio]

what are the 20 other countries?

Hopefully Latvia (LMT, a part of TeliaSonera), the iPhone availability date announcement is scheduled for this week.

[bobrik]

Czech Republic too:

T-Mobile: http://t-mobile.cz/iphone
O2 (with a countdown): http://www.cz.o2.com/osobni/cz/telefony_a_zarizeni/iphone/index.html
Vodafone told press that they will provide it on 22nd August as well.

Both Vodafone and T-Mobile said they will provide a contract-free option.

Both T-Mobile and O2 link to these iPhone pages from their front page.

All of them have yet to specify prices/tariffs.

[antielectrons]

Still cant get it in Spain .... 3 weeks after its "launch". Apple should concentrate on delivering what they have already promised first before frustrating any more potential customers... :mad:

[patricksan]

Once released in India, nobody will be able to get iPhones worldwide due to excess demand. :)

Rocketman

Absolutely right!!!

[ImNoSuperMan]

Once released in India, nobody will be able to get iPhones worldwide due to excess demand. :)

Rocketman

Nah.. I dont really think so. India is a very big market for latest mobile phones but iPhone is not going to make a big impact. Only a small percentage of buyers actually buy these phone for their features. 800$ for a good smartphone which is LATEST n the COOLEST is no big deal here. But it`ll be bought only coz its LATEST not coz it offers some great functionality. They`ll sell quite a few but nothig compared to the American Markets.

All this might change by the time next iPhone arrives as people will realize the actual potential of the iPhone. But for now, my guess is it wont break any records.

Anyways I m really glad that I can finally own an iPhone with Apple Warranty and without any fear of the software updates breaking my iPhone.:). All I want to know now is the pricing details.

[dombi]

T-Mobile is launching iPhones on the 22nd in Hungary as well.

Here is their official statement:
http://t-mobile.hu/egyeni/rolunk/sajtokozlemenyek/sajtokozlemeny_20080806.shtml

[twoodcc]

do they even have enough iphones made to do this?

[mkrishnan]

do they even have enough iphones made to do this?

I think this is (in part) what the ramp-up to 800k units / wk is supposed to be for. 800k units / wk annualized at even a lower (but not unheard of) capacitization like 40 wks of production per year is 32 million units per year. If they're able to sell the iPhone faster than that, I think everyone will be stunned. More likely the ramp is temporary....

If they bank phones at that rate even for 4-6 weeks (if an announcement comes today, phones are probably not going on sale tomorrow in Estonia), that should give them a pretty good buffer of several million phones with which to do this.

[jonathandy7]

Globe Telecom is a wireless carrier in the Philippines, not Hungary.

[Fabio_gsilva]

Claro Telecom in Brazil is not setting a time to the lauch, but it is compiling information about people interested in the iPhone...

http://www.claro.com.br/portal/saibamais.do?method=showSaibaMais&titulo=iPhone%203G%20Claro&tipo=Destaque&altura=526.0&flash=/StaticFiles/Flash/iphone2b.swf?idlocal=58

Hope they release it soon...

[jholzner]

Nah.. I dont really think so. India is a very big market for latest mobile phones but iPhone is not going to make a big impact. Only a small percentage of buyers actually buy these phone for their features. 800$ for a good smartphone which is LATEST n the COOLEST is no big deal here. But it`ll be bought only coz its LATEST not coz it offers some great functionality. They`ll sell quite a few but nothig compared to the American Markets.


That's what they said about Japan too...but they were wrong.

[rols]

it's not 4-6 weeks, everyone who's announced a date says August 22nd, that's 2 weeks from now. That's an extra 1.5 million phones, and they sold a million in the first 3 days in the US and they are still out of them in most of the other markets they were released in.

I hope to have mine 2 weeks from today and I'm happy they are coming to Singapore. However I suspect that demand will far outstrip supply and there will be 2 hours of happy people, and then the rest of us will wait for 6 weeks until they really ship enough.

I think this is (in part) what the ramp-up to 800k units / wk is supposed to be for. 800k units / wk annualized at even a lower (but not unheard of) capacitization like 40 wks of production per year is 32 million units per year. If they're able to sell the iPhone faster than that, I think everyone will be stunned. More likely the ramp is temporary....

If they bank phones at that rate even for 4-6 weeks (if an announcement comes today, phones are probably not going on sale tomorrow in Estonia), that should give them a pretty good buffer of several million phones with which to do this.

[Fabio_gsilva]

I think this is (in part) what the ramp-up to 800k units / wk is supposed to be for. 800k units / wk annualized at even a lower (but not unheard of) capacitization like 40 wks of production per year is 32 million units per year. If they're able to sell the iPhone faster than that, I think everyone will be stunned. More likely the ramp is temporary....

If they bank phones at that rate even for 4-6 weeks (if an announcement comes today, phones are probably not going on sale tomorrow in Estonia), that should give them a pretty good buffer of several million phones with which to do this.

In China the year has 52 weeks of production. There is no break, and a lot of overtime...

[Apple Ink]

I've been to India a few times (Im in India right now actually and its raining like hell here)

The popularity of the phone actually depends on the plans! People here have an average monthly bill of :eek:$10:eek:

And as far as the 'units' are concerned, Im sure Apple has it all planned! But yes, it would be considerate of them to look at countries like us where its in "shortage"!

[jfanning]

I've been to India a few times (Im in India right now actually and its raining like hell here)

The popularity of the phone actually depends on the plans! People here have an average monthly bill of :eek:$10:eek:

There was a interview on some web site a while back with the CEO of Vodafone where he discussed the cost of doing business in India, and in particular how the cost of making (from the carriers point of view) a call in India was dramatically lower than the likes of the UK

[Apple Ink]

There was a interview on some web site a while back with the CEO of Vodafone where he discussed the cost of doing business in India, and in particular how the cost of making (from the carriers point of view) a call in India was dramatically lower than the likes of the UK

Well I just confirmed from an Indian friend to post here!
She uses Vodafone and pays <ahem>.........:eek::eek:$.01:eek::eek:for a minute worth of calls!

Seems like I'll need to investigate a bit more!

[Insulin Junkie]

i wonder what the good people in estonia will think of their brand new cracking iphones? :p

Do the 2nd gen ones crack? Or scratch at that?
Well, my guess is they'll go ** awww paaaask :mad: **

[gcmexico]

yes iphone in India!!!

[sjo]

it's not 4-6 weeks, everyone who's announced a date says August 22nd, that's 2 weeks from now. That's an extra 1.5 million phones, and they sold a million in the first 3 days in the US and they are still out of them in most of the other markets they were released in.

a million in the first 3 days included not only iphones sold in the us. it included all iphones apple sold during those first 3 days. outside the us most iphones were not sold by apple, but carriers, so the 1m includes iphones apple sold to carriers, and those may or may not have been sold to actual end users. it's possible that apple haven't even delivered all of those yet.

it's possible that some of those were bought by carriers that are only introducing the phone in some markets now. eg, that number may include all phones vodafone bought, including those vodafone plans to sell in czech republic (starting on 22nd), those bought by telia, including those telia is going to sell in the baltic states, and all bought by t-mob, including those t-mob is starting to sell in hungary.

[colocolo]

It has also been announced that it will arrive to Chile the 22nd.

http://www.emol.com/noticias/todas/detalle/detallenoticias.asp?idnoticia=316260

[alanbuilds]

. 800$ for a good smartphone which is LATEST n the COOLEST is no big deal here.

Nononononononononononononononono!!!!!!!!!! Someone at Apple has lost his mind! India's population is over 1.13 BILLION (March 2008 estimate, Wikipedia): half too poor to care,the other half geeks with degrees in computer science!! (Just kidding, but . . .)
I thought it was crazy to add any more countries, with frustrated people all over the world reporting "I'm #395 on the waiting list, no shipments expected for six weeks, my city got a total initial shipment of five phones."
Oh well, I thought, Steve hates to not deliver on a promise, the contracts with the carriers in the "new 22" were probably negotiated and signed long ago and saying "sorry, we just can't do it" wouldn't be easy, BUT . . .
INDIA????!!!!???
IMPOSSIBLE!
In addition to the ENORMOUS current backlog, the size of which is anybody's guess, the rumored 800,000/wk production goal now becomes almost insignificant.
Apple selling Vaporware?!?
To millions of peple, that's what it comes down to . . .
And it's bad business.
SHORT supply is one thing, but for a spectacular, triumphant rollout, a greater percentage of those camping out overnight in lines stretching around the block should leave with something more than a "sorry!"

[kprf]

Oh I wish so much iPhone could be released in Russia but that will probably never happen.

[IamJAX]

Hi,

Here are the Vodafone monthly plans in Bangalore, India.

http://vodafone.in/existingusers/Pages/talkplans_kar.aspx

$1 = Rs. 42

[DevilInDisguise]

its gonna be Rs.24000 for the 8 GB model in India ...

source -- http://iphoneindia.gyanin.com/2008/07/30/zee-business-confirms-22nd-aug-as-the-launch-date-for-iphone-3g-in-india-price-rs24000-570/

[SleepyHead157]

Well I just confirmed from an Indian friend to post here!
She uses Vodafone and pays <ahem>.........:eek::eek:$.01:eek::eek:for a minute worth of calls!

Seems like I'll need to investigate a bit more!

Alot of people in that region use pre paid cards which allow for free incoming calls, even international. I went to bangladesh a few years back and used a 40 taka prepaid card which lasts for about 2 to 3 weeks, and it costs around 0.50 cents. And with the free incoming international calls, I was able to have my GF and family call me without any problems at the same time ATT was offering something along the lines of $2 and up per minute!!!

[peanut48]

Hi

I'm currently in India and while iPhone is certainly something that I have been waiting for, I doubt the iPhone will have a recording breaking impact here..

Reasons being that Indians (majority) can't afford the expensive smart-phones or have no need for such complex gadgetry. The iPhone is essentially for the savvy new-age Indian who's number albeit large but still not like those in the USA / Europe etc. These Indians are mostly young school/college going kids or professionals from the various top mnc's etc..People here love the cool factor and tend to show off their mobile phones as a status symbol...This is a catch 22...If the iPhone is expensive (most likely as contractual obligations are rarely adhered to) it'll be out of reach for many...If it is offered at a lower price point it'll be too common and hence the cool factor is N/A and will keep many people away...

What I guess I mean to say is that smart phones like iPhone et al are not seen more for their functionality as much as for their status symbol..Many people I know will not switch to iPhone if its a common phone

Me on the other had, am an apple fanatic...3 Macbooks in 2 years and several iPod's has me hooked to apple and I totally love OS X...and iPhone is the only phone that will keep my apple family complete :D

So I don't care if its common or not I'll still buy it only coz of the OS but I doubt the average Indian consumer will be interested in the OS since majority are Windows / Microsoft users...

Just my 2 cents!! ;)

[Apple Ink]

its gonna be Rs.24000 for the 8 GB model in India ...

source -- http://iphoneindia.gyanin.com/2008/07/30/zee-business-confirms-22nd-aug-as-the-launch-date-for-iphone-3g-in-india-price-rs24000-570/

Hmmm... no plans? Well that was expected from the $.01 calls!

[DevilInDisguise]

Hmmm... no plans? Well that was expected from the $.01 calls!

they've not officially announced any plans yet.. but since they seem to be selling it at non subsidized costs.. dont think there will be any fixed plans with it, cos that wud make me pissed..

[peanut48]

Well the comparison between call rates can't really be made as the cost of living is very different..For example: You can't buy in India for Rs. 500.00 what you can buy for $500.00..

[kjs862]

This should help out the stock price

[Apple Ink]

For example: You can't buy in India for Rs. 500.00 what you can buy for $500.00..

:confused:More details would be considerate!

[IamJAX]

yes...Incoming is free in India. Been like that for a long time. Even Virgin mobiles pays you for ur incomming.

http://www.virginmobile.in/


Never had subsidised mobile handsets here. Just get it at usual retail price. The ones carrier provide are usually cheap basic mobiles and that too at normal price.


So I wonder how they plan to sell iphone at a subsidised rates...

[peanut48]

:confused:More details would be considerate!

Apple Ink, I'll try my best to explain but I'm not very good at it..sorry :(

For instance, $500.00 in the US can buy you a lot more services / goods as compared to Rs. 500.00 in India...$500 is considered big money but Rs.500 is no longer big money for the amount of goods/services that can be purchased for it..

So even the comparatively cheap call rates in India are not that cheap for the average Indian user..

Did I make any sense ? :confused:

[Apple Ink]

Apple Ink, I'll try my best to explain but I'm not very good at it..sorry :(

For instance, $500.00 in the US can buy you a lot more services / goods as compared to Rs. 500.00 in India...$500 is considered big money but Rs.500 is no longer big money for the amount of goods/services that can be purchased for it..

So even the comparatively cheap call rates in India are not that cheap for the average Indian user..

Did I make any sense ? :confused:

Yeah.... but at the exchange rates I just paid.... $500 will translate to about 24000INR! Wont it?

[peanut48]

Yeah it'll be that much but for the average Indian Rs.24000 is a lot dearer and they don't have incomes comparable to say their US counterparts...Its a bit hard to explain...guessing economics is not my strongest point...

[scpt]

Yeah it'll be that much but for the average Indian Rs.24000 is a lot dearer and they don't have incomes comparable to say their US counterparts...Its a bit hard to explain...guessing economics is not my strongest point...

I think what you really mean to say is the purchasing power of people in u.s is comparitively higher in U.S compared to India.

Regarding the iPhone in India. A majority of the consumers will refrain from buying it if it is sold with 2 yr contract like here in u.s. Traditionally, people in India are used to the flexibility in changing the service providers, free incoming calls + incoming SMS, cheap outgoing SMS. So, with contract its definitely not going to be the masses...but even if we consider the gadget-savvy people ...2 years is long time for them to hold on to one particular phone. They would rather prefer to upgrade to new models every other year.

Let us wait and see what Airtel has in mind...they do know how to market stuff.

[mikey.f]

Great news!

Just a detail for the author: in Slovakia, both T-Mobile and Orange announced availability on 22nd. (http://www.mobilmania.sk/Bleskovky/AR.asp?ARI=9996)


Wooo!

[patricksan]

Claro Telecom in Brazil is not setting a time to the lauch, but it is compiling information about people interested in the iPhone...

http://www.claro.com.br/portal/saibamais.do?method=showSaibaMais&titulo=iPhone%203G%20Claro&tipo=Destaque&altura=526.0&flash=/StaticFiles/Flash/iphone2b.swf?idlocal=58

Hope they release it soon...


Mobistar in Belgium did the same before the release.

[franzmueller]

Still cant get it in Spain .... 3 weeks after its "launch". Apple should concentrate on delivering what they have already promised first before frustrating any more potential customers... :mad:

Yeah ... another one from Spain waiting to get an iphone ...I was nr. 80 at launch date now I´m nr. 60 in the list ..... great :( how things move on I´m lucky to get one in .... what ....new year ?

Saludos

[Fabiano]

How about getting enough units into existing territories first :rolleyes:

cmon dont be so selfish! Let us to join the party too :D




Ps. No release date to Brazil yet...

[i.maverick]

no 3g here.. but whatever.. GPS would be great. I hope I can get a good deal on my old iPhone (unlocked obviously) and buy 1 from airtel or vodafone. The warranty would come in handy!
Also, I hope we get test units. I wish to see how much better the sound actually is!
:cool::)

[papiti]

Anyone know where the list of all the countries where the iPhone is to be re;eased in the near future. Supposedly there are more than 70 countries, but which ones.:o

[antielectrons]

cmon dont be so selfish! Let us to join the party too :D




Ps. No release date to Brazil yet...

Trust me. Its no party. More like thinking you have just setup a date with the hottest chick in town only to be then ignored indefinately. Dont get your hopes up.

[maxbarros]

hooray for chile!

[DevilInDisguise]

Anyone know where the list of all the countries where the iPhone is to be re;eased in the near future. Supposedly there are more than 70 countries, but which ones.:o

ever visited the apple site?? well here u go anyways.. http://www.apple.com/iphone/countries/

[papiti]

ever visited the apple site?? well here u go anyways.. http://www.apple.com/iphone/countries/

Yes DevilInDisguise, i have been there before, DUUUUHHHH!!!, but if you read what Mac Rumors has stated in the Apple's Q3 Report, there are still more than 70 countries left for iPhone launch. Have you been in Apple's site before and counted the countries they mention there, it's less than 70. And besides, all i want to know is if in the Q3 Report there is a formal list.:eek:

[hms84]

DAMN... NO Saudi Arabia!!! :mad:

[MacDiegoX]

Finally in perUUU !!!

[blk88memorz]

what about greece?
c'mon vodafone..

[JcMarin]

- Movistar has announced for Chile.
- Telefónica Latinoamérica (PDF) and América Móvil (via CNN) have both


Movistar is part of Telefonica (as well as O2)

Movistar is the Mobile brand of Telefonica in Latam and Spain, an O2 in the rest of Europe (UK, Ireland, Germany, Chez Rep.)

Telefonica also has participation in Vivo in Brazil

America Movil is the other incumbent operator in Latam and its owned by Telmex

Btw.
If your in the U.S. and waiting for an iPhone 3G your wait may be over:
http://gizmodo.com/5034053/the-iphone-3g-now-in-stock-at-all-apple-retail-stores

[mattsantiago]

Anybody know when we (Puerto Rico) expect to have the Iphone? We have two carriers (ATT and Claro) here that support this phone and none of them announce when they will launch it.

C'mon Steve resolve the issue of Puerto Rico. PLEASE! :confused:

[Apple Ink]

OK.... seems like Airtel has officially announced this for India - Aug 22!

http://airtel.in/wps/wcm/connect/About%20Bharti%20Airtel/bharti+airtel/media+centre/fy2008-2009/pg_bhartiairtel_to_bring_iphone

[Pargat]

All said and done the economy over here is a contrast to what is there in the west. $500 might translate to Rs24000/- here but compare that with the average per capita income of $950. The point is simple, a 2ltr bottle of coke might cost approximately the same in India as the US (approx $1.2, in a retail store) but what is the amount of time that the lowest salaried worker takes to earn that money?

The iPhone in India is going to be a status symbol and has been so for the last 10 months or so. People here have been using unlocked phones. The hardcore fans and the people who like to flash latest phones already have them here. A lot is going to depend on what price points Vodafone and Airtel release it here for, since they are going to be no subsidy.

From the technical side none of the GSM carriers in India have a 3G network in place to make the max use of the phone so all people buying the iPhone3G are going to be on EDGE networks/speeds for data.

[radical]

I think this is (in part) what the ramp-up to 800k units / wk is supposed to be for. 800k units / wk annualized at even a lower (but not unheard of) capacitization like 40 wks of production per year is 32 million units per year. If they're able to sell the iPhone faster than that, I think everyone will be stunned. More likely the ramp is temporary....

If they bank phones at that rate even for 4-6 weeks (if an announcement comes today, phones are probably not going on sale tomorrow in Estonia), that should give them a pretty good buffer of several million phones with which to do this.

Estonia has approximately 1 million potential buyers of the population of 1.34 million. This is the approximation of people currently having a mobile phone. Current number of unofficial iPhones is believed to be around 5 000.

So even though great iPhone gala is to be held in Tallinn (http://tekkie.flashbit.net/telecom/iphone-3g-launch-date-confirmed-for-estonia), Estonia is unlikely to be causing any problems stock-wise.

[bsolomonny]

Any info for Taiwan??? I can't wait forever.

[macnonymous]

Why launch iPhone 3G in India when India doesn't even have 3G network?!

Wouldn't it be wiser to launch it in a country where 3G network is already established?!

[Apple Ink]

Why launch iPhone 3G in India when India doesn't even have 3G network?!

Wouldn't it be wiser to launch it in a country where 3G network is already established?!

It was in Yahoo news...... they're in the ''process'' of bidding the spectrum and the service should be available by fall 2008!

[DevilInDisguise]

Why launch iPhone 3G in India when India doesn't even have 3G network?!

Wouldn't it be wiser to launch it in a country where 3G network is already established?!

more sales expected compared to the other countries irrespective of not having a 3g network in india.

[winterspan]

I understand that the relative cost of the iPhone will likely put it out of reach for most of the population in India, but when you have over a billion people, how can they not sell millions of units?!? Certainly more than this group will be able to afford the iphone, but even just the wealthiest 10% represents over 113 MILLION people! Apple could hit their 10M sales goal in 2008 IN JUST INDIA ALONE!!! No wonder they are cranking out 800K a week!

[DevilInDisguise]

I understand that the relative cost of the iPhone will likely put it out of reach for most of the population in India, but when you have over a billion people, how can they not sell millions of units?!? Certainly more than this group will be able to afford the iphone, but even just the wealthiest 10% represents over 113 MILLION people! Apple could hit their 10M sales goal in 2008 IN JUST INDIA ALONE!!! No wonder they are cranking out 800K a week!

i would say wealthiest % wud be somewhere around 2-3%.. i think 10% is way to high for India.. i think it cud be even less then 2-3%.. we have a huge poverty line.. but yea even if we take 1% of the population of India buys the iPhone, then apple still gets 11 million units sold.. but not all of that 1% would also buy the iphone.. it would really be interesting to see the number of iPhones sold just in India itself.. i think they may just get 1-2 million units sold in India as, many who wanted it like myself already own the 1st gen iPhone.

[DevilInDisguise]

UPDATE - Reports indicate that the 8 GB version of the 3G iPhone will cost Rs 31,000, while the 16 GB version will cost between Rs 36,000–37,000 in India.

Source - http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3356155.cms

i hope its not true cos 31000 is way too exp for it.. 24000 is fine.. i dont think ill be buying it for 31000.. i doubt most people will infact..

[Whitebeam]

Now what I would like to know is will this work.........as I am in India right now and will be for the next month or so, will it be possible for me to purchase a 3G iPhone from Vodafone out here, take it back to the UK, stick my UK Vodafone SIM in it and have it working fully?

Is the phone going to be locked to Vodafone India or Vodafone worldwide?

I'm guessing that even if it was to work I might have problems buying the phone in the first place......would Vodafone Indian even sell me one?

[tiger02]

Just went by a T-Mobile store in Hungary, since there has been a serious dearth of information since they announced for the 22nd. The kids in the shop are putting out that the pricing and plans for the iPhone are "secret."

Seriously, is there *any* other country in the world that's doing this? I see three possibilities: 1. T-Mob thinks that the best way to build buzz, is to pretend there's no buzz to build. 2. T-Mob doesn't want to release the info because they know there's going to be a huge backlash against prices that are 2x anywhere else in Europe. 3. T-Mob still hasn't figured it out and won't actually release the phone until sometime in January.

I'm waffling between 2 and 3.


Tom

[Pargat]

Both Vodafone and Airtel (The two largest carriers) have announced the date of launch as 22nd Aug, but as of now no news from either about the pricing. Market is abuzz with prices in the range of Rs18000 to Rs34000 (US$400 to US$800). And both the carriers have been taking bookings, telling people of features of iPhone etc ... India has always seen unlocked phones, only blackberry has been sold locked to a carrier and people who will buy that are least likely to unlock (crack/hack) it themselves. So it as yet to be seen what strategy these carriers adopt in India!

[DevilInDisguise]

They have not officially announced any details here in India as well about pricing. but we hear its gonna be INR 31000 (710.830 USD) for the 8 gb and INR 37000 (848.410 USD) for the 16GB which is CRAZY!!

im sure if these are the prices most will not buy the phone as its not worth 31000! i think it was better to buy the 1st gen one for 23700 when it was out in the grey market.. n i curse myself for not buying the iphone then!

well hopefully prices slash soon..

n in regards to tiger02's post. i think its option 2.

[Pargat]

I have just received an email from Vodafone ... which lists the prices as

"We are delighted to announce that the iPhone 3G will be available in India from August 22, 2008. It will be available in 8GB & 16GB models, priced at Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100 respectively. "

This is about $725 for the 8GB model, which is way beyond the price in any country. I think this is going to be an unlocked one.

Lets see what the response is ...

[Apple Ink]

I have just received an email from Vodafone ... which lists the prices as

"We are delighted to announce that the iPhone 3G will be available in India from August 22, 2008. It will be available in 8GB & 16GB models, priced at Rs 31,000 and Rs 36,100 respectively. "

This is about $725 for the 8GB model, which is way beyond the price in any country. I think this is going to be an unlocked one.

Lets see what the response is ...

WHAT:eek:

How many d'you reckon Apple'll sell in India?

[DevilInDisguise]

still quite a lot i think. as im still eager to buy it.