So how much is the iPhone 3G really going to cost in India?
Sidin Vadukut -
Wednesday, July 09, 2008 10:38 AM
That is the question on every mobile-flouting, credit-card-maxed-out, gadget-obsessed, marriage-in-doldrums-due-to-wife-not-getting-enough-attention tech geek's mind of late. Now upfront I will confess that I have no idea myself. Friends keep calling me and to ask what the "business media" thinks will be the price of the "God's own gadget".
(This is because they assume that due to my presence in one forlorn corner of the mint newsroom I somehow have Nostradamus-like insight into the future. In reality all I do is drink green tea and watch youtube. All my articles have been outsourced to a content development BPO in Manila. But not a word to the mint top brass please.)
Still no harm in pulling together all the news that is out there already on the iPhone 3G already to get a sense of what will hit us later this year, rumours say Diwali, when Vodafone and Airtel will launch the device. Now experts have already figured out that the there is more to that $199 price tag than meets the eye. The Machinist blog at Salon.com did all the hard work for us:
As I calculated it, the new iPhone would set you back $40 more than the old phone over two years. Now Gizmodo has a new calculation incorporating other charges; it shows that the new iPhone costs $1,975 over two years, compared to the old phone's price tag of $1,815 over two years -- in other words, the new phone is $160 more than the old phone.
Farhad Manjooo refers to the contract plan set up they have in the US where you get the handset cheaper as long as you buy into a long term deal. (Of course we don't have that system in India among GSM operators.) But the news from New Zealand and Mexico is not any better. To quote Apple Insider:
Vodafone New Zealand is also offering the iPhone 3G without a contract at $740 (NZD $979) for the 8GB model and $853 (NZD $1129) for the 16GB model.
Don't even think of converting any of those numbers into Indian rupees. Perhaps you don't know about journalist salaries but most of us make ends meet by working hard, putting in over time and then selling body organs.
New Zealand will get the iPhone 3G first on July 11th.
Rumours are rife in India: Which version of the iPhone will they launch? How? At what price? Will there be a contract? Will the price be subsidised? Which kidney should I keep? (I like the left one personally speaking.)
Thankfully we have a couple of people who think they know what they are talking about. The first is Business Standard who has the most dissapointing headline I've read in years and year, 'iPhone to be costliest in India on lack of subsidies':
According to industry sources, prices of the latest iPhone (Version 2.0) would be at least double the amount of that in the US. The 8-gb version of the gizmo is likely to be priced between Rs 16,000 and 18,000, while the 16-gb would cost around Rs 24,000 to Rs 28,000 in the country.
According to sources, Airtel and Vodafone are unlikely to subsidise them as bundling is not a "successful formula" in the country and penalty clauses are not strictly adhered to leading to lengthy court battles.
Geek.com has even worse gossip:
Another rumor states, the 8GB iPhone will launch in September with a price of between 27,200 and 28,000 rupees, which at current exchange rates translates to $685 to $710. If that’s the case, Vodafone will be making a bit of money on the device (even if there is revenue sharing), and the company may also get a chunk of the Australian market as part of the deal.
This is all very depressing news indeed. Secretly I'd been hoping to fork out around 15,000 bucks or so for an 8GB 3G phone. But like one of our readers mailed in a week or so ago: "Admire it from a distance for a year, and then buy it cheap, and perhaps illegally from Alfa in Andheri."
Secretly I am hoping Vodafone gives me one for review. And then I will relocate to Dubai without telling anyone. But with an iPhone. Muahahaha...
Now look deep into your heart and tell me how much you are ready to cough up for the iPhone 3G in good old Indian rupees. The closest bidder will get a surprise low-price but high-intrinsic-value gift from me.
Picture courtesy Apple.com