The long wait for the most hyped and totally useless iPhone, is over. Vodafone sent a message today, to everyone who booked an iPhone earlier, stating that it will be officially launched on August 22. The sms also stated the steep prices of the phone, which obviously is a reason for this post. I am not writing this post as a news, but to check out whether iPhone is really worth the hype and the long wait for its official release. After checking out the prices, I would say, those who didn’t bought IPhone from U.S., waiting for official release are tricked and cheated.
The iPhone is priced in Indian market, by Vodafone, as Rs. 31,000 for 8gb version, and Rs. 36,100 for 16gb version. Clearly that’s the indication that guys at Vodafone are stupid enough. The same IPhone is priced at $190 to $220 in different countries. And in India it is priced at $710 to $830, which is four times the actual price of the phone. This obviously indicates the way companies are using Indian market to earn money. Even though, the phone is high priced, people will still buy the phone because of the show-off value. Even in case, sales are 25% less than expected, because of this high price, still Apple and Vodafone will stake up a whole lot of money.
But what are we gonna do for that? Clear cut solution. Forget about buying an iPhone and buy a HTC touch at half the price, and Cowon’s PMP (iPod really sucks at sound quality, once you hear the quality of these players), meaning the total cost will be still much less than 30,000. But isn’t an iPhone a revolutionary thing. I can easily say No. If anything is revolutionary, then that’s iPhone’s screen, which is also a part of iPod touch. Other than that, iPhone boasts of features, which are also available in entry level phones like LG dynamite series, which costs no more than 8,000. So, if iPhone is priced at less than 10,000, then only its worthy, else give it a miss.
But what about showoff. Ok, point taken. IPhone has got a showoff value, but that’s it. Nothing in terms of usability. And then, it was a real showoff the day it was launched. Now there are much better implementations of Multi-touch screen available in the market, at nearly half the price. One should check out HTC touch series, Cowon’s touch PMPs, LG Viewty, and Apple’s own production, IPod touch. These gadgets are real good to use. Atleast they do not suffer from the lack of real keys to end call, and navigate through menus. Still if someone is really interested in buying an iPhone and iPhone only, then I would suggest to buy it from U.S. and crack it. Although you will lose your warranty over your cell phone, but still its priced four times as costly here. So, losing warranty is still a good choice, than paying four times the price.
Well, apart from that, IPhone also has a lot of negatives in its account, which really makes it comparable to LG’s low-end dynamite series, instead of Nokia’s highly sophisticated N-series. I will post those issues with IPhone in the next post, soon enough. Till then, kindly don’t buy IPhone. Boycott Apple, and their stupid product. Save your money for something real good.
This is the misconception by most people, its not Airtel or Vodafone who is increasing the price. Apple is not ready to decrease its margin and in India Airtel cannot do a subsidize like in US and then recover in call and data rates. So the culprit is iPhone and not Apple or Vodafone.
@Nirmal
Slight confusion here. You said Iphone is the culprit. But Iphone is the product of Apple, so culprit should be Apple Inc. Iphone is just a gadget, pricing is determined by the financial section of the organisation (read Apple). And what about margin??? Does this means that Apple is selling their product at a loss for other countries. Not just U.S. but every country enjoys that low price. Only Indian citizens will have to suffer. Also, in U.S. too, subsidy is from Apple’s side, and not from AT&T. We don’t care about whether its Apple, or the carrier company increasing the price, the only thing is that, no one will pay 4 times the money and that too for a phoen which has got nothing but hype.
@Jitendra,
Sorry for the confusion, the last line in my comment should be read as “So the culprit is Apple and not Airtel or Vodafone.”
Now Regarding the subsidy, you said it right, Apple is giving the subsidy and also AT &T. So why doesn;t Apple give a subsidy in India?
Anyways what you have mentioned is correct, iPhone is 4 time the price. But we cannot blame Vodafone or Airtel for this as mentioned in the post.