Launch of the new 3G iPhone in India

Kiruba has raised few very valid arguments on the launch on iPhone in India.

First, You can’t just walk to a mobile store, pay about Rs 9950, pick up the iPhone and walk away. You’ll have to sign a long term contract (approx two years) with either Airtel or Vodafone, the mobile operators that Apple has tied up in India. Both Airtel and Vodafone are tightlipped about what the monthly rates are but the US rates give a rough indication of the costs. AT&T, the service provider in the US, charges $30 (approx Rs 1,200) and for business use, it is $40 (approx Rs 1,600). There’s a good chance that the costs in India will be around these figures

Things cannot be very simple, isn’t it? There is a very high possibility that Airtel and Vodafone would adopt the US model but I have few reservations-

1. Blackberry services are also being offered by these service providers. While operators like at & t and T Mobile have struggled to offer an unlimited data plan, Airtel had unlimited plans for over an year now. at & t and T Mobile have now started offering unlimited data plans but at a much higher cost compared to Airtel, you can get them for as low as $15. Going by the same logic, Airtel’s monthly rate might not be as high as at & t. Selling service provider locked phones are an option but seeing the vulnerabilities of these locked devices, Airtel might want to recover the entire cost of handset (OEM (Apple’s) cost) in one go. (I hope they have learned with their experience with HTC Touch, this phone was launched as sim locked to Airtel but soon they were unlocked to work on other networks. Airtel wasn’t offering any discount on the handset from OEM’s price)
2. Indians don’t prefer being milked for years at a stretch. So any attempt to tie them to a service provider might fail drastically. I have serious reservations on the success of iPhone app store because we don’t believe in buying softwares, do we? Another reason why Apple and Airtel/Vodafone should consider increasing the initial price of the phone.
3. High-end phones have already been in India for long and they have really been successful. There is no reason why people won’t shell out the same money to buy this wonderful handset.