No iPhone Price War In India; No Visual Voicemail Or iTunes For Singapore iPhone Buyers
For two brief days, Indian iPhone fans held out hope that they might be able to get the gadget for less than the $715 price tag that Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) India put on the 8 gigabyte model, and $830 for the 16 gigabyte one. But there will be no price war, as Bharti Airtel, the other Indian carrier to sell the iPhone, released its prices today, matching Vodafone’s. As pointed out earlier, this is big money even for a professional Indian IT worker whose average salary ranges from $12,000 to $24,000. Remember, too, that there is no 3G service yet in India and the phone, the paper believes, will be locked to either the Vodafone or Airtel network.
According to the IndiaTimes, the two operators had little choice on the pricing, and sources inside the two firms blamed Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) for “controlling almost everything very closely, leaving very little elbow room for them.” Apparently, Apple has not only dictated the price of the phone, but also how it’s sold, publicized and the branding materials around it. It’s hard to see how the phone will get traction in India, as one Bangalore reader to the India Times said, “I don’t think anyone will buy the iPhone at this price. But there is hope for Airtel and Vodafone if they have a store near a mental hospital—provided the patient has enough money with him.”
In Singapore, where operator SingTel launches the phone tonight, the handset will be free of charge to customers who sign a two-year contract that costs $205 Singaporean dollars ($145) a month, not an unsubstantial sum either, though this comes with 1,500 minutes of outgoing talk time and 3G bytes of data access. Under the cheapest plan for the 8GB model, the iPhone costs $348 Singaporean dollars ($247), plus a two-year contract of $56 Singaporean dollars ($40) a month for 200 minutes of voice and 1 GB of data. A SingTel spokesperson mysteriously told IDG News (via PC World) that the iPhone “may work” on other networks, implying the gadget was being sold unlocked.
Singaporeans, however, won’t have access to visual voicemail, or the ability to buy videos or music from iTunes. No explanation was given why visual voicemail was not being offered. As for iTunes, no Singapore-specific store exists, which IDG believes is a reflection of the country’s tiny population of 4.5 million people.
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Posted In: Gadgets, Companies, Apple, Vodafone, Countries, Asia, India, iphone
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Comments (4)
Aug 25, 2008 2:23 AM
During the first three years I lived in Singapore, I had voicemail, but never received a single voicemail message. People here simply prefer to leave an SMS and the majority of the population won’t find the lack of Visual Voicemail to be a huge loss.
As for India, roughly 87% of mobile users in that market are on a pre-paid plan and phones are not typically bundled with a price plan as they are in the US. However, that hasn’t stopped Nokia from being very successful with their similarly-price NSeries handsets in that market.
Many people in emerging markets buy handsets for status as much, if not more than, for utility.
Aug 30, 2008 12:50 AM
Hi all,
After observing all of your comments, I am not denying your point. But should see other side of coin also. The other markets
which are available with the same features or similar features were/are also priced very high. Eg Nokia E 90 @ >Rs.30000/-
Nokia N 95 .Rs.25000, HTC Touch diamond @ Rs.27500/-, Samsung Omania @ Rs. 35 K plus, BlackBerry 8820 @32000.
So, as a whole if somebody who is targeting for this budget, it does not seem high when you buy a product from Apple. I have
very good image of Apple in my mind.
Hope to listen from other netizens.
Thanks
Rajiv
Sep 3, 2008 2:02 AM
Hi,
Lot and lot of people are cursing themselves not to having that of much amount and missing their desire to have iphone. Seriously price is really high, but recently came to know that Airtel has tied up with banks to provide iphone with easy EMI option. It can be checked at:
http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g
Rajesh
Feb 5, 2009 3:11 PM
I agree those were two selling points that they used for marketing in the US.