iPhone Purchase

This tweet had me laughing!

But then, it’s not far from reality. When you are selling a phone for Rs. 44,500, these kind of jokes are bound to fly around. And why not?

India is quite a price sensitive market. Smartphones are not that popular and most of the people who have smartphones are not smart enough to use them!

I have seen several people in my own college who own likes of Samsung Galaxy S2 and use it for:

  1. Making calls.
  2. Taking pictures.

That’s it!

Anyway, I’m not going to write a long post on how to use a smartphone but still, the point is that India is price sensitive. Rs. 34,500, the price of iPhone 4, was not that bad. People could think about it.

But 44K?

Well, you can easily get a good laptop for this much that will do everything except making calls. In fact, iPhone 4S 64 GB model is Rs. 4000 more than Apple’s own MacBook Pro! Just read this: The Great Indian iPhone 4S Pricing Diaspora.

Price Of iPhone 4 and 3GS Increased

Yes, increased!

iPhone 4 originally launched for Rs. 34,500 in India. If you check Airtel’s page now, they are selling it at Rs. 35,500.

iPhone 3GS, selling for Rs. 19,990 some days back is not Rs. 20,900.

Good marketing strategy, I’d say. Increasing prices of older models after a new launch.

My iPhone Dream

I was planning to get a 4S on launch day and was ready to shell out 35,000-40,000. But luckily, I decided to go for a so-so phone for now and get a smartphone later.

But if this kind of pricing continues, I wonder if I’ll ever get an iPhone.

Who Fault Is this?

I first believed that Tim Cook is behind all this. But then I read a bit around the web and there are many possible theories.

1. Tim Cook Is Evil!

Yes, Apple’s new CEO might be behind this. He is slowly transforming Apple to a friendly corporate company. But then, why would he or anyone in their right mind decide to price iPhone so high! This can not be the reason!

2. Falling Rupee

The price of 1 dollar is Rs. 52.17 as of now. This may have contributed to price rise. But if we look closely, iPhone 4S retails for $649 in US(unlocked). Now, that is Rs. 33,585. Still not that high. This brings me to the last theory which is closest:

3. Aircel and Airtel Are being Greedy

They are selling phone at very high prices. Rs. 44,500 is too much to ask. But let them ask, and sell the phone to 20 people(see end of article! ;) )

The iPhone 4S Midnight Launch In India

Here’s what happens on launch day of iPhone in other countries:

Here’s what happened in India:

A person who handles media communications for Aircel, however, termed the response as robust and said 20 people had queued up in Chennai despite heavy rain. - The Economic Times.

20 people = robust?

Well, I won’t say a word more!