Like the Philippines, India will also be among 20 more countries to officially get the iPhone 3G on August 22, 2008. Not surprisingly, the prepaid price in India (via Vodafone) is almost the same as that of Globe Telecom.
According to Cellpassion, Vodafone has confirmed the prepaid price of the 8GB iPhone 3G at Rs31,000 (Php31,912) and the 16GB at Php37,162.
Not sure if the prices are inclusive of taxes. Another Indian telco, Airtel, has yet to announce its pricing plans.
There won’t be any postpaid plans as the local telcos seemed to be unwilling to subsidize the iPhone.
India’s GDP per capita is almost the same as that of the Philippines and the pricing for the iPhone 3G is almost similar to the ones offered by Globe Telecom (after you subtract the 12% VAT, it’s just Php33.5k and Php39k).
So now we know Globe isn’t getting much profits from the prepaid kits and the listed price could be very near the actual price Apple is giving out to its distributors and resellers.
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Hi all
So, finally comapny understood mindset and problem of common man of not want to spend such a big amount of Rs. 31000/36000 to buy an iphone and made it available through EMI with tying up with few banks. I saw this info on iphone section of airtel site (http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g)
Rajesh
Hi all
There is a myth in the market place on low pricing of the product (reference price point being Rs. 8000 or Rs.12000/- which refers to AT&T pricing of USD 199 or USD 299).
The reports don’t factor the commitment which a customers needs to give for a particular Price Plan for a period of 24 Months in the case of AT&T. For O2 the commitment is for 18 months with selected plans.
But, if we calculate other cost like montly rental for voice, i.e., 69.99 (USD), the total cost of ownership for the period of 24 months for a 8 GB model comes around Rs.81000/-! The total cost of ownership for O2 is around Rs.200000/- over a period of 18 months.
In first look it looks high, but in long term, it is still cheaper in India. So, don’t stop urself from buying this lovely gadget…
Hitesh
Similar situation here, still very expensive.