Overpriced i_Phone Launched in i_India

iPhones hit iIndia - Guru Steve Says only the Rich are Worthy

Apple's 3G iPhone has finally been launched in iIndia, with a price tag of $700 (seems iexpensive to me – Ed.) but without the mass hysteria seen in the U.S., Europe and parts of Asia. Indians are far too sensible to indulge in such ridiculous iposturing for what is, after all, just a telephone ! Guru Steve Jobs has certainly done a fine job brainwashing his disciples, but Indians have seen far too many overweight middle-aged gurus to be swayed by a geek in a black turtle neck sweater.

$700 is three times the U.S. retail price, and two months’ salary for middle managers, so really it’s all a bit of a con, trying to convince people that they need to be really irich to be worthy of such a magnificent iitem as a telephone. (Didn't Steve Jobs used to be a surfing hippy dude ?)

(............ mmmmmmmmmmmmm iPhones)



The telephone was nevertheless launched at midnight in Delhi, but drew only a small (albeit enthusiastic) crowd to Connaught Place. They weren't selling Harry Potter books after all!

In Jaipur, things got a little iposher when the local Maharaja queued up along with the hoi polloi to get his regal hands on a ‘telephone’.

"I can't wait to show it off at school, it's way better than having a PlayStation," said Rudra Khurana, a 14-year-old Delhi schoolboy. So really that’s what it’s all about – kids showing off their Christmas presents. Why don’t they just grow up instead ?

India is the fastest-growing wireless market in the iworld. Nearly 300 million subscribers make it the second-largest market for such services, after that other big place a bit further east.

Customer numbers have been rising by more than 8 million a month, but most of them are low-paying users, who use their telephone for making telephone calls, not for impressing their neighbours.

For the country's nouveau riche, on the other hand, new mobile telephones are a status symbol and black-market iPhones have been available in India for months (possibly supplied by Apple themselves to create even more ihype, who knows ? – Ed.).

"Indians tend to buy the most fancy cell phones, and the iPhone has a massive fan following everywhere," said Pinaki Mishra, head of retail & consumer practice at Ernst & Young.

"It is seen as a status symbol, an aspirational product, so you can expect to see not just the rich, but also tech-savvy youngsters and people in small towns buying it." This opinions is not however borne out by the small crowds actually lining up to buy the telephone.

The phone costs $199 in the U.S., so expect to see prices drop sharply in India, which is what happened in the U.S. about 1 month after the much-hyped launch. In addition to the cost of the actual telephone there are also the subscriptions and service plans to pay for. The 8GB model is selling for around 31,000 rupees ($716) even there are no 3G services yet.

Nishant Arya, a man with a fair amount of money, said he bought six iPhones, one for himself and 5 for his friends.

"We can't change phones on a daily basis. We have to keep the future in mind and 3G will come to India soon," he said. He might have added that by the time 3G gets there the actual price of the phone will have dropped significantly and the specifications will have increased, so his 6 phones might be out of date and sooooo last year, but he probably doesn’t care.

Analysts expect there could be 10.5 million such telephones sold worldwide this year.

But in India, not everyone was impressed, one autorickshaw driver looking at the hyped-up launch said "What's the big deal?" clearly he is a genius, but genius is rarely rewarded.