It appears India is not in the list of Apple Inc. for promoting its iPhone 4S or other products. As reported earlier, iPhone 4s being sold in India by only two service providers – Airtel and Aircel, is approximately 32% expensive compared to retail price in US. Bharti Airtel and Aircel are charging Rs. 44,500 /- for the iPhone 4S compared to $649 charged for the 16 GB variant, unlocked and contract free phone in the US.
The company has raised the price of iPhone 4 by 10% to Rs. 37,900 /- Indian customers are now getting an 8 GB handset, instead of the 16 GB handset they could buy until last week for Rs. 34,500 /- This is a departure from Apple‘s practice worldwide. It reduces the price of its earlier model when it launches the new model. Often, it also gives freebies to customers who buy earlier models when it launches the new product at similar price points.
It appears Apple is not interested in India at all. Even as rivals Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM) are tapping India to compensate for market-share losses in the US and Europe, Apple doesn’t have exclusive stores in the country. Instead, it serves demand through 25 “Premium Reseller” outlets scattered across the country’s six largest cities.
Because of strange policy of Apple, it has given push to grey market and grey market dealers are thriving. For instance iPhone 4 is available in Hongkong for Rs.28,500/- and in grey market, you can get the same model cheaper than official price of Rs. 37,900/-
Recently, we have interviewed many potential customers who were planning to buy iPhone 4S in India and majority of them have shelved their plans to go in for their beloved device because of prohibitive price.
We would like to know from our dear readers whether they have bought recently iPhone or iPhone 4s and if not, what was the reason for changing the decision. We intend to send the feedback received from our readers to Apple Inc. for their evaluation of sentiments of Indian customers.
Dear Readers, please spare some time and send us your feedback about prices of iPhones in India.
