Iphone 3G makes its Indian Debut

Its been quite a while since many here have been waiting for the official launch of the iPhone. After over an year, the iPhone made its way to the Indian market on the 22th of August. There was quite a fuss even before its pricing was announced due to Apple's strategy to tie-up with Vodafone and Airtel, whether they were actually trying to come up with a similar plan as with AT&T, would it be subsidised?, its operator specific carrier lock and many more doubts prevailed.

Finally when the price was announced just a couple of days before the launch, many people who were serious of buying the iPhone were terribly disappointed to say the least. Mainly, because Apple had famously launched the 3G version with advertisements saying 'Half the price, double the speed'. Iphone which was considered to be expensive for $199 itself, for the fact that AT&T's plan for many was a rip off. People here had no idea about how plans work there were expecting a similar pricing for the Indian market as well, but it came as a shock that it was almost 3 times the price they claimed the 3G to be.

There were people even trying to justify the price . One article I read, Iphoneindiablog.com has come up with a detailed explanation as to why its better to buy the iPhone in India. Even if it makes sense that after a couple of years we might eventually end up paying the same price, we are quite acquainted paying monthly rentals rather than paying it all in one go. I am not sure if Apple's got any intentions of reducing the price, but for sure once the initial excitement is gone, the iPhone would definitely not become as popular as the iPod. With several competitors pushing their R&D's hard to compete with the iPhone, its going to be tough atleast here in India when people look for phones with maximum utilities.

Atleast for me who was waiting so long for the iPhone, am in two minds just because of the price, not about affordability, but just hoping Apple to change the way the go about things. The entire concept of iTunes, Appstore et all will take time to get used to, to make full use of the features the phone has to offer, no point having a pen when there's nothing to write on....