Airtel Reveals Official Release Date for iPhone 3G: 22 Aug

The iPhone 3G will be launched in India on August 22, by Airtel. The price though still seems to elude us as they haven't mentioned anything on that front.

Vodafone, the other service provider to bring the iPhone 3G to India, hasn't issued any such statements yet. But our source tells us that Vodafone too will be launching the iPhone 3G on the same date as Airtel. There were reports earlier that Vodafone would launch the iPhone 3G 15 days before Airtel.

"iPhone has been the iconic technology revelation of this year, "said Sanjay Kapoor, president of Mobile Services at Bharti Airtel. "Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer delight in the Indian telecom sector. Introducing iPhone 3G to India further underscores our commitment to enrich the communication experience of all Airtel users."

Customers will be able to purchase the iPhone 3G at Airtel Relationship Centers.

Source:
*www.tech2.com/india/news/mobile-phones/airtel-reveals-official-release-date-for-iphone-3g/44241/0

Ya this is old news...The Airtel is launching the iphone on 22 Aug...I had read somewhere that Vodafone will launch the iphone on 18 Aug...

its confirmed vodafone is launching phone on 22nd aug

source : techtree

N

salilrane said:
its confirmed vodafone is launching phone on 18th aug

Source ??

iphone is surely going to sell like Nokia 1200 and become one of the most common phone

Whats the expected cost?

^^ 18k for 8GB & 22k for 16GB. That's expected NOT confirmed.

Not too bad then....
Stiff competions for most mobile manufacturers at that price-point...

Vodafone and Airtel both are going to launch on same date i.e. 22nd August

Source: Times of India, 7th August (Mumbai and Pune editions)

^^ +1 .
Vodafone released a new PR saying that it will also release the iPhone on 22nd Aug.

With the release of iphone in India, there will b stiff competition among all the companies...If it is launched between 16k - 22k, all the companies will have 2 rethink their strategies...

Many consumers r gonna shift 4m Nokia/SE to Apple's iphone...

S

What about the bond???If any??and are they giving any supplemntry services like in US??To be very frank i donno how are they going to sustain 3G,in bangalore for the past few weeks even Airtel EDGE is down(I frequently use it so i know)...Anyways all in all good news...

Lets hope for the best.!

I am really not getting whats d point in hiding iphone & data plans pricing details :-|

What will they get out of it by delaying it so much?

If and when 3G actually starts then what will be connection speed we will get.

I am not sure but for GPRS it is 144 kbps ( i think so)
For EDGE ?

Do we have to sign the a contract or something with the service provider? And will it cost the same if we choose Airtel or Vodafone?

From what I know, iphone is releasing in 16 countries on 22nd of August and India is one of the 16.

Will be released on 22nd by Airtel and Vodafone.

So, all those rumors about the iPhone costing 8k are just that ??

I've seen it in action, so a word of caution.... Its not as great as the hype surrounding it.

H

iPhone costs 8k in US the operators heavily sudsidize the fone and add costly monthly plan with it (u hav to sign a contract) but out here in India the story is gonna be a little diff.

Even in the US the iPhone does not cost 8k, even if you were subtract the subsidies.

Apple, Airtel/Vodafone r gonna make a fool of people by binding them 2 a contract...They r gonna recover rest of iphone's cost 4m the costly plans they offer with it...

Will the iPhone cost 8k + contract or more than 8k w/o the contract in India?

It will cost 20-24k without contract or 16-18k with contract IMO.

$600+taxes+import duty will bring the contract-free phone to around 28-30k. With contract will be at least 18k.

^^oh.. I thought Apple said that it would cost 200$ globally with contract

Yeah right. Except we don't have $50-$100 per month contracts out here.

hellgate said:
iPhone costs 8k in US the operators heavily sudsidize the fone and add costly monthly plan with it (u hav to sign a contract) but out here in India the story is gonna be a little diff.

It would be better they charged full price and gave us an unlocked phone

NucleusKore said:
It would be better they charged full price and gave us an unlocked phone

yeh thats right

NucleusKore said:
It would be better they charged full price and gave us an unlocked phone

agreeed 100%

fully unlocked

no offence but i think we should wait for the 22nd august or atleast the official announcement rather than making predictions...

Keeping my fingures crossed.... August 22... Thats the big day.

J

guys omnia will give iphone grief....its an amazing fone, iphone still has limits....no bluetooth transfer, no video recording...etc we are always depending on itunes for everything.....samsung is gonna release omnia soon for around 30k....if iphone comes for 25 k i will def go for omnia......i have used the iphone for 6 months...omnia has everthing....

N

moshel said:
no offence but i think we should wait for the 22nd august or atleast the official announcement rather than making predictions...

Any predictions about when Vodafone or Airtel will ANNOUNCE the pricing?
What the pricing is can be anybody's guess... lots of rumours flying around.... but atleast any idea whether the pricing will be announced on 22nd itself or a few days before that?