Will we finally get a cheaper Apple?
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Apple has just made my life a bit more difficult. I love my Apple iPhone 3G (even with all the drawbacks that I have pointed out here). But Apple’s latest upgrade is so beguiling that I want to make the switch to the new iPhone 3Gs (where S stands for speed). But I am happy to note that iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available on June 17 as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers. And that includes me! The iPod Touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for £5.99 (inclusive of VAT). When do we get the new iPhone 3Gs in India? Take a guess – the UK customers are getting the new iPhone on June 19, it’s anyone’s guess as to when India gets its iPhone 3Gs and more importantly at what cost (the basic iPhone 3G model has been down priced to $99 from $199). Even if we are a less than lakh Apple iPhone 3G users in India, the company has sold more than 20 million iPhones in the past few years. And if the prices come down further (present pricing starts at Rs 29,000), then new users are bound to join the Apple family. Even the analysts conceded that price cut in iPhone 3G tag would make the market more challenging for rivals. A price cut on the original iPhone device to $199 from $399 in June 2008 doubled the demand. Why should that not happen now? Why wait for iPhone 3Gs? Having reviewed almost every phone (smartphone and PDA), I do take the liberty to attribute myself with some knowledge about smartphones and the processing speed they deliver. By far, Apple iPhone 3G has been the smoothest touchscreen I have operated and even at dodgy GPRS signals, it loads a web page comfortably. BlackBerry models, too have similar speeds but there’s a certain novelty (and also ease to scroll through pages) in browsing the web on a touchscreen. And what’s new in 3Gs? There’s the faster processor at the heart of the new iPhone and that’s half the battle won. It also includes new 3D graphics support in hardware – that translates to faster and more complicated 3D games on iPhone. On the software side, the new iPhone OS 3.0 software will bring in features including — Cut, Copy and Paste; MMS; Spotlight Search to search across iPhone or within Mail, Contacts, Calendar and iPod; landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari (Apple’s browser) and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app. iPhone 3.0 software also includes a new Find My iPhone feature that works together with Apple’s MobileMe application so that you can locate your lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or play a sound to help you find it even if your phone is set to silent. If you cannot find your iPhone, you can erase all data and content on your iPhone with the new Remote Wipe feature. The iPhone 3Gs has a new 3 megapixel autofocus camera and it also allows sending photos and videos by email, MMS or you can directly post to YouTube. It remains to be seen how Nokia, BlackBerry and off late Samsung too, will battle it out with Apple’s latest warhead. |
(4 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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June 10th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
What is driving low the cost of an iPhone in the US & Europe is the underlying contract. People effectively shell out as high as $69 per month. How many of us would do that? At least I won’t. I’m not ready to lock in to any one phone/provider. I use a Sony Ericsson phone I bought 3 years back. But have switched 3 cities (across 2 states) and 4 carriers in the last 3 years. Though most people won’t switch, given the bad service of our network providers we would at least expect the option to be there available readily. And India’s demographics is skewed steeply towards the prepaid segment who are ready to switch providers to save 50p per call. I don’t see anything wrong in that. Of course, we would just want to move on.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Kamlesh: I have to agree to your maths. That will be the most logical way to calculate but since Apple does not forsee India as a huge market for its products and also it has a weak distribution design in country, you can expect the iPhone 3Gs to be a steeply priced product!
June 10th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
When iPhone is sold for $199 in US, it should be sold for Rs.9950 (considering 1USD=Rs.50). However, for some “stupid” business reason this phone is sold in India for Rs.31000. There is no judgement of this price increase. The price gets increased three times in India!!! Considering this equation, if the reduced price is $99, then it should be priced at Rs.4950. Once again, lets make this figure increase to thrice - Rs.14850. After the price dip, lets hope that we get the existing basic iPhone 3G model atleast within Rs.15000.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
This post does not answer the two basic questions:
1. What is the release date of iPhone 3Gs in India? (I think ‘it’s anybody’s guess’ is not good enough)
2. What will be the price of the new iPhone 3Gs in India?
June 9th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
so will you post a review soon? look forward