Well personally I’m very disappointed with Apple for not bringing the iPhone 3GS to India even on Independence day. Looks like Apple is not very happy to bring the iPhone 3GS to India. Just looking at the enthusiasm of wannabe 3GS users , the iPhone is certainly the object of desire of many consumers even though its expensive. The phone is already doing well in the grey market with shops reportedly selling atleast 1 phone daily in Chennai and Mumbai.
In the meanwhile chk out our Apple iPhone 3GS Review – First on FoneArena
So the million dollar question – Why is the iPhone 3GS not in India still ?
Going back in time I wrote this post 10 Reasons why the Apple iPhone wont hit india back in June 2007 . The first gen phone never made it . Even the 3G seemed unlikely but luckily the iPhone 3G hit India in late 2008. It was one of the worst selling phones in India as most iphone fan boys were either still happily using the first gen iphone or had gone to some other phone brand.
Even today some of the reasons I pointed out back then still seem to hold good for the delay in the launch of the iPhone 3GS India.
- Operator Revenue Sharing wont work in India
- Locked Handset model wont work in India
Abhimanyu of ET has penned down his conspiracy theories on why the iPhone 3GS hasn’t hit India yet. From his observations it looks like Apple does not have the capacity to handle the Indian Market as Apple India’s Country Manager, Alok Sharma has quit and also took 6 other managers have quit along with him. Apple India is in turmoil according to DataQuest
Alan Hely, Apple Europe’s corporate communications director (EMEIA) commenting on the development said, “Yes, Alok Sharma has left the organization and Tom Preising is Apple’s new acting Country Sales Manager for India, responsible for the day-to-day operations in the region.”
When questioned about the exit of other people and the reason behind the move, Hely stated that they had nothing further to add and remarked that, “Apple continues to invest in India as a growing market for the company.”
Abhi also points out that the Government / DoT might be grilling Apple regarding the new specs/ design of the iPhone 3GS.
But from point of view , I think the chemistry between Apple and Vodafone / Airtel is not working out. Airtel and Vodafone seem really happy with RIM’s Blackberry and HTC and seem to promote those handsets heavily. Looks like the Duo didn’t take much effort to sell the iPhone in India. Also either Vodafone or Airtel might have expressed their displeasure to Apple for not being the exclusive network to offer the iPhone in India. Also to add fuel to the fire Govt. owned BSNL had expressed interest in offering the iPhone on its network. Recently BSNL started offering Blackberry services.
There are rumors of a August 22nd launch and if it does not happen , I’m going to just pick up a good old Nokia phone.