Apple iPhone 3G launched in India

Aug 22, 2008, 9:20 GMT

New Delhi - Indian telecommunications majors Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Group PLC launched the third-generation Apple iPhone Friday across India, the world's fastest growing mobile phone market.

At 30,000 rupees (690 dollars), the iPhone 3G costs almost triple its price in the United States, where it is subsidized by telecommunications operator AT&T Inc in its effort to win customers' annual subscription fees.

The high price did not seem to deter Indian customers with would-be owners visiting showrooms in New Delhi and its outskirts and in the business hub of Mumbai early Friday, the IANS news agency reported.

Rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone simultaneously launched the iPhone in at least six major Indian cities at midnight.

Airtel had received 200,000 pre-bookings for the phone, president Sanjay Kapoor was quoted as saying by IANS. The iPhone in India is locked to the service provider so the user cannot switch operators.

India is an attractive market for handset makers with about 6 million to 9 million new subscribers every month. The country added 6.42 million new mobile users in July, taking its total of mobile subscribers to 292 million, according to the Cellular Operators' Association of India.

India's total subscribers is second only to China, where the iPhone has yet to be launched.

A majority of the mobile handset market in India, estimated to be more than 70 per cent, is cornered by the Finnish firm Nokia Corp.

India does not yet have 3G networks, which support the iPhone's high-speed browsing and downloads, but they are likely to be available within a few months.

There are already more than 30,000 iPhone users in India using the second generation of iPhones, which were bought abroad or in the grey market in India, Kapoor said. They are available for 18,000 to 20,000 rupees.