Airtel and Vodafone, who jointly account for over 170 million of the 400 million cell phone users in the India, are all set to bring Apple’s latest iPhone, called the iPhone 3Gs to India. Apple which has exclusive tie-ups with Bharti and Vodafone has confirmed that their latest gadget will hit the Indian shores this August, however, they still haven’t given a word about its launch date or the pricing. [Read more…] about iPhone 3Gs to be officially launched by Airtel and Vodafone in August
More abuse news for iPhone lovers as Vodafone released the plans which include voice as well as data. For a new postpaid user, there are three plan options – iPhone 499 (Rs. 499), iPhone 799 (Rs. 799) and iPhone 999 (Rs. 999). On the calling front, these plans will have free 199, 249 and 299 minutes (local & STD) respectively. All local calls go at 60 paise flat while STD at Re. 1. SMS charges are 1/2/5 (local/national/international). Heavy internet users will be disappointed because there is no unlimited data plan to go for. The free data usage per month for these plans is 50MB, 250MB and 600MB.
For existing Vodafone customers, you can add a data pack which has the options of Rs. 199 giving 50MB free, Rs. 499 (250MB) and Rs. 699 with 600MB.
Prepaid users need to buy a data bonus card which will cost Rs. 100 with no free usage. 5 paise per 10kb for additional data transfer.
iPhone 3G hits India on this Friday and out of the two exclusive operators, Vodafone is the first one to reveal the prices. And the prices SUCK. If you have got enough money to burn then 8GB will cost you Rs. 31,000 and Rs. 36,100 for 16GB. This price does not include any data or voice plans and the contract details are still unconfirmed.
Airtel is yet to reveal the iPhone prices and we still reckon they’ll pwn Vodafone’s gameplan.
[Read more…] about Vodafone India comes out with iPhone 3G pricing
Monday: The week started with Airtel’s attempt to replicate Tata’s offer. This plan named as the ‘Independence Day recharge’ is available to Delhi and NCR users only.
Tuesday: Shaadi.com tied up with Vodafone to have people find a bride or a groom on their cellphones. Just SMS Shaadi to 57007 or logon through Vodafone Live. Marriages are now made on the Mobile Phone.
Wednesday: Vodafone launched a local card for Punjab, thus providing users to call locally at 50paise.
Thursday: Airtel was back into the Independence groove and launched Super Value 499 Plan, for postpaid users. This one is aimed at the high usage category.
Friday: MTNL announced Independence Day Hungama on the I-Day to give its users Freedom to access unlimited GPRS and send unlimited MMS.
Saturday: We reveal the pricing of the Apple iPhone. With the 8GB priced between 15k and 18k, the 16GB would be available close to 30k.
Monday: Indian capital saw a major player surfing in the GSM competition. RCom launched its GSM services in Delhi albeit it was a soft launch.
Tuesday: We showcased Airtel Celebrations 399 plan. Not so new but worth mentioning.
Wednesday: All hell broke loose when Airtel announced the launch date of the mighty iPhone 3G. It won’t run on 3G network right on because of the spectrum issues but the news made us excited as much as you were reading it. Pricing is expected to be out by this week.
Vodafone users will also be getting their hands on the iPhone on the same day.
Friday: Less than a week is left for Tele Gyaan’s first and India’s 61st Independence anniversary. And
Tata Indicom comes out with an Independence recharge to free all its prepaid users from recharging for a year with low call charges.
Saturday: Airtel’s been promoting mChek pretty smartly. To adopt more use of SMS based payment system, they are offering incentives to prepaid as well as postpaid users.
Good news Airtel users. If you were waiting for iPhone then the wait ends on August 22 to the nearest Airtel Relationship Center. The pricing and plan details are still a mystery but it will be unveiled in the coming days.
Ironically the iPhone page on Airtel hasn’t been updated yet.
Monday: The week started with BPL Mobile’s Corporate offering. They are providing with their version of full value corporate plan.
Tuesday: There is a cat and mouse game going on to become India’s largest service provider. As Airtel is swiftly moving around the 70 million customers mark, CDMA giant RCom has announced their arrival in to the league of 50 million customers. Kudos to them as they are the fifth operator in Asia to do so.
Wednesday: After the recent fiasco occurred in the last week, Airtel will be expanding their traffic carrying capacity so their users will have to bear less inconvenience the next time! Or shall we say no inconvenience?
iPhone has been launched in numberous countries but India is still left out as we can see no sign of the exact release date. Well TechTree tries to get ourselves interested in their exclusive report where they think, August is the month where we see the best phone in the market.
Thursday: Full Value 199 plans are at galore. But this one from Vodafone is with a difference which offers an add-on card along with other benefits.
Friday: Users are complaining about Vodafone’s secretive trade practices. After reducing the STD rates they have now hiked back the rates without informing the customers.
Some anonymous source for TechTree have spilled the beans regarding the launch date and pricing for iPhone 3G in India. It may come as a shock for many people but the source reckons the phone to be priced around Rs. 12,000 range but only 8GB variant will be available. Vodafone will be the first player to get the phone here because of its global presence and has a 15 days advantage than Airtel.
> Model: Initially, the 8GB version only
> Price: Rs. 11,500 to Rs. 12,000 (note: U.S. price of the 8GB iPhone 3G is $199)
> Applications: App Store will be available
> App prices: Application prices may see a revision to suit Indian market
> 3G: No fixed date for 3G availability; expected sometime later this year
> GPS: Present on the Indian version as well
The news has definitely opened up a new discussion for everyone waiting for the mighty iPhone to come over here but we cannot trust it until we hear it from the horse’s mouth.
Vodafone has officially opened up the doors for people seeking more news on iPhone in India. Interested users can register at Vodafone by sending a SMS IPHONE to 56789 or head over to the website to register. This is the message I received after successful registration.
Dear Kunal Gangar,
Thank you for booking your new iPhone 3G, with Vodafone. We will keep you updated on its price, features and availability in due course.
Till then, if you have any further queries feel free to call us on 111 (toll free) and we’ll be happy to help.Happy to help,
Vodafone CareEmail vodafonecare.mum@vodafone.com
Visit www.vodafone.in
UPDATE: We called up 111 to know about the availability and the customer exec said that it will not be available before the year end.
UPDATE 2: Airtel users can send a SMS iPhone to 54321.
UPDATE 3: Airtel has opened up their registration page too. Click here.
MTNL’s giveaway of free SIM cards to existing MTNL customers has turned out to be a huge success for the company. Initially the registrations were required to be done from their website but now are accepting registrations via SMS too. This move will give a spurt in the demand as many users are plain lazy or not that net savvy.
A major announcement this week was the introduction of Apple iPhone 2.0. Though many countries will be getting this masterpiece on July 11, unfortunately India is not one of them. Our major operators have announced their intentions that it will land in India later this year.
We have featured a new Vodafone plan for the corporates valuing Rs. 299 per month. This is not a full value plan but the free calls are enough for an average user. Next is the BPL Mobile’s 199 Full Value plan which is definitely better than the existing Full Value plans we have seen.
Finally, MTNL will be unveiling a Rs. 49 pack for its post paid users. This will enable the users to make local calls for just 50 paise.