Top 10 Reasons Why, iPhone Sucks in India (May Be…)
When Steve Jobs said iPhone will be $199, across the world I was actually happy 
. But Now I guess Indians will have to bear some unpleasantness while owning one if at all. I am not sure what they are entering India with either Vodafone or Airtel to reach us. They already have retail outlets Branded and In-Dependent once. For now this might turn out to be a bad user experience for Indian market.
New iPhone Pricing Model Is a Step Backward for Consumers says Laura M. Holson of NYT
As the Indian mobile subscriber base gets set to almost double to 500 million by 2010, brand positioning and pricing schemes will be crucial. Customer churn has increased across telecom circles from 18 per cent in 2006 to 20 per cent in 2007, according to IDC India figures. The iPhone’s entry could tilt the balance further, say industry watchers.
We were ready to live with these flaws on Apple’s new iPhone 3G:
- Doesn’t support Adobe’s Flash
- No replaceable batteries
- No video recording
- No cut-and-paste
- No multimedia messaging service
- No voice dialing
Here we go; Top 10 reasons Why, to buy iPhone in India is Not a Win Win Situation and Seemingly bad idea
- Vodafone and Airtel actually will not know how to either make money off this device or Keep users happy, I mean at all. they tend to forget 4 basic facts
- India is cost sensitive market
- 1,129,866,154 is Indian population
- Around 41% India is young and have a disposable incomes
- Max population in India in not in urban cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkota or Hyderabad
- If the Grapevine is to be believed The iPhone 3G will cost around Rs 20,000 in India the costliest in the world its free in Uk*.
- India and 3G are not a good Idea yet.
- iTunes is not yet supported in India (This is true as I writing this post )
- Most of my friends including me have a Broadband connection wit speeds not exceeding 20-23 Kbps
- Confusion between Locked / Unlocked ? Will I be able to use my pre-paid number?
- No Widgets for us we’re Indians. People with blackberry are crying for help.
- Wi-Fi though growing is not something i can count on due to the unavailability
- GPS , Does matter.
- These feature now only can save iPhone in India.
Guys don’t get me wrong I love iPhone as much as the next Guy but, Is India ready with no infrastructure in place or our Plan is to first build the Tire-Swing and then construct a park around it?
Disclaimer : This article is based only on 65% facts and 70% of stats. Which are all fabricated 63.7% of the time so, take it with a pinch of salt.
Also Read: Mr Jobs Please Help, Vodaphone is screwing Indians with a $800 iPhone
mmmmm, Guys..where there is good there is evil …By the way just a quick update for people who are price conscious yet the same time want the best in the world: IPHONE is available for 199$ in US without any carrier, so if you have friends in US get one to India and use it…for people who want to say that the god created world and world is of shit…than iphone is not for them
u havent considered Indian consumers’ desire it’s diff frm wants & need…wht we read in mgnt/mktg books so when u hv desire…leads to irrational or illogical transaction so iph sale wl dfntly pick up in its target segment
The author has rightly pointed out why iPhone will be a setback for any Indian buyer. The concept of PDAs is still quite novel in India. The iPhone does add to the style statement. But when it comes to feature richness. It sucks bigtime, no copy-paste , no message forwarding and the lack of a keyboard will be a strong demotivator.
Add to it , the huge price tag attached to it.
If you love loud music,sharing files over blue tooth,3D games, Then iPhone will disappoint you, because it doesn’t offer any of them !
I’m not a Apple fanboy. But Apple is a cool company. iPhone is lightyears ahead of other phones. So what if it has only 2MP camera, or it can’t record videos, or cannot use 3G in India, or cannot share files via bluetooth, or can’t use it as external hard drive, or can’t use it as modem,or doesn’t have FM radio, or cannot have my own ringtones, or can’t send MMS or can’t forward messages, or have to use resource hogging iTunes. It is simply cool device. Anything that comes out of Apple, even if it’s a piece of shit, I would do anything to have it in my pocket. Apple is that awesome. Heck I would pay 500000000000000000 for this most advanced of all phones. Vodafone/Airtel, you just lost that much of money. Rs 36000! Come on….. are you kidding? iPhone is priceless. How could you rate it so low.Like I said before I’m not a Apple fanboy.
Iam an apple fan, but not willing to shell out more than 12k for it.
These are not draw backs, thye can be fixed with software updates.
* Doesn’t support Adobe’s Flash
* No replaceable batteries
* No cut-and-paste
* No multimedia messaging service
* No mass email/sms
* No multi-select
These are real limitations due to hardware dependencies.
* No voice dialing
* No video recording (just camera is not enough)
* Bluetooth
* Car integration
* use as modem for PC-net surfing
* 3G Signal issues
* Battery relpacement
iPhone India service sucks. The jokers don’t know how to repair a iPhone. They will either give you a free replacement (if under warranty) or simply ask you to buy a new iPhone.
Beetel Airtel iPhone support really sucks big time.