I observed lately that there’s a very small consumer base for the iPhone in India. In fact, it’s almost one-tenth of what we have in the USA. There is a large multitude of reasons responsible for this. I’m discussing here the top five + one , which I believe could have been responsible for this.
Unsubsidized Handsets
People, here, often tend to compare the iPhone prices in India to that in the USA. There’s some truth in it as well as some myth. Firstly the myth, it’s true that I only had to pay $199 for myiPhone 3G last year (it is $99 now) but I’m locked to AT&T for two years. Also, I’m paying a fixed monthly rental, which is very expensive, keeping in mind the Indian standard of living.
So, it’s not really very expensive to buy the phone. Similar phones from other manufacturers like Sony Ericsson andNokia are found to fall in the same price range. It costs you 31000 INR to buy iPhone 3G from Airtel.(that’s the price in Dec 2008)
Unpromising Providers
In India iPhone was originally is currently available with two providers viz. Airtel & Vodafone. While Vodafone’s stock ran out in only half a year, Airtel always had a phone ready to take home whenever you walk in. Also, Airtel gives you free internet usage (up to 500MB/month) for a year. Vodafone, to our anguish, does not offer any returns for buying a phone locked to their network. So, customers who weren’t already on Airtel would have to switch networks to get a good deal. It would be great to have more providers stepping in.
Poor Data Coverage
When the iPhone 3G was launched in India in August 2008, there were no 3G networks from any provider. Even the then existing state of GPRS and EDGE coverage was bad. You are fine as long as you are in a metropolitan area but you’ll never know when the data network might give in once you’re traveling.
However, much has improved since then. Even 3G networks have been introduced. So the point being made is that consumers weren’t really able to take advantage of the best feature of the iPhone, its Mobile Browser, unless they were on a wi-fi network. I also must say that out of all the GPRS networks I have used in India, Airtel has been the most consistent and fastest in terms of browsing speeds.
Sales Desk
Here in India, the phone is only sold at the Airtel or Vodafone stores. As far as I know, the phones cannot be purchased at the Apple stores. Back in the USA whenever you walk in to an Apple store a technical assistant called a ‘Genius’ who sits at the ‘Genius Bar’ will assist you with everything.
From suggesting the right plan to customizing your phone, he’ll help you out. He will not only transfer contacts from your old phone but also install everything other possible thing you might want. No matter what, the salesmen at Airtel or Vodafone can never match up to that. It takes expertise and customer satisfaction together to build a wide consumer network.
Sceptical Consumerism
Consumers are often doubtful, infact it’s normal for everyone, to try a new product. While the Nokias and BlackBerrys have existed for a long time the iPhone has been here for just three years.(two years in India) It’s the same thing that kept people and organizations from upgrading to Vista from Windows XP. Fact is not all of us have the time and patience to try a new platform. Corporate users, more so. We have to admit that no matter how perfect some user interface is, it does take time to adapt to it.
Lack of Countrywide Support
While Apple has service centers for Mac’s in most cities, until 2009 you could not even approach them for iPhone support. You would always have to report to your network provider. This does scare away some customers. But I can reassure that it has so far been a very good experience for me. I had only one issue and Airtel replaced my phone in seven days flat.
While a lot other minor factors come in, but these are, in my opinion, the top influencing factors for iPhone sales in India. While some are true, others are mostly a myth.
We would love to hear about your iPhone experiences in India. In case you have been hesitating to buy one yet, all the more reason to tell us why so?
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Your right. Poor Providers are the important reason. Also the facilities like Wifi are not so available in India. That makes the people not to prefer it. Also the less awareness among the people, is another reason. They prefer mobile phones like Korean and Chinese makes.
i agree. wish we had more wifi hotspots than just the airport lounge. and as far as awareness goes, that’s what we’re here for
Very rightly said Sahel, It’s not only the iPhone. I feel any phone with heavy dependence on 3G will have the same problem untill we have a full 3G coverage across the country.
as far as i know, bsnl has launched that service recently. let’s see how good it turns out to be.
The post says, top six reasons (and their are also) but the first para says that we are discussing 5 points.
Read again, it says ‘the top five + one’. Creative mind Harsh
Sorry, credit goes to post writer Sahel.
haha. my bad. and it’s nice to see some keen observers in here. way to go readers. So Mayur and Aery, no say on the actual content? iphone market? lol
Actually, I’m thinking of buying a cell but there is a prerequisite which is fussing my decision. I haven’t used touch screen yet and when thinking of iPhones; I’m conscious about level of care and expanses on damage of it. What is even more strangling is the collaboration of keypad in iPhone’s screen itself. Can you guide me in this issue?
Anyways, I enjoyed reading this article very much.
Rohit, if only I could ask for a little patience from your side, we shall be doing some iphone intensive articles later this week. These are intended to benefit users with no knowhow about the iphone interface. So just keep subscribed and i can assure to help with your confusion.
thanks for the appreciation btw.
poor customer support is one of those many reason why i don’t want to buy such smartphones, the network coverage is poor too, no good internet options for the mobile… for iPhones to succed in india, too many things have to be improved,
absolutely. same goes for any other feature rich smartphone. we have free gps everywhere but if we don’t have data coverage where do we get our maps from, and thats just one example.
the non existance of some basic features like bluetooth an message forwrding is big drawback
Hi Himanshu, we shall be doing some coverage on the iPhone capabilities soon. In the meantime you should know, that message forwarding and MMS is all there on the current generation iPhone. as far as bluetooth goes, we still don’t have native file sharing. Only audio streaming(mono and A2DP) over bluetooth.
As a buyer I find two main reasons which is stopping me from buying this phone. First the price. The price at 31000/ is a bomb for most of the buyers. Right now any premium phone from any top notch brand in India is available in the price bracket of 20-25K. I agree this is a Iphone but at 31k is pretty expensive. Will wait for the prices to come down.
Secondly, the locking of phone with a particular operator is something which does not go down well with Indian consumers. We want to first buy the phone and then choose a carrier of our choice. Buying a phone is a family event
and it robs us the charm of going around multiple stores checking and bargaining the prices. The bundled carrier option should go.
I agree Nityin, the price is high. But i’m also curious as to what the price is for similar phones in India. someone do advise me the pricing for sony X1 and nokia n97 in india.
as far as carrier bundle is concerned, the unlock for iphone is out for everyone. its not only free but a painful 5 minute process. so the carrier option is done with now.
That’s too bad. Although iPhone coverage with AT&T (right now the only official US carrier) is just OK, it’s good enough for 90% of the country.
haha. you nailed it Gabe. gimme a high five.
Wow, what a mistake that is did by Mac. No wonder that iPhone beat by black berry.
I’m sorry I did not get you. What do you mean by Mac’s mistake. And what market data are we talking when you say iphone beat by blackberry. i have a feeling this is going to be interesting.
One more thing is that iphones are available in locked versions (Can be unlocked) and blue tooth connectivity is not possible with other phones .
Nice tip…
sure that’s true. but the context in this article was the sales comparison compared to USA. i can see where you are headed. we shall also be comparing phone features soon. keep glued. and thanks for the ideas. keep them rolling in.
In Oct 10 bought a Iphone 3GS 16 GB I was enamoured by it. In less than 15 days was robbed in Mumbai while boarding a AC bus in front of L&T Infotech in Powai.Still was for it and in Dec 10 bought Iphone 4 locked with 4.2 firmware but still looking for sources to Unlock. Whatever said and done Iphone is a great product and other phones Samsaung. LG,Nokia or Blackberry is no match to it