Rony wrote:
Raj Mathur wrote:
On Tuesday 26 Aug 2008, Rony wrote:
[snip] Even the iphone 3G is sold at a much lower rate in the US and in India which is price sensitive it is priced too high, almost double. Are people in developing countries richer than those in developed ones?
The iphone costs $400 in the US as well as in India.
It is about $750 in India. The 8 GB model is approx. Rs. 32K. At $400 it would be approx. 17K.
In the US the telecom companies are subsidising the initial purchase and recovering their money (plus lots more) by locking you in for 2 years, so you can get it for an apparent price of $200. In India the telcos have decided not to subsidise, which is why the apparent cost is higher.
The iphone sold in USA comes with a 2 year contract of US$ 100 per month. They will recover more than what they are subidising. In addition, call rates in USA are faaar higher than in india, same with data rates. I think in that case, the phones we are buying are cheaper if you look at TCO - Total cost of ownership.
Actually, its a question of skimming the market. They know that people will pay that much for the phone. I think later they will lower the price, 4 - 6 months down the line.
Nothing stops you from buying the iphone from Hira Panna at 17K, just you will have to remember to disable the auto update. My clients bought about 20 of them till now in fact, with direct delivery from USA by courier, duly cracked to be allowed to be used on all networks.
Regards Saswata