Amongst many countries that have been waiting for the iPhone 3G. India stands out amongst the crowd with its vast density of people and ever emerging technology market. The iPhone 3G is sure to be a coveted device in India, although one question emerges. What network will the device run on if there are no 3G networks in India?
India’s Bharti Airtel will be carrying the iPhone 3G, and as already started taking “bookings” for the device (which should be released on August 22). Bookings don’t mean the customer secures a specific unit, it just means that they are showing interest. Great, they should have half the country signing up for “bookings.”
Vodafone (another carrier in India), began registering customers for the iPhone 3G last month, however they revealed no information regarding rate plans, when the device will be available, or the final price of the phone.
“The company will launch the iPhone 3G in India by Aug. 18, according to some reports. A Vodafone spokesman declined to comment on the date of the phone’s Indian launch. Vodafone announced earlier this year that the iPhone 3G will be available in India during the year,” John Ribeiro reports for MacWorld.
Both carriers, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, have cautioned on their web-sites that the iPhone 3G will not run on 3G networks when it is launched. Therefore making some of the features immediately unavailable on the coveted device.
India is expected to begin rolling out guidelines for the auction of 3G spectrum within the next few months. “The commercial roll out of 3G services is expected only in the first half of next year,” said Madhusudan Gupta, senior research analyst at Gartner in an interview on Friday.
Whether users in India suffer from the lack of 3G, or if Apple’s sales numbers suffer because of the lack of 3G, the new network technology is needed. India is a wonderfully successful emerging market, and users there should benefit from the same high-speed data rates that 3G networks have given users around the rest of the world.
Be sure and check out the MacBlogz iPhone WorldMap for complete coverage, rate plans and iPhone prices around the world.
via MacWorld
