iPhone-India

How to buy an Apple iPhone in India ? What is the price of iPhone 3G in India? What is the exact date of launch? Will an unlocked iPhone you bought in US or UK work here?

Vodafone and Airtel will launch iPhone 3G model but does India have 3G? Read this quick iPhone FAQ Guide before you purchase an iPhone from Indian mobile phone dealers.

1. Is the Apple iPhone available in India – Yes but not through the official channel yet.

2. If iPhone is available where can I buy iPhone in India – The Apple phone is not available here officially but you can order it on eBay or buy it from some mobile shops in Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderbad, Mumbai, Chennai, etc.

Alternatively, some online underground sites are also selling unlocked iPhone in India but these unofficial iPhone suppliers in India do not share their contact address so be careful in case you run into shipping problems.

3. Will Indian iPhone work with the GSM SIM card of Airtel, Idea, BSNL or Vodafone? If you buy an old unlocked iPhone (not iPhone 3G), it will work with GSM networks here but but you cannot use the Visual Voicemail feature of iPhone. Also, iPhone is GSM based so it may not work with Tata Indicom or Reliance CDMA network.

4. Can I buy an unlocked iPhone in US and use it in India - Yes, any old iPhone bought in US (or UK or Canada) works in India - you can just buy a local SIM card in India and replace the AT&T SIM. Make sure you read the Apple policies as this may break the warranty.

5. I bought an iPhone in US and am traveling to India on a business trip. How can I save on iPhone international roaming charges while making phone calls in India - Do not use the AT&T call service, instead make phone call over VoIP using the Wi-Fi option of iPhone. You can use Jajah or even Skype to make cheap international calls over the Internet.

Related: Video: How to Unlock & Jailbreak iPhone

6. Is Apple not selling unlocked iPhone - Yes, they have launched an unlocked iPhone in France so no need to pay anyone for unlocking the iPhone.

7. What about Apple Store in India – iPhone will be sold only via Airtel and Vodafone stores. The Apple stores that you have in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi, etc are greate for buying Macbooks, iPod, Apple TV and other Apple products but they won’t stock the iPhone 3G.

8. What is the price of iPhone in India – The unlocked 4GB iphone is around 20k while the 8GB unlocked iPhone costs around 30k. (includes shipping and taxes) The prices will fall once iPhone 3G arrives here this year and is expected to sell for Rs 10,000 – 12,000.

9. Should I wait for iPhone or invest in BlackBerry or Nokia N95 ? Read this comparison of smartphones - iPhone vs Blackberry, N95. Check these iPhone typing tutorials to see if you can type faster with the touch-screen keyboard. And this online size tool will help you compare the dimensions of iPhone with you existing mobile phone.

10. How do I buy an iPhone officially ? While you can’t buy that yet, pre-register iPhone with either Airtel or Vodafone.

11. What is the launch date of iPhone in India – Both Airtel and Vodafone will launch iPhone 3g on August 22, 2008.

12. I have an old iPhone v1.0 - should I upgrade to iPhone 3G ? While 3G means better data transfer speeds that GPRS / EDGE, you really can’t take advantage of the speed here in India because 3G isn’t available. Other than speed, the iPhone Apps store can be accessed from the old iPhone as well if you download and install the iPhone firmware upgrade via iTunes. Also see iPhone 3G Review.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM mobile phone so it will working internationally in countries outside the US though you’ll have to ask AT&T to turn on international roaming on the iPhone and that the places you’re going offer GSM coverage.