iPhone 4S price tag sparks anger in India: What were you expecting?

By | 22 November, 2011

Indians are up in arms over the iPhone 4S’s price tag, just read the headlines of Economic Times. Twitter, India’s favorite online hangout, is abuzz with iPhone 4S being expensive and how Apple is not getting ‘it’. To be fair to all, yes, at Rs.44500 (US$850) the iPhone 4S is expensive. But what were you expecting?

India doesn’t get Apple. Steve Jobs or not, India is still not on Apple’s radar as China is. In China there is love for Apple and Apple reciprocates. Apple isn’t feeling the same kind of love from India and Apple isn’t reciprocating. It might be a chicken and egg problem, but that’s the truth. It always has been the case.

Apple iPhone price India

Pic: AP.

Here are some conspiracy theories on why the iPhone 4S is so expensive :

  1. Apple is already selling refurbished iPhone 4s for Rs. 22500. It might not want to place an older product and the latest product in the same price range. The range is lot wider but, hei it’s a conspiracy theory.
  2. See I never understood the exchange rates and I’m not pretending to be an expert. But the rupee against dollar is hovering at 52 rupees. I haven’t seen that in a while. This exhange rate, I am told, affects the imports. Though it is made in China, India technically imports the iPhone from the US.
  3. Apple might be releasing  a cheaper 8GB version of iPhone 4. To kick those sales up, Apple might be strategically pricing iPhone 4S very high. When the cheaper iPhone 4 comes out it really looks cheap and people wouldn’t think twice about buying it.

I bought an iPhone 3G S almost two years back for Rs. 40000. No I’m not trying to be rich here and I really am not, but the point is, iPhone 4S pricing isn’t all that different from iPhone 3G S pricing when it came out. There’s a whole lot of stuff which we don’t understand. Inflation, exchange rates and what have you, and if you factor all the unknowns in, you will get the Apple price.

Let me break it down. If you want an iPhone you obviously don’t care much about the price. If you are thinking about the price, then you obviously don’t want an iPhone.

PS : Here are 9 smartphones which are not iPhone 4S.



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