What happened to Apple iPhone 4 launch in India?

What happened to Apple iPhone 4 launch in India?

Both Airtel and Vodafone pretty much confirmed that they are going to launch the Apple iPhone 4 in the Indian market.

Vodafone had said that they would launch it before the end of the year. Airtel was not so clear.

Airtel is already said to be offering microSIM cards to interested customers who have purchased an iPhone 4 (or Apple iPad) from abroad or other sources.

They are also said to be close to launching their 3G services in the market.

Vodafone on the other hand has delayed the launch of their 3G network which would now arrive only next year.

It is not clear what is the status on the official launch of iPhone 4 and iPad in the Indian market. Apple has not said anything yet.

There are also rumors in the market that Apple is in talks with Reliance and Tata to launch the CDMA edition of iPhone sometime next year. This model is said to be developed for Verizon Wireless though it is just a rumor right now.

Reports say that the CDMA model might arrive in India through the subsidy model which has not been tried before. Industry experts believe that the subsidy model which is very popular in the US market is unlikely to work here.

We had still prefer Apple to bring the iPhone 4 and iPad as unlocked devices in the Indian market. Sell them through their official retailers in India. Make it available through other stores just like how Apple iPod is sold right now.

Both the devices are going to be priced pretty high. It makes no sense offering them in locked version with carriers in the Indian market.