On the day the iPhone that costs $199 (approximately Rs 8,000) in the United States makes its legal debut in Indian stores at an iPopping Rs 30,000, former Citibanker Jaithirth “Jerry” Rao offers four bits of (free) advice to Steve Jobs, the Apple founder whose worldview changed after a visit to the ghats of Benares looking for nirvana:
1) The Indian consumer is very price-conscious. She does not like to make huge upfront investments based on uncertain promises of future service quality.
2) Any attempt to link lower price with lower quality, real or perceived, is likely to bomb.
3) The definition of quality is almost always functional. “Does it meet my real needs?” is the question she asks, not whether it gratifies her ego.
4) Do not underestimate her ability to find uses for the product that are totally at variance with the original intent of producers.
Read the full article: The I(ndia) phone
What if Microsoft, not Apple, had made the iPod
Also read: 11 similarities between the iPhone and Rajnikanth
Also watch: David Letterman: The iPhone Nano
The eyephone and the blue tooth
Tags: Airtel, Apple, Benares, Churumuri, David Letterman, India, iPhone, Nirvana, Rajnikanth, Sans Serif, Steve Jobs, Varanasi
22 August 2008 at 11:25 am
I see Steve Jobs had visited “Ghats of Banares” looking for ‘Nirvana’…I smell a sangh parivar link in this. We have got a new thing to criticize BJP…we can label them imperialists now…even we are bored of branding them communalists all the time.
22 August 2008 at 12:43 pm
A good that is priced 12000 rupees (eqvt) in US is being sold in India for 30000. When one reads the media reviews of all those “greedy& salivating” journos who get a free ipod each, one would imagine it is better to throw your 2G handset into the nearest dustbin and queue up for the new pod in town. In India, you can sell al kinds of junk (domestic or imported) as the journos would never give consumers an unbiased review & the well-paid agencies would glamourise to infinity the new product.
Hence, it was good to read Jerry Rao’s review. What a RIP-OFF the iPhone is to the indian consumer.
22 August 2008 at 1:00 pm
Steve was a Hippy before he made it big. He used to smoke Ganja and ingest LSD. During his ‘dark night of the soul’ years he used to eat the free food doled out by the hare krishna – isckon guys. He has a soft corner for oriental philosophy and beleives in things like Karma, Reincarnation etc. He has expressed these very subtly in his articles and interviews.
Considering all this Steve has let down the Indians by pricing the iPhone so high.
22 August 2008 at 3:10 pm
Bhindi avre,
What is the price of 3G iPhone without contract in US?
22 August 2008 at 5:07 pm
The title of the article is very nice.
But for a two megapixel camera and no flash either why would one pay 31K? Only for the beautiful interface! Very doubtful. But it might have good sales because of the media hype and love for the interface. Feature wise, its not upto the mark.
22 August 2008 at 7:32 pm
Steve Jobs has got the guts to think alternate philosophy and technology. He has walked the talk. The import duties of IPHONE has excesses is clearly got him on the wrong path here in India.
The product which is 12K in US is sold in India in the form of Taxes. So Corrupt local machinery knows the thirst of Hungry Indians. The need for better technological access and this is surreptiously used to suck up their pockets.
No point blaming Steve for this bull. Jerry Rao is misplaced in his aspersions. He is barking at the wrong dog.
The establishment sits in South Block in New Delhi. The Corruption Capital of the Country wherein Billions of Dollars of Govt Tenders are sold through Corrupt machinery
22 August 2008 at 7:33 pm
fone is ok, but how about steve’s job? can we have that?
22 August 2008 at 7:43 pm
TS,
I completely agree. Jerry Rao gets off a column now and then which is total BS:)
23 August 2008 at 12:10 am
This is a rip off considering the Iphone costs around $200 in the US. The same is true of the LCD TVs that are available for a fraction of the cost in the US. Considering most of this high tech gadgets get manufactured in neighbouring China, you would imagine that they should be sold cheaper in India.
After seeing people clamour for sub standard goods in Metro Mall, I am forced to believe that Indians are being made fools by being sold trash at highly exorbitant prices.
Mayura
23 August 2008 at 12:16 am
The former City banker has misplaced his glasses and seeing things ulta-pulta..
In US the phone costs $200-300 true, but the buyer has to agree to pay a 3G monthly plan of $80 for 24 months. Its a 2 year contract during which AT&T will take a cool $7200 from your pocket. In the US where the incoming calls are charged and per minute incoming and outgoing costs 13c (Rs 5.4) for prepaid plans, the phone companies can even afford to give away the phone freely, which they do for a lot of other phones. For instance some blackberry models are available with post paid plans for as little as $60, so do you expect blackberry to sell them in India for Rs.2500/- ?
We have seen what happened to the Rs.500 phones of Reliance, contracts dont work in India and really, how many people are willing to shell out Rs.3200/mo
?
Get some perspective.
This is not to say that the phone is worth 31k. But, its a free market economy as espoused by the self-same experts. If you can afford it, buy it. Otherwise stop airing pseudo concerns.
Steve Jobs is the last person to take advice from people like Jerry. He knows what he wants and gets it. He has managed to make TWO huge monied interests – The RIAA/MPAA and the Telecom monopoly to dance to his er… iTunes. Apple today is bigger than Dell and HP.
kai aagadavaru mai parachikondrante..
23 August 2008 at 11:54 am
Bhindi,
With $400 average per month bill for the special iPhone tariff, I would have given it free!
23 August 2008 at 12:05 pm
A bit of trivia:
Steve Jobs came to the ashram of Neem Karoli Baba.
Read this brilliant article about Dr Larry Brilliant who was also a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/39/brilliant.html
Dr Brilliant says his Guru made him join anti-Smallpox campaign by throwing apples at his crotch when ever he sat to meditate.
Was Jobs too, privy to the same treatment? ;-)
23 August 2008 at 12:30 pm
If Network providers in India are not providing any subsidy on i-phone, why apple is selling this phone only through them. Why are they not selling them in open market?
4 September 2008 at 11:43 pm
./ ——
In US the phone costs $200-300 true, but the buyer has to agree to pay a 3G monthly plan of $80 for 24 months. Its a 2 year contract during which AT&T will take a cool $7200 from your pocket.
./ —————–
I lost the math here. I know AT&T and its auto enrolling of customers with international roaming and charging them $2.95 each time the phone rings (yes just ring.. you don’t have to answer the call for their cash register to go Cha -ching ..) is very inventive. But $7200 in 24 months ?