Bizzare iPhone prices in India

[Thewindows8user]

iPhone 5S 16/32/64GB - INR 53500/62500/71500 (US$ 865/1011/1156)

iPhone 5C 16/32GB - INR 41900/53500 (US$ 677/865)
iPhone 4S 8GB - INR 31500 (US$ 509)

India is a very huge market, but Apple seems to ignore it.

I can buy a LUMIA 925 for the price quite less than iPhone 4s and a Lumia 1020 at prices way lower than iPhone 5c 32GB

[Steven P. Administrators]

Damn, they are high prices yeah :s What does the Lumia 925 and 1020 cost over there?

[OctoPussy]

Damn, they are high prices yeah :s What does the Lumia 925 and 1020 cost over there?

If Iphone prices are bizaare, Nokia is not far behind with Lumia strategy. 925 launch price was Rs 33900 ($550) and 1020 launch price is Rs 46990 ($760). I ended up buying Sony ZL for $400 which is better speced phone than 925 (sure android, but i can live it with it). No wonder Samsung / Sony are killing Lumia in India. They need to realize their competition and market realities here. I am hugely disappointed in Nokia.

[Steven P. Administrators]

If Iphone prices are bizaare, Nokia is not far behind with Lumia strategy. 925 launch price was Rs 33900 ($550) and 1020 launch price is Rs 46990 ($760). I ended up buying Sony ZL for $400 which is better speced phone than 925 (sure android, but i can live it with it). No wonder Samsung / Sony are killing Lumia in India. They need to realize their competition and market realities here. I am hugely disappointed in Nokia.

Those prices are about the same in Europe though.

[Thewindows8user]

Nokia provides good features for the money though, and in good quality. Cameras are really great. Samsung is the king of price among the MNCs. Though it has now found a big competitor in MICROMAX which sells similar spec'd phones at half the price. As India is a highly price sensitive market as phones sell unlocked, it is the price over anything else that determines sales.

[Praetor]

being such a huge market and not so many people can afford such high prices, makes me wonder that Apple is protecting their brand by not undervaluing their phones; then again i thought the purpose of the 5C model was to introduce ios to the masses at a low value...

[-T- Member]

Looks the same as the Australian prices too. What's the big shock?

[Thewindows8user]

the purpose of the 5C model was to introduce ios to the masses at a low value...

Low value...[lost in thought]

[Praetor]

Low value...[lost in thought]

:)

i was wondering why the 5C had such a high price when it's considered a budget iphone designed to the masses, it's weird.

what are the carrier locked prices in there?

[Thewindows8user]

:)

i was wondering why the 5C had such a high price when it's considered a budget iphone designed to the masses, it's weird.

what are the carrier locked prices in there?

 

Carrires don't exist in India as call prices are ultra cheap here, and people like me do not need to spend more than INR 150-180 (US$ 2.5-3) per month.

[rfirth]

If Iphone prices are bizaare, Nokia is not far behind with Lumia strategy. 925 launch price was Rs 33900 ($550) and 1020 launch price is Rs 46990 ($760). I ended up buying Sony ZL for $400 which is better speced phone than 925 (sure android, but i can live it with it). No wonder Samsung / Sony are killing Lumia in India. They need to realize their competition and market realities here. I am hugely disappointed in Nokia.

 

 

The Lumia strategy is to give you an extremely low cost and very functional Lumia 520. You'll have to look pretty hard to find a better deal.

[neo1911]

I was a user of iPhones since 1st model. I purchased till 4s every year. But paying 70000 rupees ($1100) every year is plain dumb. And that to for a mediocre 4" screen?

I went with Note 2 and I do not regret it.

16 or 32 gb does not cut it for me.

But apple knows that filthy rich people in India will still buy it. It is considered as a "Status Symbol".

[OctoPussy]

The Lumia strategy is to give you an extremely low cost and very functional Lumia 520. You'll have to look pretty hard to find a better deal.

Why would anyone buy a 520 when full speced phones are available on android for slightly more (even though they are from Indian Manufacturers but have good reviews and satisfied owners)? The realities of Indian market are vastly different from US and Nokia / Apple don't give themselves a fair chance to penetrate in the middle / upper middle class segments where Samsung / Sony have a strong hold now because of their (Nokia/Apple) apathy.

[Thewindows8user]

Why would anyone buy a 520 when full speced phones are available on android for slightly more (even though they are from Indian Manufacturers but have good reviews and satisfied owners)? The realities of Indian market are vastly different from US and Nokia / Apple don't give themselves a fair chance to penetrate in the middle / upper middle class segments where Samsung / Sony have a strong hold now because of their (Nokia/Apple) apathy.

People buy a Nokia because it provides a good balance of features, price and quality. The cheap Androids by local manufacturers do not have a good support bundled. If your phone has developed an issue it is better you throw it and buy a new one than waiting for months (yes, MONTHS)for the service centers to repair the phone, without developing any new issue(my own experience- speaker developed a problem in the phone, got it back after repair in 3 weeks and discovered the battery connectors were fried. Waited a month to get a replacement- got a refurb whose SIM slot wasn't working. Still waiting for a new phone) These phones do sell as they are cheap, and also there are not many quality alternatives except the Lumias as Samsung never succeeded in the sub-10000 market.

[HawkMan]

Why would anyone buy a 520 when full speced phones are available on android for slightly more (even though they are from Indian Manufacturers but have good reviews and satisfied owners)? The realities of Indian market are vastly different from US and Nokia / Apple don't give themselves a fair chance to penetrate in the middle / upper middle class segments where Samsung / Sony have a strong hold now because of their (Nokia/Apple) apathy.

Those full "specked" phones have a couple of issues

1. The screens are horrible bad colors and contrast

2. Android with no hardware optimization. Runs like crap.

Bonus 3. Horrible horrible horrible cameras.

So sure, they're fully specked, but... Not really. I'd take a 520 or 625 over any cheap full specked android or mid range android device. And I'd take a. 925 or 1020 over any high end android.

[The Dark Knight]

Nokia provides good features for the money though, and in good quality. Cameras are really great. Samsung is the king of price among the MNCs. Though it has now found a big competitor in MICROMAX which sells similar spec'd phones at half the price. As India is a highly price sensitive market as phones sell unlocked, it is the price over anything else that determines sales.

 

Ummm, NO! They are not "similar spec'd". Don't go by the marketing jargon. The performance difference between a Samsung quad-core phone and a Micromax quad-core phone is like night and day!

 

 

Those full "specked" phones have a couple of issues

1. The screens are horrible bad colors and contrast

2. Android with no hardware optimization. Runs like crap.

Bonus 3. Horrible horrible horrible cameras.

So sure, they're fully specked, but... Not really. I'd take a 520 or 625 over any cheap full specked android or mid range android device.

 

+1

[OctoPussy]

Those full "specked" phones have a couple of issues

1. The screens are horrible bad colors and contrast

2. Android with no hardware optimization. Runs like crap.

Bonus 3. Horrible horrible horrible cameras.

So sure, they're fully specked, but... Not really. I'd take a 520 or 625 over any cheap full specked android or mid range android device. And I'd take a. 925 or 1020 over any high end android.

Totally agree, but again think general populace; they usually don't understand the difference (benefits of a local vs reputed vendor), even in middle class segments. They see a full speced phone, good marketing and they go for it.

Anyway, for the class segment the OP intended this post (higher middle class who are looking for IPhones), the lower end phones are not enticing. If they can get a higher end phone for around Rs 25000, why should they look for higher end Nokia or IPhone.  My Point is Nokia / Apple needs to match high end Android offerings if they need to stay in game; else they can continue as backmarkers, its their loss.

[Thewindows8user]

Ummm, NO! They are not "similar spec'd". Don't go by the marketing jargon. The performance difference between a Samsung quad-core phone and a Micromax quad-core phone is like night and day!

 

 

Totally agree, but again think general populace; they usually don't understand the difference (benefits of a local vs reputed vendor), even in middle class segments. They see a full speced phone, good marketing and they go for it.

Anyway, for the class segment the OP intended this post (higher middle class who are looking for IPhones), the lower end phones are not enticing. If they can get a higher end phone for around Rs 25000, why should they look for higher end Nokia or IPhone.  My Point is Nokia / Apple needs to match high end Android offerings if they need to stay in game; else they can continue as backmarkers, its their loss.

 

True, similar specifications by such companies is a market jargon. But 90% of the consumers do not understand this, and they think that a quad-core means ultra-high performance, but in reality I can assure a cheap Samsung or Nokia phone works much better. I totally agree with Ork on this issue. The local-vendor scenario is going to continue for some time though, but prices of high-end need to come down for Apple/WP to tackle this, and I can see a hint of that with the Lumia 920 dropping to ?21,499 on Flipkart (i.e. ~$350) but that is very late into the year. A ?30,000 price tag at introduction of the device would have sold many more, as was seen with the nearly perfect price of Lumia 720 at ?18.500, which resulted in huge sales of the device. Similarly, Apple sold millions of iPhone 4 handsets in India under an exchange offer, at around ?16,000. Though they were just clearing their inventory, but for the first time I felt an Apple product was well worth its price.

 

I am worried on looking at the price of the recent Lumias that what will be the price of the upcoming quad-cores, and the price of Lumia 1520 needs to significantly undercut that of Galaxy Note 3, which launched at ?49,990, which is more than the monthly salary of many middle-class families. ?40,000 will be the sweet spot, but I fear this will not be the case. Price as well as features are important simultaneously.

[nitins60]

Between, now Nokia selling Lumia 920 for 18,000 Rs only.

[thomastmc]

True, similar specifications by such companies is a market jargon. But 90% of the consumers do not understand this, and they think that a quad-core means ultra-high performance, but in reality I can assure a cheap Samsung or Nokia phone works much better. I totally agree with Ork on this issue. The local-vendor scenario is going to continue for some time though, but prices of high-end need to come down for Apple/WP to tackle this, and I can see a hint of that with the Lumia 920 dropping to ?21,499 on Flipkart (i.e. ~$350) but that is very late into the year. A ?30,000 price tag at introduction of the device would have sold many more, as was seen with the nearly perfect price of Lumia 720 at ?18.500, which resulted in huge sales of the device. Similarly, Apple sold millions of iPhone 4 handsets in India under an exchange offer, at around ?16,000. Though they were just clearing their inventory, but for the first time I felt an Apple product was well worth its price.

 

I am worried on looking at the price of the recent Lumias that what will be the price of the upcoming quad-cores, and the price of Lumia 1520 needs to significantly undercut that of Galaxy Note 3, which launched at ?49,990, which is more than the monthly salary of many middle-class families. ?40,000 will be the sweet spot, but I fear this will not be the case. Price as well as features are important simultaneously.

 

What is the WP marketing like in India?

 

I'd turn the Indian market upside down with WP. You know most people don't want to pay for the iPhone, but like another said, it's a status symbol.

 

I'd spend as much in India on air time and events as is spent in America. In India, that would saturate the market. I'd make the launch of each new phone look like a massive and important event across the country, and create a ton of buildup and suspense. Get a ton of young celebrities, musicians, sports figures, etc. to promote the phone. I'd really push hard the stereotype of iPhone users as old and not with it, as well as show off the functionality that WP has over iOS. I'd also push the idea that WP does more with less, and that Apple is selling an overpriced inferior product, like a used car salesman who also works as a part time "Genius".

 

Give me one year, and WP/W8/RT would own the Indian mobile market :)

 

I know, these aren't ground breaking strategies in marketing, but it's about how they're executed. I think there's a lot more Nokia/MS could do to not only take over the American mobile market, but the world. India just seems like a prime market to go for really aggressively.

[AsherGZ]

Do Apple directly sell these phones in India? Do you have Apple Stores there? If like here, they are sold by third party vendors who import these sets from abroad (usually from the UAE), then its obviously going to cost more as it includes shipping costs, taxes and commissions. Here in Pakistan, the 64GB iPhone 5s Gold version is selling for as high as PKR 1.3 lakhs. Who in their right mind would spend that kind of money on a phone is beyond me.

 

Good thing is that here the iPhone is no longer considered a status symbol. Its epic to see the look on the face of an iPhone owner showing off his tiny 4" device he spent a fortune on, when the person next to him whips out his bigger screen Note or a 41MP Lumia 1020. Even with the 520, which is still short in the market because it gets picked up as soon new stocks arrive, when showing off its features and a curious iPhone owner inquires about it price, they look like they're going to get an aneurysm.  :laugh:

[Thewindows8user]

What is the WP marketing like in India?

 

I'd turn the Indian market upside down with WP. You know most people don't want to pay for the iPhone, but like another said, it's a status symbol.

 

I'd spend as much in India on air time and events as is spent in America. In India, that would saturate the market. I'd make the launch of each new phone look like a massive and important event across the country, and create a ton of buildup and suspense. Get a ton of young celebrities, musicians, sports figures, etc. to promote the phone. I'd really push hard the stereotype of iPhone users as old and not with it, as well as show off the functionality that WP has over iOS. I'd also push the idea that WP does more with less, and that Apple is selling an overpriced inferior product, like a used car salesman who also works as a part time "Genius".

 

Give me one year, and WP/W8/RT would own the Indian mobile market :)

 

I know, these aren't ground breaking strategies in marketing, but it's about how they're executed. I think there's a lot more Nokia/MS could do to not only take over the American mobile market, but the world. India just seems like a prime market to go for really aggressively.

Well, Nokia is doing exactly the same as you mentioned! They are promoting the Lumias in shows, movies including product placements, a great social network interaction, top celebrities promoting the devices. And they have been successful as compared to Apple, whose last advert I saw was the one in which it promoted the iPhone scheme I mentioned earlier. From marketing perspective, I believe Nokia is doing a good job. Nokia even telecast the Microsoft WP ad-"The Recital" during the last cricket match under its own branding, and people found it amusing. But the place where Nokia lacks is:

1. Price of the higher-end devices: Low end Nokia devices like Lumia 520, 620, 720 are selling great in India, but the devices not truly selling are the likes of 920 and 925. The reason-A person wants specs as he/she wants to be future-proof. I agree that the quad cores are coming, but were they in the market in the beginning of the year, Nokia could well have gained a healthy 25% market share as compared to the near 10% now.

2. DUAL-SIM: IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE. People do not like to carry two phones in their pockets-one official and one personal, and this is where Samsung and local vendors have an upper hand.

 

In case of Apple, there is no Apple "Genius" here in this country, as I hardly believe Apple has any of its own stores. But they do have authorised distributors, whose employees are "fools" at best. But these phones are made specifically for India, and are not simply imported from UAE or so. It is the word of mouth and the "Style-Statement" tag which sells Apple products. But this effect is fading now, as Apple share has fallen sharply to WP and Android, and I see it dropping below 1% within the next year.

 

W8 has no issues in terms of acceptance in India, and people are mostly satisfied, except for those who have made up their minds to hate Microsoft, whatever comes from it. This segment is largely made up of those who are either the tech media-persons, who blindly follow their American counterparts in whatever they say, however irrelevant it may be in India(example-the WP apps issue), or those who follow the tech media- American or Indian.

 

Windows RT is a non-starter in India, as the RT devices officially sold here have been really expensive(>$1000) with the exception of Acer iconia W3, which is a device which cannot get worse than it is, but is also selling at around $460. Surface was never sold officially in India, but the imported versions were sold on Ebay, which were quite expensive due to the custom duties and several other luxury taxes. Even the Surface 2 is not in the launch countries. I have high expectations from the Nokia 2520 though.

P.S.: Nokia has a big brand value in India, and I am afraid the MS acquisition may turn the public against them. Nokia brand sells, as compared to the US where the brand is not that popular. "NOKIA KA BHAROSA" (Hindi for trusted Nokia) is a big selling point. Microsoft should do something to retain the Nokia brand even on its Lumia range, at least in India.

[francescob]

Welcome to unsubsidized prices!

 

Also, the number of cores say nothing about the real processor speed: an old, single-core Atom can wipe the floor with many other cheap quad-core ARM processors.

[Mohitster]

Between, now Nokia selling Lumia 920 for 18,000 Rs only.

Where?

[nitins60]

in Flipkart, present price is 22K and you have festive offer which will get you 15% cash back offer. So you are ultimately getting one at  20K

In Amazon, present price is 20K and you have festive offer of 10% cash back, so here you can get for 18K