News Tonight

The anguish and frustration of Indian mobile fascinates and users, who had long been waiting for the launch of iPhone 4S in India, erupted within a matter of few hours of announcement of the cost of iPhone 4S on the websites of Aircel and Bharti Airtel on Friday.

In no time, the social networking media was overflowing with comments disdaining the smartphone maker Apple. The launch price of iPhone in India is Rs 44,500 and evidently, it will be much more costly in India than in the rest of the world. Though various online shopping sites, like ebay, are claiming 10% off on purchase and shipment of iPhone 4S in India, the customers are fuming with the fact that the retail price of Apple iPhone 4S in India is much more than its retail price in the United States.

On micro-blogging site Twitter, comments started rushing in soon after the official announcement of the price was made by Bharti Airtel and Aircel. Some of the interesting tweets even mentioned few items that are shockingly cheaper than the latest smartphone by Apple.

A few of them included: LED television sets, one year's petrol bill and return tickets plus three-day stay in Colombo/Dubai/Bangkok, etc. Tweets mostly condemned Apple for being harsh on Indian users, as the price of iPhone 4S in India is shockingly 35% more than that in the United States.

However, the situation holds no novelty for Apple or Indian users, for that matter. Starting from iPods, Apple products have always been priced considerably higher in India as compared to other nations like Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States.

While expressing his opinion in this regard, an industry executive, who has long been eventful in monitoring response of Indian users for such international gadgets, said: “Most customers who wanted the 4S are internet savvy. They took price cues from other markets”.