I know I should have written about it much earlier but as I said in my last post that I was busy with other assignments at JustSkins and RealGeek so I couldn’t devote time to PlayCircuit. The thing is that I didn’t buy a decent phone last to last year (almost two years back…that was Indian English for you) in this anticipation that I would buy an iPhone when it will be launched in India. I know it was launched only an year ago but I have been waiting since the rumors of iPhone launch.

iPhone certainly has been launched in India and I can buy it if I so desire now but why in the world would I buy a mobile phone which has been priced like hell. The 16 GB Apple iPhone 3G is available at Rs 36,100 in India and it would be US $800 for those who understand in Dollar terms. I love iPhone and I understand completely that it’s not just a phone but seriously that is too much money. What is rather more interesting is that their ads are completely oblivious to this. Apple marketed the new iPhone 3G with the following ad where they made a statement which was quite antagonistic what they were offering. That is the magic of advertising, you can lie in the face of world and people still don’t realize it.

By the way, I covered the launch of Apple iPhone 3G live in India with my coworkers at Realgeek.

OK so virgin mobile is here in India and they have kinda stormed the market with the cool advertisements customized optimally to appeal the youth (see some of them here and here). Interestingly they have come up with a Hinglish punch line to market their services. “THINK HATKE” which would mean think different in English and it’s something that we don’t see too often in Indian mobile market. Almost all the existing cellular operators in India have English punchline. TATA Indicom has “experience the difference” while Vodafone has “make the most of now” , Idea has “what an idea”.

India is the fastest growing mobile market in the world and it’s imminent for any mobile company to be here if they are serious about long term prospects of their company. The mobile penetration in India still needs to catch up and there is ample scope for many more mobile companies. Virgin mobile’s entry can not be termed timely but considering the opportunities ahead it’s not too late either.

Virgin has taken the same route of contracting the networks of existing mobile phone companies and branding it under their umbrella (like in many other markets). In India they have the same kind of relationship with TATA Indicom which means Virgin does not need to establish their own networks (which takes a hell lot of time).

What is interesting (and stupid!) is the focus of Virgin mobile on the Indian youth and not on rural people. The youth is already using some brand while it’s the people in small places where the opportunities are aplenty.

There are already 12 telecom companies providing cellular services in India yet only two of them are using CDMA technology which are also in the process of moving to GSM technology. CDMA tech is definitely better for the telecom companies as it’s relatively cheaper but it takes away the freedom of changing cellphones; something which many young people enjoy. So i am not really very bullish on the idea of CDMA and targeting the youth.

What is good in my viewpoint about the Virgin entry is that it might compel the other celphone operators to improve their services which really needs to be spruced up. I have changed two numbers in last two months because of the poor quality of services I was receiving. I think I need to give Virgin a try. May be.