iPhone in India: Rock star or Rock bottom?

iPhone in India: Rock star or Rock bottom?

It’s direct from the horse’s mouth. India has taken a bite but it is more tough a palate than what Apple could have thought of. Here’s what the real customers make of the iPhone after the hype settles down

Pratima Harigunani

Monday, September 15, 2008

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Response 1: “I didn’t buy one…but I wish.”

Response 2: “It’s a cult and no matter how many flaws it has, I would still keep it.”

Response 3: “I feel cheated after I bought it.”

‘Fastidious’, ‘unpredictable’ and ‘versatile’ are adjectives that couldn’t apply anywhere more aptly than to the noun ‘customer’. More so for an Indian one.

So is it just the typical Indian customer’s temperament or Apple’s own signature flavour of creating motley of reactions? No matter what the reason is, the reception to Apple iPhone’s much-much-much awaited launch in India is not exactly what anyone could have thought of. It’s not a bubbly but not a fizz-out either. Here’s how and here’s why.

The Apple is not sweet, but sour

Raj Kumar Kanojia, a theatre personality and TV/screen actor from Mumbai, the first lucky customer who stood for the official iPhone since midnight 2 pm only to see the second customer arrive at about 5.30 in the morning, is the best example of how much anticipation and aspiration the Indian customer had for this sought-after phone. And ironically, he is also the best example of how much disappointing the wait proved to be.

“I had heard a lot about the hype since its debut in America since 2006 and Apple as a company has its own credibility, and so to finally grab it I had to endure the long night wait.” He recalls.

He points out that his iPhone, the 16GB Airtel piece that he paid about Rs 36,100 for, is really not worth the buck.

“No SMS forwards, no copy-paste capability, no Bluetooth for file transfer, a horrible camera, and no MMS,” says another iPhone customer from Pune. This is just a glimpse of the verdict that is already out in the reviews that iPhone’s share of flak has to bear.

It can't use a wireless modem, a disappointing megapixel camera with no front angle and no flash and no Java support, no physical keyboard, no removable battery, no allowance for an external storage device if you want to share and take good stuff, music, movies, etc with friends (a strategy probably to keep the iTunes cash registers ringing but that doesn’t dial well with Indian customers), no use of MP3 files as ringtones, no FM radio, no space for any other SIM card and so on are the highlights that user reviews have thrown up since the iPhone’s launch.

Also, No 3G network yet in India makes the iPhone 2.0 presently no better than its first version.

Kanojia’s experience so far adds to the list of iPhone’s downside.

The charger wire is too short making extensions a cumbersome but inevitable necessity, the battery time hardly anything with a mere two-hour for peak talk usage, the basic phone ring volume too low and the metal-cum-fibre piece too delicate.

“The SIM card space is made of plastic and is very thin. The shopkeeper himself told me that if this breaks then the piece if of no use,” he adds. “There is no warranty. The least I got at the centre was the bill. No information whatsoever about this hyped piece has been provided anywhere. I really feel cheated.”

He is also not happy with his operator service and feels Vodafone would be a better option. “Airtel’s locking issue is another problem. I was told I could use my old number but the next day I had to take a new number. If I want to use iPhone, there’s no choice but to have an alternative number.”

This Nokia N73 loyalist says that he will not thus materially alter his allegiance and iPhone would be relegated as his second number. “Nokia is suitable to Indian conditions and usage and is very user-friendly.”

The Apple is not sweet, but tasty

Despite the itching temptation to do otherwise, in all fairness, it’s hard to overlook the merits of this glam-gadget that exist along with the problems. More so, when the hands-on (literally) customer tells you so.

Proud owners of the officially launched iPhone in India consider it ‘a fab device’ with many things a typical business phone won’t have.

“It seamlessly connects to mails with an awesome single-touch interface. Rival smart phones suddenly appear cluttered before the smooth-suave drag touch capability,” remarks Shashank Dixit, a start-up entrepreneur, who was possibly the second lucky customer in Pune.

Dixit, who got the Airtel piece for about Rs.36,500, thinks that the multi-touch feature, the sound-quality etc are way too good. And he is absolutely happy with this phone built over his another favourite product – the iPod. “It’s basically a phone over the iPod. It’s like a rock star.”

There are surely areas that Apple deserves a thumbs-up on. Enumerating the positive points of iPhone, Kanojia compliments the aesthetics and touch magic that makes it unique. “It’s sleek and sensitive from dimensions like shape, size and weight. It’s easy to handle and a very savvy technical gadget given its feather-touch features. The results from the camera are good enough. Screen and Net areas are good and user-friendly.”

The Apple is tempting, but dear

‘Happy’ and ‘Not Happy’ are not just the only two ways to describe how Indians feel about the iPhone.

For Rishipratap Wadhawan, sales associate, Tier 2 ITO firm in Pune, the answer to Apple iPhone is simple. “I don’t have one, but I wish.” And he is just one voice speaking what many Indians are grumbling at – the price of the seductive gadget.

Price is a big deterrent for a lot of wannabe-owners of iPhone in India. “I heard a few days ago that the prices would be slashed to $ 200 from the existing $ 500. In India the price of this over 30,000 phone should be in the range of Rs.12,000 to 13,000.”

As he adds, with no 3G etc in India, it is hard to say, how much of the price tag is actually worthwhile for an Indian customer. So agrees Kanojia. “To some extent, features like GPRS and 3G make sense and justify the hype and money more for the customers abroad and not that much for India.”

Hear the ‘I’ in the iPhone

“If a person cannot forward an SMS from a Rs. 31,000 handset then what is the use of it.” This is not just a temporary or insignificant grudge coming out of the customer here.

India is a market of ringtones, SMS and not voice mail, which this phone, that is apparently tailored as per the US customers, has overlooked.

“Please make the SMS more powerful. Nobody uses the voice mail in markets like India and Asia,” Dixit reasons.

Kanojia adds to the list the issue of user training and initial handholding.

"The sad point amidst all the hype about this revolutionary gadget is that Apple hasn’t done much to groom the people about its features. I just got a box and no instruction manual at all. The most surprising bit is that when I went to the operator’s service centre, the guys there themselves don’t know how to operate it. I, the customer, had to help them.”

And the question that is disturbing customers like him is this, “I am really worried, what if something goes wrong with my phone? Where are the service centres?”

Apple really needs to refurbish the gadget keeping the Indian experience in mind, more so for its own image and credibility, he advises.

A Porsche in a land of Marutis

As Shashank Dixit describes it rightly. “A rock-album, a Porsche, an iPhone – they are cults. You can’t judge them too much.”

The cult stamp is an honour Apple has long enjoyed with many of its products, be it the Mac, the iPod and now the iPhone. Cults are symbolic of an individual personality, which finds extensions in way of tangible products.

So, as Dixit admits, while a BlackBerry wins hands down as a business device and the Nokia 96 beats the iPhone alive any day, he would still keep an iPhone, even as a second number, as he has to now.

“It’s all about form over function. I keep both my BlackBerry and the iPhone. For someone who buys a car just for driving and its other basic functions, iPhone may not matter, but for someone, whose car is an important part of one’s personality, iPhone is the answer. It’s a cult and I will thus still go for the iPhone.”

So there you are.

While Nokia has managed to dominate and customize as per the Indian taste and fascination for ‘even-if-it-falls-down-it-won’t break’ kind of functionality and rock-solid durability, a sleek but extremely delicate iPhone appears to be the Porsche, albeit with a nice engine, in a country of Maruti.

“BlackBerry is trying to please all and sundry while iPhone is made for just singular personalities.” And for fans like Dixit, even if the Porsche doesn’t have the DVD players and even if the handling is an issue, iPhone stays the cult and personality factor.

Playing the price game right, taking care of Indian taste-buds and listening well to its aficionados is all that Apple needs to do at the moment. May be then, the ‘hype’ would become ‘happening’ too.

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