Mobile phones that were never launched in India

BANGALORE, INDIA: Indians are waiting with bated breath for the launch date of Google Nexus 7. But there is still a lot of speculation on the date of its official release in India. Although it is being stated that the Google Nexus Asus 7 will be released in India after three months, one can only wait and watch when the tablet will actually be launched here.

Here are some phones, which were eagerly awaited but ultimately denied to Indians:

HTC Nexus One

The Nexus One was Google's smartphone manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corporation. It was released in the US on January 5, 2010 and initially used the Android 2.1 Eclair; however, it currently runs on the Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread operating system. It was initially priced at $529 and was being sold via Google's website. It was then announced in May 2010 that Nexus One will be available through retail stores only. The main attractions of the phone were transcribing voice to text, an additional microphone for dynamic noise suppression and voice guided turn-by-turn drive navigation. Some of the other  countries it was launched in are UK, Hong Kong, Canada, Germany, Italy etc.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus is a touchscreen Android smartphone developed by a partnership between Google and Samsung. This phone is the third generation successor to Google's previous two flagship smartphones, Nexus One and Nexus S. The phone was officially announced on October 10, 2011 in Hong Kong. Galaxy Nexus is the first device to run on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. After making several promises to Indians, on May 3, 2012 Samsung announced via Twitter that Galaxy Nexus would not be launched in India. This move enraged consumers who took to Twitter and other social media to vent their anger. After Hong Kong, the phone was made available in US, UK, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.

Nokia N9

The Nokia N9 is a smartphone made by Nokia based on the Linux MeeGo mobile operating system. It is Nokia's first MeeGo phone. Nokia N9 was unveiled on June 21, 2011 at a Nokia Connection event in Singapore. Although there was no official word on the phone not being launched in India, the company's European website didn't feature India in the list of 23 countries where Nokia would inform customers about the availability of N9 ahead of its launch, according to media reports. Also Eldar Murtazin, a Russian blogger, wrote on his website that Nokia would make only 92,000 units of N9. Some of the smartphone's specs include: swipe user interface, 3.9 inch AMOLED display, 8 MP Carl Zeiss camera, near field communication (NFC), etc. The phone is available in Poland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, UK, and USA in retail stores.

iPhone 2G

After months of rumors and speculations, on January 9, 2007 Apple announced its first generation of iPhone. iPhone 2G is also known as the original iPhone, iPhone EDGE, or iPhone 1. It was launched in the United States on June 29, 2007. However, it never 'saw the light of day' in India. Its successor iPhone 3G, which was launched on June 9, 2008 in San Francisco, was made available to Indians. The original iPhone no longer receives software updates from Apple; its final official firmware version was iPhone 3.1.3 operating system.

Sagem Puma Phone

Not a lot of people know that Puma, a company that offers lines of shoes and sports clothing, had come out with their own phone over a year ago. ''The Puma Phone isn't a powerful, feature-laden smartphone by any means, but it offers a unique and enjoyable user experience not many handsets can match,'' said a Cnet review. Puma Phone, made in partnership with Sagem Wireless, apparently has a fun design, and a quirky selection of sports-themed apps. Its main attraction lies in the solar panel on the back of the phone, which lets you top off the handset's battery. Although the phone is not yet launched in India, there is some speculation that it may be launched here in future.

You may find some of the above mentioned smartphones for sale online. However, the reason for these phones not being launched in India is not known. Are there any other gadgets, which have been denied to Indians? Feel free to add to the list.