Airtel unveils iPhone 5 data plans to cash in on Indian gadget lovers' excitement

Saturday, 3 November 2012 - 6:49pm India News Bulletin Desk

Bharti Airtel launches data plans for iPhone 5

Apple has just launched iPhone 5 – its sixth generation smartphone -- in India, more than a month after it unveiled it for the North American and European markets. And Bharti Airtel has started offering a range of data plans for the new version of the smartphone as users’ excitement grows.

iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, a 4-inch Retina display, taller screen, 4G support and is 20% lighter than iPhone 4S, according to Apple.

Gadget lovers in the UK got the first glimpse of the iPhone 5 on September 21. At that time, Apple did not announce its plans to launch the new version in India.

Bharti airtel has said that its data plans for iPhone 5 will allow customers to connect to its fast HSPA+ and DC-HSPA networks with its wideband audio. The data plan was launched on Friday, November 2.

The launch of iPhone 5 and telecom service providers’ data plans come as India becomes the fastest growing wireless market in the world.

Six makeshift counters in the mall together sold 600 iPhone 5s in the first hour of the launch.

The iPhone 5 is priced at 45,500 rupees for the basic 16-gigabyte version; 52,500 rupees for the 32-gigabyte model and 59,500 rupees for the 64- gigabyte version.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, 600 iPhone 5s were sold in one hour of its launch in makeshift counters in a shopping mall.

Apple’s strategy to marketing and selling iPhone 5 in India is through IT distributors including Reddington and Ingram Micro and not routing it through telecom and mobile data providers.