If you scour the grey market in New Delhi you will “magically” discover that patented rounded edges is available for INR 65000 to INR 75000 only i.e USD 1240 - USD 1430. Wait, let’s digest this for a moment. Shall we?
Most features available in this magical device are unavailable for India. Forget iTunes music - which was never debuted in India, features like Siri are crippled. Ask Siri scores on cricket and she doesn’t know the sport exists. Open up Apple maps and you would be greeted with a blank slate for a map of Delhi. Try finding driving directions and the revolutionary iPhone will eloquently show you the message - “Driving directions are not available for India”. And it’s the same story for Turn by Turn directions and Passbook. Most features available in this magical device are unavailable for India. Forget iTunes music - which was never debuted in India, features like Siri are crippled. Ask Siri scores on cricket and she doesn’t know the sport exists. Open up Apple maps and you would be greeted with a blank slate for a map of Delhi. Try finding driving directions and the revolutionary iPhone will eloquently show you the message - “Driving directions are not available for India”. And it’s the same story for Turn by Turn directions and Passbook.
Now let’s consider the new features of -> the iPhone 5 :
- Hardware enhancements
- Apple Maps with Turn by Turn (unavailable for India)
- Better Siri (no use, Siri doesn’t catch the Indian English or Hindi accent)
- Panorama Mode
- Passbook (No current vendors)
- 4G LTE (4G is unavailable in India)
So basically you end up paying INR 65000 for a phone in which more than half of the features do not work. One could argue in the yesteryears that there is no other phone which matches the capabilities of Apple’s device but that is not true today. Samsung and HTC have caught up. Look at the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X available for INR 35000, not to mention the new kid on the block Samsung Galaxy Note 2 available for INR 42000. Android Jelly Bean is as fast as iOS if not faster. They have bigger and better screens and come with so many flexibilities like replaceable batteries, expandable storage and just the works! Apple’s differentiation with these companies remains how it’s knit into the Apple Walled Garden - but what good is it when the features don’t work! It’s like going to a party where there is no booze.
I love Apple. In fact I own an iPhone 4, an iPad, a Macbook Air and an iPod myself. But I just hate how they fragment their devices regionally. If maps can work in USA, why can't they work here. Doesn’t Apple care about consumers from India?
In comparison Google Maps is available offline. It syncs perfectly with the G services and even though Music etc is unavailable for the Play Store, Google actually does a better job in at least making sure that their OS is not different in different regions. I wish Apple could see the plight of it’s fans from India and at least get the pricing right when the iPhone 5 officially ships. Till then - the iPhone 5 remains “the expensive toy” meant only for those who just want a smartphone for it’s looks.
If you are like me - treading waters for a new smartphone you should find port at the Samsung Galaxy S3 like I did.
I still use my iPad and Mac because they work perfectly fine (I don’t use Maps on my wifi iPad) but spending a fortune on an iPhone - nada.
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