Google phone is here, in grey

The much-awaited HTC G1, the first mobile phone based on Android, Google’s mobile operating system set to make smartphones affordable, is yet to get officially launched in India but popular online shopping sites are already selling the handset unlocked to any operator, complete with easy installment options and warranty.

Leading online shopping sites like eBay India (www.ebay.in) and Indiaplaza (www.indiaplaza.in) are selling the HTC G1. At eBay India, the unlocked 8GB handset was sold for Rs 24,900 through an auction on Wednesday.

US-based www.indiaplaza is selling the handset for Rs 29,899 and buyers can also through instalments. Other sites too are selling the same with a one-year dealer’s warranty at Rs 49,995.

Manufactured by Taiwanese handset company Hi-Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), the G1 was launched in the US in September last year and was locked to operator T-Mobile’s two-year service contract.

The handset, which Time magazine called the ‘Gadget of the Year’ for 2008, is seen as competition for both the Blackberry and the iPhone.

It was expected to launch in India by December 2008 but got delayed by currency fluctuations and economic conditions that made service providers reluctant to bundle services to sell the handset that will cost anywhere between Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 when launched.

No bets on iPhone for now

IT is just as well that Apple’s 3G iPhone will release in India only in September (or later) though it released in 22 other countries on July 11. By then, Indian consumers — smart and demanding as we are about mobile products and services — would have gotten reports whether the wait is worth it or not.
However, before we even evaluate that, a few gripes. First up, what’s the big deal about the iPhone’s 3G variant in India, since no Indian service provider has a3G network in any case (the government is just about waking up to 3G and talking of auctioning licences)?
At present, the fastest wireless network we have is Edge, on which most smartphones —including the BlackBerry —work. Second, GPS navigation. Online mapping in India is still at a primitive stage, compared to mapping networks in the US or Europe, or even Australia. I am willing to lay a wager on this, but at most times you will not get even the names on the map to synchronise with the names that someone told you about. The problem with mapping in India is not the technology, but the nomenclature of roads, something that keeps changing with changing governments and revolving ideologies.
But what my friends from the US told me next bamboozled me more than a Class 4 Science question from Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? might flummox a bank clerk from Kakinada — the Apple iPhone does not have a video recorder. Hell and damnation, how does any high-end phone in India not have a camera that records video?
Just as the physicist Stephen Hawking once said that the inclusion of even one mathematical formula will halve the sales of his groundbreaking book. A Brief History of Time, it is possible that the lack of a video recorder could affect the sales of the iPhone. Most mid-end to high-end phones available in India come with standard video recording software and storage systems, and this is a challenge that Apple will have to face once it’s legally sold here (unlocked iPhones are everywhere, though). And yes, there is no way you can receive live TV, which you can on certain high-end Nokia models.
What I am terribly excited about, though, is Apple’s Apps Store, a collection of 500 (and counting) software applications for the iPhone that can be either downloaded free, or for a charge of up to $10. For instance, the eBay auction machine is free, and so is TypePad, the blogging platform. A few games are also free to download. If both Airtel and Vodafone — the two networks that have promised to bring the iPhone to India — deliver on the Apps Store promise, then we could have a good thing going, primarily because the iPhone could then be a serious contender for the much-talked about convergent device.
My biggest concern is pricing. There are just too many price bands (right from Rs 10,000 to Rs 27,000) being thrown around buzz town, and that is not a good sign. Both Airtel and Vodafone must come clean on the phone’s pricing or face a clientele that is not sure what value to put on a premium product such as the iPhone. So while we wait, we wait with a certain amount of scepticism.