Redington confirms Apple iPhone 5 India pricing, starts from Rs 45,500 to Rs 59,500

Release date of the iPhone 5 and its price in India have officially gone live on the web. The thinnest and lightest iPhone will start shipping in the country from November 2, that’s next Friday.

Apple has joined hands with Redington and Ingram Micro to distribute its flagship device in the country. 

Ingram Micro and Redington India are authorized distributors of Apple products in India.

Ingram Micro in a statement said "it will offer iPhone 5 at leading modern trade stores and retail outlets across India beginning Friday, November 2".

According to Ingram Micro spokesperson, iPhone 5 will be launched in 40 cities in India.

Apple iPhone 5 will be priced at Rs 45,500 for the entry-level 16GB model. The 32 and 64GB models will be sold at 52,500 and 59,500 respectively. 

The prices have been shared by Redington, one of the two distribution partners of Apple in India, in the country. 

This is a departure from Apple's earlier strategy of partnering with telecom operators like Airtel and Aircel to retail the phone in India. Redington and Ingram Micro already distribute iPad and iPods in the country. 

Considering that the device will not be tied to a few telecom operators only, most telcos in India have readied their stocks of nano-sim cards which can be used only in iPhone 5. 

Apple gets OK to use Swiss railway clock design

Apple Inc. has struck a deal with Switzerland's national rail company to license the use of its iconic station clocks for the iOS 6 operating system, which is used by iPhone and iPad mobile devices.

Swiss Federal Railways, or SBB, says the two parties have signed a licensing agreement, ending their dispute over Apple's use of round clock faces with black indicators except for the second hand, which is red.

SBB had approached Apple to tell the company that it owned the clock design.

In a statement Friday, it said the deal's terms including the amount of the licensing fee would remain confidential.

Engineer and designer Hans Hilfiker developed the SBB railway clock in 1944.

Fring brings VoIP to iPhone

We have all been waiting on an iPhone VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) solution, since we heard that Apple would allow VoIP application access while connected to WiFi. Fring has finally made our dream a reality -- and it's a reality that's available today!



Fring is a new, free iPhone application that integrates with Fring's network and allows access to the following IM/presence services:

* Fring
* Skype
* AIM
* Yahoo
* Twitter
* ICQ
* MSN

In addition to simply chatting with buddies from the above services, you can place VoIP calls to other fring users, or using Skype/SkypeOut or another SIP provider (Gizmo, Vonage, etc.). In a quick test, I was able to call Skype users from my iPhone and carry on a (slightly echo-y, but perfectly audible) conversation.

You can download this application today by visiting the iTunes App Store. The application weighs in at 3.0 MB. You can also get more information about this service and the application on the Fring website.

Nokia Launches N96 as iPhone Alternative in India

Apple's iPhone has got more competition in one of the world's fastest growing mobile phone market after Nokia announced the launch of its multimedia phone, Nokia N96 in India.

iPhone is already facing competition from Samsung's Omnia i900 and will now have to deal with the N96 which is bound to excite the gizmo-mad population in the country. Nokia has packed the N96 with a number of multimedia features including built-in 3D stereo speakers, headphone connector, media keys and a stand on the other side for hands free viewing.

An in-built TV tuner card allows users to access digital TV even on the move. Users can store more than 18,000 songs, over 20,000 images or 60 hours of videos including full length movies. They are helped by a 16GB of internal memory with an option of extending it to 24GB by adding a microSD card.

Other features include a 2.8-inch display screen, high speed USB 2.0 including support for WLAN and HSDPA, a 5 megapixel camera with the ability to make video calls once 3G arrives in India and an advanced navigation mode with the availability of A-GPS and the Nokia Maps.

Nokia India marketing director Devinder Kishore revealed that the N96 will be available in the markets by September 15 and will be available for a price of Rs 35,000.

New iPod Touch not seen at all in Best Buy ad

Apple has officially confirmed an event for September 9, though some in the crowd may be disappointed. It appears that this will be an all iPod event. So what? The more iPods, the merrier, unless you happen to be a Zune user.

Some thought they may have spotted the new iPod in a recent Best Buy ad, they didn’t. The only change that is rumored is that it will be more like the iPhone 3G and may lose the mirrored back. There also just might be dedicated volume controls on the side but don’t hold your breath.

You can expect price drops to be present on the current iPod line across third party retailers everywhere. I’m still hoping that there will be an iPod Touch classic but it could very well lack WiFi and that wouldn’t be much fun.

Supposedly there will be new firmware for the iPod Touch, iPhone and a new version of iTunes as well.

I’m afraid we’ll all just have to wait a few days until we all know what the great Jobs had had rattling around in his mind. It’s entirely possible that distribution of the new iPods to Apple retail stores has begun… you know, in time for the announcements.

On a side note, once again there WILL NOT, let me repeat that, THERE WILL NOT be an iTunes subscription service. All five of you that care take note, the rest of us do not care about you and never will. I think that the Cnet editors are the only ones that care (seeing as how they test this stuff for free – and I mean those other services out there that have failed to make a dent in the iTunes Store).

Tweaking iPhone with the MagicPad

THE iPhone has some of the most advanced features a phone can ever have. And with the Apple App Store, we will soon have more than 500 new software specifically for the iPhone. Yet, it does not have a simple copy-paste feature.

It is like having a PhD-holding mathematics professor who cannot solve simple and compound interest problems. Enter MagicPad, a new application that is awaiting to be listed on the App Store after getting the necessary approvals from Apple’s engineers.

MagicPad allows for rich text editing ( so you can change the font, its size, or even colour) and just like any other iPhone app, you can drag your fingers over text to select it.

The only problem? It cannot copy- paste between applications. For instance, try copying text from a web page and paste it in your email software, and you will get zilch. That’s a downer, if there was any.

So, can we have the humble copy- paste?

Apple iPhone in India - Your Questions on Unlocked iPhones

Want to buy an Apple iPhone in India ? Not sure if unlocked iphone works in India. Read this quick iPhone Guide before you purchase the iPhone from Indian mobile phone dealers.

1. Is the Apple iPhone available in India – Yes. You can easily purchase iPhone phones here.

2. If iPhone is available where I can buy iPhone in India - Apple hasn’t introduced iPhone officially in India but you can grab one from Palika Bazaar of Delhi or Heera Panna shopping complex of Mumbai. Alternatively, some online sites are also selling unlocked iPhone in India. The iPhone was earlier expected to debut in India via Reliance Retail. Most online iPhone suppliers in India do not share their contact address.

3. Will Indian iPhone work with the GSM SIM card of Airtel, Idea, BSNL or Vodafone? Yes but you cannot use the Visual Voicemail feature of iPhone. Also, iPhone is GSM based so it may not work with Tata Indicom or Reliance CDMA network.

4. Can I buy an unlocked iPhone in US and use it in India - Yes, the iPhone bought in US (or UK or Canada) will be compatible in India - you can just buy a local SIM card in India and replace the AT&T SIM. Make sure you read the Apple policies as this may break the warranty.

5. What about HCL and Wipro selling iPhone in India legally? There was a rumor that iPhone may be available in India through a legal route from Wipro and HCL as they were expected to sign a distribution deal soon with Apple for selling iPhone in India. No confirmation still.

6. Does Apple official sell an unlocked iPhone - Yes, they have launched an unlocked iPhone in France and it could soon be available in India. No need to pay mobile phone dealers for unlocking iPhone cell phones.

7. What about Apple Store - The first store will open in Bangalore for selling Macbooks, iPod, Apple TV and other Apple products but they won’t stock iPhone.

8. What is the price of iPhone in India - It varies but the time of writing, the unlocked 4GB iphone was around 20k while the 8GB unlocked iPhone was 30k. (Includes shipping and taxes)

9. Should I wait for iPhone or invest in BlackBerry or Nokia N95 ? Read this comparison of smartphones - iPhone vs Blackberry, N95

10. I have bought an iPhone and manage to unlock it. Now what - If you are connecting to iTunes for transferring music, videos and photographs from the computer to the iPhone, iTunes may suggest that you upgrade the iPhone firmware to version 1.1.1 - Cancel and do not allow iTunes to update your iPhone as it will get locked again and become useless. Update: The new unlocked iPhones are shipping in India with firmware version 1.1.1.

11. I bought an iPhone in US and traveling to India on a business trip. How can I save on iPhone international roaming charges while making phone calls in India - Do not use the AT&T call service, instead make phone call over VoIP using the Wi-Fi option of iPhone. You can use Jajah or even Skype to make cheap international calls over the internet.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM mobile phone so it will working internationally in countries outside the US though you’ll have to ask AT&T to turn on international roaming on the iPhone and that the places you’re going offer GSM coverage. If you want to learn more about iPhone, here are iPhone books and iPhone tutorial DVDs that you may buy from Amazon.

iPhones In India

The iPhone is a multimedia and Internet-enabled mobile phone by Apple, announced by company CEO Steve Jobs during the keynote at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 9, 2007, that was released on June 29, 2007 in the U.S.

User input is accomplished via touchscreen with virtual keyboard and buttons.

The iPhone is a 2.5G quad-band GSM phone, though Jobs mentioned in his keynote that Apple has a "plan to make 3G phones" in the future. According to Jobs, the current version was not designed for 3G due to greater battery consumption, size concerns and AT&T's still immature 3G network.The iPhone's functions include those of a camera phone, a multimedia player and mobile phone. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, text messaging, web browsing, Visual Voicemail and local "Wi-Fi" connectivity.

The iPhone is available from the Apple Store and from AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, with a price of US$499 for the 4 GB model and US$599 for the 8 GB model, based on a two-year service contract. Apple intends to make the phone available in Europe in Q4 2007 and in Mexico, Australia and Asia in 2008.

The good: The Apple iPhone has a stunning display, a sleek design, and an innovative multi touch user interface. Its Safari browser makes for a superb Web surfing experience, and it offers easy-to-use apps. As an iPod, it shines.

The bad: The Apple iPhone has variable call quality and lacks some basic features found in many cell phones, including stereo Bluetooth support and 3G compatibility. Integrated memory is stingy for an iPod, and you have to sync the iPhone to manage music content.

The bottom line: Despite some important missing features, a slow data network, and call quality that doesn't always deliver, the Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated cell phone and MP3 player.

High end Nokia Users in India might be able to affort the cost ($599 or around 25000 for a 8GB peice.), but the catch is that it can only be purchased with a two year AT&T contrat. You can't substitute its sim card with the other. for a country that has lagged behind in new phone devices, this will be , for the moment at least be " only in America".