Samsung debuts Omnia touch phone in Middle East

Samsung Electronics has launched its top selling Omnia touch phone in the Middle East.
“The Samsung Omnia is everything you could ever wish for in a mobile phone. Whether its surfing the net at high speeds, listening to your favourite radio station whilst navigating to your destination or sending high quality photos to your friends, whatever it is this phone does more,” said Sandeep Saihgal, general manager of Mobile Phones Division at Samsung Gulf Electronics.
“We are pleased to be able to offer the Omnia touch phone in both English and Arabic and hope that this feature will further solidify Samsung’s prominence in the full-touch market.”
Samsung’s cutting-edge smart phone Omnia is emerging as the hottest-selling model in major European smart phone markets, he added.
'We’re seeing a major shift towards smartphones, like the Omnia, in the Middle East and research findings show that more than one in four handsets will be a smartphone with more than 1.5 billion being sold in year 2010.'
'This growth will be driven by applications that enable the consumer to enjoy accessible and relevant mobile phone and internet browsing.” Saihgal said.
With Samsung’s patented TouchWiz the user interface makes entering data and text simple.
The phone's high resolution touch-sensitive screen uses intuitive tap, sweep, drag and drop operations as well as an on-screen keyboard.
The wide 3.2-inch WQVGA LCD screen makes the Omnia great for viewing videos and slide shows in high-resolution and advanced audio capabilities, he explained.
The phone also comes equipped with a five-megapixel CMOS camera with the latest value-added features and the handset’s generous internal memory (available in 8GB or 16 GB capacity options and extendable slot for additions) ensures ample storage space for digital assets like music.
Samsung Omnia also offers GPS, including navigation and geo-tagging capabilities.
Based on the most up to date Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, the Omnia offers access to MS Office documents such as PowerPoint, Excel and Word. Users can also send and receive email and manage their appointments in Outlook while on the go.

Weakening rupee may result in price rise of mobile phones in India

Mobile phones in the country may come at an increased price in near future as manufacturers consider reviewing the situation arising out of the Indian rupee falling consistently over the last few days against the US dollar.

Handset manufacturers say that they will have to increase the prices for sure in case the Rupee-Dollar difference nears the Rs 50 mark.

Analysts say the expected price rise may be in the region of 5-10 percent. This is in contrast to usual trend of mobile phone prices declining by 4-5 percent.

Easy financing plans for iPhone 3G announced in India, finally

As if $830 for a 16GB iPhone 3G wasn’t crazy enough, it still costs $730 for the 8GB version in India these days. Because sales were obviously slowed by the extreme pricing, carriers in India are finally offering "easy payment" plans for the iPhone 3G.

iPhone Hacks is reporting that Airtel and Vodafone, the two carriers of Apple’s new iPhone 3G in India, have tied up with local banks so that customers can buy the most-hyped gadget ever created on easy monthly installment (EMI) plans to help push sales. Monthly installments can range from $60 for a period of 12 months to $230 for a period of 3 months for the 8GB iPhone 3G model and $70 for a period of 12 months to $270 for a period of 3 months for the 16GB model. Pricing like that may up sales, but it all seems a bit pointless still- only because India still has no 3G coverage at all.

Om Malik, an Indian blogger, had even published a post saying "In India, Either Buy iPhones or Get a Family Car" as the cost of iPhone 3Gs in India for a family of three would cost around the same as Tata NANO- the $2300 people’s car from Tata Motors , an Indian auto manufacturer. With no 3G available, users in India would have to be seriously dazzled by the other iPhone features to pay so much. Maybe the new pricing schemes will make it more appealing.

I don’t understand how the mobile industries work in India, but I would’ve thought that Airtel and Vodafone would subsidize the iPhone like all the other carriers, but it appears it doesn’t work that way. I guess with no 3G available, carriers are a bit apprehensive about the popularity, thus making it available only to the people who really want it.

When a phone has to be financed, and someone has to pay interest on a simple gadget, it shows just how popular the iPhone has gotten. For people to go to that length just to say they own the latest "it" gadget, it means Apple has definitely gotten something right. I think the problem in India is the fact that the device itself it a little ahead of its time when it comes to carrier advancement. In the future, as carrier features (3G) improve, the iPhone will be as ubiquitous as it is everywhere else.

Apple Inc.’s iPhone’s price may have 15 percent decrease

It has only been a week since Apple Inc. began selling its smartphone in India. However, experts already believe that the iconic device is now ready to have a reduced price. They said that it can be reduced by as much as 15 percent so that the sales will boost in India – the current fastest-growing market when it comes to mobile phones.

If you were to look at the sales of the second-generation iPhone all over the world, the device has already sold more than 1 million units. However, many believed that the sales of the device in India have only reached as much as 5,000 units. But the picture is not yet clear since Airtel and Vodafone didn’t said anything about the device after they launched Apple Inc.’s smartphone in the country.

According to Anshul Gupta, a principal analyst working with Garner, the price of the iPhone may drop by as much as Rs 5,000. With the current price of the iPhone, they expect that it would only be purchased by those who can’t wait for the operators or Apple Inc. to cut the device’s price. Anshul Gupta also said that the operators will have a volumes game. They must clear all the stocks of the iPhone before Apple Inc. would announce a new version of its iconic smartphone.

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.