Finally iPhone 4 has arrived in India, but as with the previous iPhone versions the iPhone 4 is way overpriced. The iPhone 4 will hit the Indian market from May 27th and Indian network operator, Aircel has already come up with some exciting plans that comes with 100% money back offer. So if you are planning to buy and new iPhone 4 in India make sure you check out the Aircel offer that says, ‘Buy iPhone 4 and get your money back‘.
The Aircel iPhone 4 scheme sounds too exciting, however condition applies. The scheme are applicable for both prepaid and postpaid customers. Now here is the disappointing part the scheme is not about down payment and some monthly EMI’s, but in fact you pay the whole cost of the iPhone 4 upfront.
The iPhone 4 16GB will cost Rs. 34,500 and the iPhone 4 32GB comes for Rs. 40,900. As you can see they are way overpriced in India because of the taxes and this is also the reason why Apple products reach India late. Apple understands that with taxes their products price in India will increased much more than what is being offered in USA, and with higher product price most of the Indian consumers will stay away from it.
There are two schemes you can choose from namely the Advantage Plans with 50% money back offer and Premium Plans with 100% money back offer. Whichever plan you choose you will have to pay the whole amount of Rs. 34,500 or Rs. 40,900 when subscribing. The plans carry monthly discounts for a period of 2 years. The discounts that you will receive in the monthly bill will cover the cost of the iPhone 4 handset within 2 years.
Here are the Aircel iPhone 4 plan details
Aircel Postpaid Advantage Plans 50% Money Back
You pay Rs. 34,500 for iPhone 4 (16GB) or Rs. 40,900 for iPhone 4 (32GB). The activation charges are waved off.
Monthly rental is Rs. 1119 for 16GB and Rs. 1359 for 32GB.
You get discount of Rs. 720 (720×24 months=Rs.17280) for iPhone 4 (16GB) and Rs. 860 (860×24 months =Rs.20640).
So your monthly net payment comes to Rs. 399 for 16GB and 499 for 32GB.
Apart from this you get freebies like 350MB of free 3G data, Local calls and free SMS total value of Rs. 1245 for 16GB and Rs. 2225 for 32GB.
Aircel Postpaid Advantage Plans 100% Money Back
Here too you need to pay upfront amount of Rs. 34,500 for iPhone 4 -16GB or Rs. 40,900 for iPhone 4 -32GB. There is no activation cost.
In this plan your net monthly payment for 16GB comes to Rs. 699 from Rs. 2139 cause of a discount of Rs. 1440 which comes to Rs. 34,500 in 24 months.
The net monthly payment for 32GB comes to Rs. 800 from Rs. 2510 cause of a discount of Rs. 1710 which comes to Rs. 41,040 in 24 months.
In addition iPhone 4 16GB give you freebies worth Rs. 1500 and the 32GB version gives freebies worth Rs. 2550.
Aircel Prepaid plans
The Aircel Prepaid plans are also available as recharge of 299, 599, 399, 699, 499 and 799. Here too you get freebies and the cost is reduced so as you can recover the cost of iPhone 4 in 24 months.
The main disadvantage is that you need to pay the full cost at once and will need to use the Aircel network for 2 years to recover the partial or full cost of the iPhone.
With inflation rising, it is hard to say if many Indians would really subscribe to such a plan. If any person who is not an Aircel customer but has the money, why would they pay the full amount and subscribe to Aircel service, does not really makes sense. Had Aircel come up with a down payment and monthly EMI schemes may be they could attract more customers.
Call 121 or SMS IP4 to 5800 000 or visit the nearest Aircel Store.