The iPhone Thread

diabloo · 22nd August 2008, 14:58

Did they?

Apple I-phone 8GB
Subtotal: Rs.29,808
VAT Total: Rs.1,192
Total: Rs.31,000

Quote:

Originally Posted by bharanidharang

if u see the specs, its a 3G model. How did univercell manage to price it lesser than airtel ?

neon_daytona · 22nd August 2008, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by diabloo

Did they?

Apple I-phone 8GB
Subtotal: Rs.29,808
VAT Total: Rs.1,192
Total: Rs.31,000

That answers it. A 4% VAT.
The other option - Might be unlocked phones bought from somewhere else!
But still how can they sell it, if only Airtel and Vodafone are authorised to do so.

Jaggu · 22nd August 2008, 16:18

I had pre booked the iPhone in July and was awaiting a reply from Airtel and Vodafone. On Tuesday midnight Vodafone jumped and announced the pricing and sales experience detail. I knew that AirTel would be pricing the handsets same and difference if any would be with the plans. I already am subscribed to Airtel Mobile office package and knew it wouldnt be a problem.

Wednesday morning on my way to office i went and spoke to Ind Ngr Airtel showroom, the person in charge was very friendly and really helpful. But he was clueless of the details of launch or price, so when i showed the email from Vodafone, he promptly took my business card and assured to call me back. Once i reached office i received a call from Airtel to approach the nearest vendor and make the booking for 5k. I proceeded to Airtel koramangala vendor, i didnt want to run back to Ind Ngr and since i could pick up the phone directly at Airtel Banarghatta main office at midnight irrespective of where i made the payment.

At Koramangala vendor, though they took the booking amount, were clueless on the price which was informed to me on phone by Airtel!! The guy at counter after making multiple calls to his manager confirmed that i could pick up the phone on Friday morning. I told him i was already informed about the thursday launch and would like to collect it from there. Again he confirmed that i can pick it up from Airtel main office/launch venue. He informed me that i will have to pay 2.5% surcharge over the price if i was paying by card (debit/credit). WTH!!

AirTel either was taken by surprise by Vodafone or has a very poor coordination between its own departments and vendors! Most of the time the customer had more info than the company regarding the product and launch. I was now totally lost and even unsure of the promise that i can purchase at midnight!

Thursday morning, the sweet gentelman at Indira Nagar called me up and said they are planning on home delivery at night! I would have definitely preferred this, but unfortunately since the payment made cannot be transferred, i dropped the idea. I call up koramangala guys and confirm on evening plan.

Afternoon phone starts ringing and atleast 3 diff people confirm with me on my attendance, i could sense "desperation". Pricing is way off, and targets even further!

I proceed to the venue and thankfully traffic was thin and reach 15 mts ahead of start of launch (930pm was the launch time). I reach there expecting a product launch, demo, talk about product blah blah blahs! Surprise surprise no Q, perfect planned slot allotment based on first come first serve basis. I proceed to have some light refreshment and move to the actual venue, where 2 comperes are trying their level best to entertain.

Good part they had provided chairs and not much crowd, i could smell the i

Then the show goes to some singing and by that time crowd start to swell, mostly Airtel vendors/families and i dont know towards the end it was so jammed packed chaos whereby i had to let go my chair. So i could see some gizmo nuts also around, yeah we can identify each others well. Magic show starts lol, he is famous guy dont know his name, he has done dissapearing act with elephants and all.

Anyways the serious buyers just want to stand in line in anticipation and wait for the doors to open, i thought Apple knew this and thats how they would want to create the hype also. But unfortunately Airtel had some other ideas, they had covered the showroom well with a near curtain and a ribbon to cut et all. 5 mts to launch some Airtel top honchos (i guess) walk in with 3 movie stars. No disrespect to movie stars but what the hell was airtel trying to do? An Apple product (maybe the first) being promoted by film stars lol.

Midnight and announcement is made that the celebs will open the sale, fine if they are really determined that this will make people change mind about price fiasco, go ahead. But the decent way would have been to get the celeb in front row of line and let them enter the showroom and make the purchase along with rest of the crowd who were actually waiting for 2.5 hours. Ok no big deal, but then by 1150pm the whole bloody tv channel crew had landed up, all sorts with big to small minidv cams, local channels as well as 1 or 2 national channels.

All these band baja guys and celebs move in to purchase the phone and the showroom is cordoned off by bouncers! WOW! That made my day, and those of many others who started booing!! Ok we poor souls dont have muscles but sure can boo

Meanwhile its full confusion now, the amazing token system which had numbers and color codes (5 colors), nobody had a clue on how to run it!

Original plan announced by MC was to line up in the order of numbers, 5 diff Q based on tag color. Suddenly someone from inside shouts out token 1 come in lol, so now they want all the tags line up based on numbers, irrespective of colors. Fortunately i was the first in my color tag, rest of numbers before me were missing and in between the shouting and booing i could manage to get in, and the guys at door just welcomed me in lol lol.

For a change first experience inside was well organised, moved to the payment first, present receipt, pay the balance. The vendor reps from each of the showrooms were there and could easily complete the process without much confusion. And at close to 1215 am i was handed my sealed piece of 16 GB black iPhone and a Tshirt which says, i have iPhone or similar (who cares about T's).

Now i have to move to activation counter, and young chaps with comp and beautiful women standing behind them for company, hmmm. They open the cover, and starts searching for "sim eject tool". Its missing!! They search the whole pack inside out!! The guys sitting to my right also has same issue!! in my mind i started thinking, oh oh, i dont like this!!

So the whole team is desperately searching for pins now, any size and length would suffice, but not around. Then i realize its supposed to be inside the start up instruction pack, i open and voila its there! So i show them and then the gal standing behind says, "yeah we know that sir". LOL! honey accept that you guys were nervous! its ok! we can bear with that!

My sim plonked in (its pin locked) and my nervous friend was asking his colleague something and was keying in, which was the wrong pin number! (i had changed from default ones). Thankfully i stopped him at the end of 2nd try! Phew!! Or i would have landed up with a locked sim card and what not!! They plug in the phone and activation process starts.

My phone is taking eternity to activate, some Apple tech guy who was monitoring comes and apologize and says it might be due to server getting busy. Oh well it happened on July 11th, so i thought its same ol story. Then i realize all the other comps are working fine, by that time my right side guy didnt have customer and thankfully offered to plug in his machine and try. Voila it git activated in few mts, and now he without asking me, installs airtel live (which i promptly removed as i walked out of showroom later)!!

They go on further to enroll me with a mac id, when i promptly put my foot down and said, "Please could you hand over the phone, so that now on atleast i can do it proper, and on my terms".

I collect all the accessories scattered on table (thanks to sim ejection tool search), plonk them inside the pack and walk out. Thank the kids on the counter and my Ind Ngr friendly guy. Got out and sat at the portico and have my fag, Barista coffee was great and was the only saving grace at that point of time. Made a call to wifee and informed ill be home in 30 mts.

Waaah whata first Apple experience for me. Who to blame, my madness OR the way in which local telcos do launches!!

Samurai · 22nd August 2008, 16:38

All this song and dance for a silly phone.

It better serve breakfast every morning for all this trouble.

F50 · 22nd August 2008, 17:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Waaah whata first Apple experience for me. Who to blame, my madness OR the way in which local telcos do launches!!

Your Madness!! lol

Congrats on the buy!!

But 36k???

harry10 · 22nd August 2008, 17:43

funny experience indeed. If i omit the fact that its a Phone launch then seems more of a Pizza/burger launch!
Hype and more hype and we blind Indians just go for it no matter if the product is worthy of time and money or not because its a BRAND so we just need to get it no matter what!

BTW Jaggu Congrats

and do let us know your experience of the usage.

motorheadinc · 22nd August 2008, 17:51

yeah that could fetch me a decent laptop or 3 iphones if i buy from the US . lolz

diabloo · 22nd August 2008, 18:16

Crowd at showroom? It could be paid actors or film extras....

Actors paid to line up for iPhone launch in Poland

Quote:

WARSAW--When Apple rolled out its iPhone in the United States, some fans paid big money to be among the first to get their hands on the device. In Poland, people are getting paid to line up. "We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone," a spokesman said.

As part of a marketing campaign ahead of the iPhone's Friday launch in Poland, the country's largest mobile operator Orange is paying dozens of actors to stand in queues.

srijit · 22nd August 2008, 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggu

They go on further to enroll me with a mac id, when i promptly put my foot down and said, "Please could you hand over the phone, so that now on atleast i can do it proper, and on my terms".

Jaggu, could you please explain that part?
Also congrats on your purchase

Steeroid · 22nd August 2008, 22:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by srijit

Jaggu, could you please explain that part?
Also congrats on your purchase

Mac ID for iTunes, I guess. .Mac is now called MobileMe and costs 70 Euros a year.

As Samurai says, the phone better serve hot breakfast for that kind of hype.

s0uljah · 22nd August 2008, 22:38

Congrats Jaggu chetta

Looking forward to the DDiS Dyno test !

kaushik_s · 23rd August 2008, 00:15

Whoaaaa, all these just for a phone ?? I mean, it's just too much to digest. It really should serve the breakfast and put proper amount of butter on the toast ;-). Anyway enjoy your phone.

motorheadinc · 23rd August 2008, 00:34

Originally Posted by Jaggu

They go on further to enroll me with a mac id, when i promptly put my foot down and said, "Please could you hand over the phone, so that now on atleast i can do it proper, and on my terms".

Quote:

Originally Posted by srijit

Jaggu, could you please explain that part?
Also congrats on your purchase

some info on mac address / mac id from wiki

In computer networking, a Media Access Control address (MAC address) or Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA), hardware address, adapter address or physical address is a quasi-unique identifier assigned to most network adapters or network interface cards (NICs) by the manufacturer for identification. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer's registered identification number.

MAC address - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

cheers

Jaggu · 23rd August 2008, 00:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Mac ID for iTunes, I guess. .Mac is now called MobileMe and costs 70 Euros a year.

As Samurai says, the phone better serve hot breakfast for that kind of hype.

Yes, even an iTunes address would suffice

Quote:

Originally Posted by motorheadinc

Originally Posted by Jaggu

They go on further to enroll me with a mac id, when i promptly put my foot down and said, "Please could you hand over the phone, so that now on atleast i can do it proper, and on my terms".

some info on mac address / mac id from wiki

In computer networking, a Media Access Control address (MAC address) or Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA), hardware address, adapter address or physical address is a quasi-unique identifier assigned to most network adapters or network interface cards (NICs) by the manufacturer for identification. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer's registered identification number.

MAC address - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

cheers

No, not this one. Not even educated IT Guy would remember this

jassi · 23rd August 2008, 01:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggu

No, not this one. Not even educated IT Guy would remember this

you need to expand your definition of an IT guy

hows the iphone looking so far - any reports or are you going to have a separate thread on your experience

22nd August 2008, 16:18	#948
Jaggu Team-BHP Support Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 20,357 Thanked: 16,819 Times	AirTel launch Bangalore, my rant! I had pre booked the iPhone in July and was awaiting a reply from Airtel and Vodafone. On Tuesday midnight Vodafone jumped and announced the pricing and sales experience detail. I knew that AirTel would be pricing the handsets same and difference if any would be with the plans. I already am subscribed to Airtel Mobile office package and knew it wouldnt be a problem. Wednesday morning on my way to office i went and spoke to Ind Ngr Airtel showroom, the person in charge was very friendly and really helpful. But he was clueless of the details of launch or price, so when i showed the email from Vodafone, he promptly took my business card and assured to call me back. Once i reached office i received a call from Airtel to approach the nearest vendor and make the booking for 5k. I proceeded to Airtel koramangala vendor, i didnt want to run back to Ind Ngr and since i could pick up the phone directly at Airtel Banarghatta main office at midnight irrespective of where i made the payment. At Koramangala vendor, though they took the booking amount, were clueless on the price which was informed to me on phone by Airtel!! The guy at counter after making multiple calls to his manager confirmed that i could pick up the phone on Friday morning. I told him i was already informed about the thursday launch and would like to collect it from there. Again he confirmed that i can pick it up from Airtel main office/launch venue. He informed me that i will have to pay 2.5% surcharge over the price if i was paying by card (debit/credit). WTH!! AirTel either was taken by surprise by Vodafone or has a very poor coordination between its own departments and vendors! Most of the time the customer had more info than the company regarding the product and launch. I was now totally lost and even unsure of the promise that i can purchase at midnight! Thursday morning, the sweet gentelman at Indira Nagar called me up and said they are planning on home delivery at night! I would have definitely preferred this, but unfortunately since the payment made cannot be transferred, i dropped the idea. I call up koramangala guys and confirm on evening plan. Afternoon phone starts ringing and atleast 3 diff people confirm with me on my attendance, i could sense "desperation". Pricing is way off, and targets even further! I proceed to the venue and thankfully traffic was thin and reach 15 mts ahead of start of launch (930pm was the launch time). I reach there expecting a product launch, demo, talk about product blah blah blahs! Surprise surprise no Q, perfect planned slot allotment based on first come first serve basis. I proceed to have some light refreshment and move to the actual venue, where 2 comperes are trying their level best to entertain. Good part they had provided chairs and not much crowd, i could smell the i Then the show goes to some singing and by that time crowd start to swell, mostly Airtel vendors/families and i dont know towards the end it was so jammed packed chaos whereby i had to let go my chair. So i could see some gizmo nuts also around, yeah we can identify each others well. Magic show starts lol, he is famous guy dont know his name, he has done dissapearing act with elephants and all. Anyways the serious buyers just want to stand in line in anticipation and wait for the doors to open, i thought Apple knew this and thats how they would want to create the hype also. But unfortunately Airtel had some other ideas, they had covered the showroom well with a near curtain and a ribbon to cut et all. 5 mts to launch some Airtel top honchos (i guess) walk in with 3 movie stars. No disrespect to movie stars but what the hell was airtel trying to do? An Apple product (maybe the first) being promoted by film stars lol. Midnight and announcement is made that the celebs will open the sale, fine if they are really determined that this will make people change mind about price fiasco, go ahead. But the decent way would have been to get the celeb in front row of line and let them enter the showroom and make the purchase along with rest of the crowd who were actually waiting for 2.5 hours. Ok no big deal, but then by 1150pm the whole bloody tv channel crew had landed up, all sorts with big to small minidv cams, local channels as well as 1 or 2 national channels. All these band baja guys and celebs move in to purchase the phone and the showroom is cordoned off by bouncers! WOW! That made my day, and those of many others who started booing!! Ok we poor souls dont have muscles but sure can boo Meanwhile its full confusion now, the amazing token system which had numbers and color codes (5 colors), nobody had a clue on how to run it! Original plan announced by MC was to line up in the order of numbers, 5 diff Q based on tag color. Suddenly someone from inside shouts out token 1 come in lol, so now they want all the tags line up based on numbers, irrespective of colors. Fortunately i was the first in my color tag, rest of numbers before me were missing and in between the shouting and booing i could manage to get in, and the guys at door just welcomed me in lol lol. For a change first experience inside was well organised, moved to the payment first, present receipt, pay the balance. The vendor reps from each of the showrooms were there and could easily complete the process without much confusion. And at close to 1215 am i was handed my sealed piece of 16 GB black iPhone and a Tshirt which says, i have iPhone or similar (who cares about T's). Now i have to move to activation counter, and young chaps with comp and beautiful women standing behind them for company, hmmm. They open the cover, and starts searching for "sim eject tool". Its missing!! They search the whole pack inside out!! The guys sitting to my right also has same issue!! in my mind i started thinking, oh oh, i dont like this!! So the whole team is desperately searching for pins now, any size and length would suffice, but not around. Then i realize its supposed to be inside the start up instruction pack, i open and voila its there! So i show them and then the gal standing behind says, "yeah we know that sir". LOL! honey accept that you guys were nervous! its ok! we can bear with that! My sim plonked in (its pin locked) and my nervous friend was asking his colleague something and was keying in, which was the wrong pin number! (i had changed from default ones). Thankfully i stopped him at the end of 2nd try! Phew!! Or i would have landed up with a locked sim card and what not!! They plug in the phone and activation process starts. My phone is taking eternity to activate, some Apple tech guy who was monitoring comes and apologize and says it might be due to server getting busy. Oh well it happened on July 11th, so i thought its same ol story. Then i realize all the other comps are working fine, by that time my right side guy didnt have customer and thankfully offered to plug in his machine and try. Voila it git activated in few mts, and now he without asking me, installs airtel live (which i promptly removed as i walked out of showroom later)!! They go on further to enroll me with a mac id, when i promptly put my foot down and said, "Please could you hand over the phone, so that now on atleast i can do it proper, and on my terms". I collect all the accessories scattered on table (thanks to sim ejection tool search), plonk them inside the pack and walk out. Thank the kids on the counter and my Ind Ngr friendly guy. Got out and sat at the portico and have my fag, Barista coffee was great and was the only saving grace at that point of time. Made a call to wifee and informed ill be home in 30 mts. Waaah whata first Apple experience for me. Who to blame, my madness OR the way in which local telcos do launches!!
	() Thanks

22nd August 2008, 16:38	#949
Samurai Team-BHP Support Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Bangalore/Udupi Posts: 25,980 Thanked: 47,797 Times View My Garage	All this song and dance for a silly phone. It better serve breakfast every morning for all this trouble.
	() Thanks

22nd August 2008, 17:43	#951
harry10 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Faridabad/Delhi Posts: 2,741 Thanked: 3,943 Times View My Garage	funny experience indeed. If i omit the fact that its a Phone launch then seems more of a Pizza/burger launch! Hype and more hype and we blind Indians just go for it no matter if the product is worthy of time and money or not because its a BRAND so we just need to get it no matter what! BTW Jaggu Congrats and do let us know your experience of the usage. Last edited by harry10 : 22nd August 2008 at 17:47.
	() Thanks

22nd August 2008, 17:51	#952
motorheadinc BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: University of Bath Posts: 297 Thanked: Once	yeah that could fetch me a decent laptop or 3 iphones if i buy from the US . lolz
	() Thanks

22nd August 2008, 22:38	#956
s0uljah Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: BLR Posts: 2,222 Thanked: 26 Times View My Garage	Congrats Jaggu chetta Looking forward to the DDiS Dyno test !
	() Thanks

23rd August 2008, 00:15	#957
kaushik_s Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,089 Thanked: 164 Times View My Garage	Whoaaaa, all these just for a phone ?? I mean, it's just too much to digest. It really should serve the breakfast and put proper amount of butter on the toast ;-). Anyway enjoy your phone.
	() Thanks