Unlocked iPhone in India – Officially from Airtel

iPhone sales in India is an interesting case study – phone with 3G in a country without 3G.

Even though Airtel spent a good amount of money marketing iPhone 3G, results were quite dismal.

And now, Airtel has been granted the official rights to sell unlocked iPhone in India -

What this means is that you can buy an iPhone without being necessarily tied to any network – and Apple is allowing partners to charge additional fee for unlocking.

Do you think this will help increase the iPhone sales in India?

Well, iPhone 8GB model costs Rs. 31K and 16GB costs Rs. 36k – and unless Apple brings down the price, I am not sure how an ‘official’ unlocking partner will help increase the sales.

What’s your opinion?

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  • comment(s) on Unlocked iPhone in India – Officially from Airtel

    26 Responses to Unlocked iPhone in India – Officially from Airtel

    1. preshit says:

      I really don’t know why this is making the news lately. That page has ben around since September 2008 (probably even before that, but I noticed it back in Sep) and Apple has authorized Bharti to sell unlocked iPhones for a long time now.

      However, having authorized to do so does not mean they are required to do so. They can (and have) continued to sell the iPhones just like the way they introduced them back in Aug, 2008.

      • iPhone Unlocker says:

        unlock iphone in pune

        Let me know if you are planning to unlock ur iphone 2G/3G/3Gs for any of the baseband carrier airtel, vodafone, idea, tata GSM, reliance GSM, aircel, cellone or any other Indian service operator. contact:
        Deep:
        99752 33725, 90283 08089

    2. Danish says:

      Airtel had already announced that they would unlock the iPhone sold by them after 1 year of the contract expires.

      I don’t know if this post is about some new development with them, like they have planned to sell unlocked devices right away.. without any contract whatsoever..

      • iPhone Unlocker says:

        Let me know if you are planning to unlock ur iphone 2G/3G/3Gs for any of the baseband carrier airtel, vodafone, idea, tata GSM, reliance GSM, aircel, cellone or any other Indian service operator. contact::::
        Deep:
        9975233725, 9028308089…

    3. Kunal says:

      definitely without a fall in the prices i dont feel there will be any boost in the number of sales….. people who want t unlock the iphone , get it unlock through unoffical means anyways… i sure airtel will charge a much higher price that that charged by the local phone shops…..

    4. Mahesh says:

      The sale of iPhones wont boost until Airtel reduces the prices.. I am too waiting for buyin the unlocked iPhone, buy I want the prices to be reduced :(

    5. Rohan says:

      Hope Apple with Airtel or Vodafone comes with an arrangement of 2 yrs contract for iphone user with the service provider. So that we can have same type of costs of the device as in other countries.

      Lets see if this can be ever worked out.

      Anyways for free iphone unlock, apps & games contact me on 9423036094 only in Pune (Maharashtra) city.

      Rohan

    6. Pingback: BSNL and iPhone - Broadband Forum India

    7. Nj says:

      Get your iphone unlocked or upgrade it to the latest version

      UNLOCKING iPhone 2G, 3G , 3GS Using Pure Software

      WITH ALL The iPHONE FEATURES WORKING FINE.

      UNLOCK WITHOUT OPENING THE PHONE, SO DONT WORRY

      If anyones interested, please email me cuteprick@hotmail.com or call me…

      Come with your iPhone & i’ll unlock it within 15mins.

      To get ANY iPhone issues Solved/Repaired

      CALL ME ON 9820541041
      AM LOCATED IN MUMBAI

    8. ross geller says:

      Airtel has unlocked my Iphone 3G, following the end of the one year contract. free of charge!
      they asked me to wait 20 days and at the end of the wait, confirmed to me the unlocked status.
      Hurrah!
      Proof of unlocked status can be seen at

      http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQkA-kgsSHPhZGdmOGc1YnhfMGc3NmQ1bnRx&hl=en

      you can write to me at my mail address for details.

      • Sathiq says:

        Hi, I called the airtel cus. service after i saw ur post. The CS executive told me that they dont unlock the iphone even after 12 months. How did u unlock ur iphone? Called 121 cus. service or went to airtel showroom to get this done? Could u please help me to do this? Thanks.

      • Ganga Ram says:

        I purchased the I Phone 3G 15 months ago though the Airtel centre at Hyderabad.pl clarify me that they unlock the phone officially or not

      • vipul says:

        pls tell me where this airtel office situated so i can unlock my iphone or any other ways to unlock my iphone

    9. iPhone Unlocker says:

      unlock iphone in pune

      Let me know if you are planning to unlock ur iphone 2G/3G/3Gs for any of the baseband carrier airtel, vodafone, idea, tata GSM, reliance GSM, aircel, cellone or any other Indian service operator. contact:
      Deep:
      99752 33725, 90283 08089

    10. bl4ckh4t says:

      hey iphone unlocker … m interesteted in buying an unlocked iphone … if you could help me out find a gud deal wld b helpful …

      thanks man
      cheers

    11. sandeep says:

      hi all
      i m using 3G vodafone iphone. i want unlock it,is it possible.i m in hyderabad,and wht is cost for unlock.after unlock can i use and upgrade my iphone same like before.

    12. Tanuja says:

      Hi I am currently visiting USA and find the price of iphone is damn cheap here.. only $99… kindly let me know if I can buy iphone for the serve provide here and then unlock the phone in india is it… urgently reply to my mail id.

    13. Jigna says:

      Hi: I want to know can anyone help me with Iphone getting Unlocked for Mumbai? I want to buy one from US and if its not possible to get Unlocked then its of no use.

      Kindly reply at the earliest.

    14. Amit says:

      Please do not get in to unlock iPhone using softwares like jail broken or snow or whatever
      Until you get clean official unlock
      You will not be able to use iTunes and
      Also will not be able to upgrade it. Moreover
      Your iPhone may start malfunctioning.
      Please investigate it on net, trustable sites
      Or blogs.

    15. Arun G says:

      Yes it is true. i have got my iphone 3g unlocked today, which is officially bought from airtel 18 months back .

      call the nodal officer of your state, and tell the details about your iPhone date of purchase and IMEI number . They will verify it and unlock it within 24 working hours.

      call the nodal officer of ur state directly. u can get the nodal officer number from customer care.

      karnataka airtel nodal officer number is 9972534865
      he is a very nice guy. he even called me after a day to check whether the unlock is working.

    16. Dhruv says:

      I have apple iphone 4 baseband 02.10.04 locked to at&t US. is it possible to get it unlocked for use in india?