Ankur Gupta Online

I had been contemplating writing in this topic for quite some time now,so finally having found time and some facts I’m equipped to comment on it.

iPhone was launched in US on 29th June with much fanfare and hype with fans queing up outside Apple Stores to get their hands on first pieces of this “dream gadget”.But was it really a dream gadget for them?Well probably yes as they didn’t care about the price nor the features that it sported.They only cared about the Multi-touch and the first ever Apple Phone.

Now coming onto the topic..I personally think that iPhone didnot live up to its hype completely.Soon after launch people realized the restrictions that had been put in the firmware.This restrictions ranged from firmware issues to hardware issues including no removable battery/memory,no 3rd Party Application support and so on.These issues along with the steep price led to the hype dying down quickly but still iPhone was a hot selling phone.

Locking of the iPhone with a single carrier contributed a major role in the hype dying down quickly.iPhone within days of its launch had been hacked and many restrictions started disappearing in the air quickly.Recently a free iPhone unlocker has been released on the web making it usable with any carrier around the world.

Reports on the net about hidden features and much better hardware than previously thought also surfaced.According to reports iPhone can manage Flash, Java and MMS. Even more interesting, the platform also has the GPS, FM tuner and 3G capabilities already built-in. But what is the good news here? All those features can be activated by a simple firmware update! If this is really true then I think that iPhone is worth it.

With Apple slashing the prices by 200$ it does seem a lot more attractive but then you wont get the warranty here in India.It has been speculated than iPhone will be launched in India within a fortnight but it seems to good to be true as it wont be easy for Apple to sign an exclusive deal for it with the Indian carriers within such a short span of time.

So is it worth a buy? According to me I would wait till the next firmware update to see what Apple has in store and also the pricing that Apple choses for India which will certainly be higher than the US. If launched at a price of below Rs. 20,000 then it does make a good buy else Nokia N95 is still the king which is certainly much better on features than iPhone.

Your bouquets and  brickbats are all welcome

Popularity: 2% [?]