Customers eagerly await new iPhone

Six years after its debut, the buzz around the Apple iPhone seems to be at an all-time high in India, ahead of a scheduled Apple event on Wednesday.

It is rumored, at an event in San Francisco, Apple might announce the release of the next-generation iPhone, the release date for its new mobile operating system iOS 6 and a fresh iPod product.

iPhone sales fell in the quarter ended June, as consumers expected a revision of the device.

It is estimated India’s share of smartphone shipments rose from 2.2 per cent in 2011 to 2.5 per cent in 2012. “This figure is expected to increase to 8.5 per cent by 2016, making India one of the countries that would see the highest growth in the smartphone segment,” states IDC. In December, IDC had estimated Android had a 42 per cent share in the smartphone market, against a share of just three per cent for Apple’s iOS.

Though industry sources say Apple’s current share in the smartphone market in India is a single-digit figure, this has not deterred consumers who hope to see a price drop for earlier iPhone models. Kshitij Bajaj, studying in Symbiosis Management Institute in Pune, says, “I have been eyeing the iPhone 4 and I know if there’s a new iPhone launched, we should see a price drop for older models, as was the case during the launch of iPhone 4S. That’s why I am holding off my smartphone upgrade.”

Prices of the iPhone 4 start at about Rs 29,000, while the iPhone 3GS costs about Rs 16,000 (as offered on e-commerce stores). Prices of the iPhone 4S start at about Rs 43,000. The iPhone 4S, which introduced the Siri voice-recognition system, was one of the last Apple devices whose development was overseen by Steve Jobs, who passed away the day after its launch. Several technology blogs and websites have claimed a new iPhone model could mean Apple would no longer offer the iPhone 3GS.