iPhone 5 available on Indian e-commerce sites

Sellers on Ebay.in are offering it at exorbitant prices starting at Rs 74,000 and going up to Rs 88,000

The new Apple iPhone 5 may have no plans to make an appearance in Indian markets anytime soon, but that does not mean Indian cannot order one for themselves. Sellers on e-commerce site, Ebay.in, are offering the new iPhone 5 at exorbitant prices starting at Rs 74,000 and going up to Rs 88,000, to those who cannot wait to flaunt the smartphone. The eBay sellers, in their listing on the portal, indicate that they have just a couple of units available for order and will be delivered to the buyer after receiving payment.

Officially, the iPhone 5 will start selling across retail stores in 9 countries on September 21. India is not one of the markets where the device will make an appearance right away.

One of the Bangalore-based sellers on eBay claims, "The iPhone 5 will be dispatched within 1 business day on or after 24th September and will reach you the next business day in major cities." Offering cash on delivery for Bangalore buyers, the seller further adds that those interested can also "buy it on an EMI basis with any ICICI, Citi or HDFC Bank credit card." The iPhone 5 will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model.

Ebay also offers sellers to auction products and the brand new 16GB iPhone 5 which has received over 40 bids currently and the listing is still active at Rs 45,500.

Research outfit Convergence Catalyst believes smartphones priced above Rs 25,000 (includes likes of Apple, Samsung Galaxy S range, HTC One X, etc) will make up to 6.5 per cent of the total Indian smartphone market in 2012.

At the end of 2011, installed base of smartphones in India was estimated at 24 million units, and smartphone sales are set to grow over 77 per cent in India in 2012. As per Anshul Gupta, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner India, “Although with iPhone 5, Apple has enhanced consumer experience further, but it lacks the ‘wow’ experience or differentiating features like Siri in last iteration to pull users from other brand. It may just be a sufficient hold on to existing iPhone users and provide them an upgrade opportunity. I think it should be available in India by 4th quarter of 2012. No confirmation on pricing though I would expect it to be at the high end approx $800+.”

Strategy Analytics’ estimates that India will soon be the world’s third most valuable market for handset sales (by revenue) with wholesale (trade) revenues of mobile phones set to increase over 60 per cent in India between 2012 and 2017.