The high price of iPhone is proving to be a deterrent in Indian market. Sales of the iPhone in Airtel and Vodafone stores have been far below the expectation of both the companies. According to industry estimates, both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have not been able to sell more than 1,500 phones during the first week of launching the product.

To attract more customers Airtel and Vodafone are now offering the iPhone on EMIs through their tie-ups with various banks. Under the schemes by various banks, emis of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 months are available (different for different banks). If you go by the 12 month emi option by ICICI bank, you will have to pay the emi of Rs. 2583 and one time processing fees of 12.65%.

You can check the details here: Airtel  and  Vodafone.

The question now is that will this emi scheme lure in buyers. I believe that it will lure in more buyers than earlier but still not what was expected. This is because we Indians are smart buyers. We will not buy an overpriced product even if its available on easy emis. We all know how quickly mobile prices fall. Atleast I will wait for the time till the prices drop by about 10K. Also the unlocked 3G iPhones should be available in the grey market for about 20K pretty soon. No idea on how Airtel and Vodafone will counter these.

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