Will Apple iPhone 4 become successful in India with its faulty antenna?

Bharti Airtel, the largest telecom operator of India, is going to launch Apple iPhone 4 in October. Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, Bharti Airtel, said, "We are working with Apple. Hopefully, we will launch it in the September-October timeframe,"

Vodafone, another carrier also mentioned that it would launch Apple iPhone 4 but did not mention any specific time frame. Now, it is believed that the carrier would also launch the latest iPhone model at the same time.

Now, the million dollar question is- Will Indian people would want to buy a high-end phone with antenna problem. Though the Indian phone market is large and growing rapidly it is the low-end feature phones that have the largest market share.

The new Apple iPhone 4 though has many great features it would come with a hefty price tag.

Reputed Indian technology columnist, Amit Agarwal, agreed with Mr. Jobs that the iPhone 4 is not the only phone with reception problems but he said that the shortcoming would affect the sales of Apple iPhone 4 in India. He said, “The iPhone may be a great device, but we Indians would not like to spend 40,000 rupees ($850) on a phone that we know will become outdated in six months,……Top it with a problem that may or may not be exaggerated, but is widely discussed, and purchasing one just doesn’t make sense to us.”

Amit Agarwal further said that people in India are very much price conscious and the Apple iPhones are more expensive than mid-range laptops in India. Hence, the Apple iPhone4 would not become a run away hit in India like it did in the U.S and Europe.

Another big drawback of Apple iPhone 4 is career exclusivity. In India people do not like such exclusive deals. It would have been better if Apple comes up with some innovative ideas or release a cheaper version of the iPhone 4 for Indian market.