Offered by two of the country's major carriers, Apple's new iPhone will start selling in India on Friday, November 25. Bharti Airtel has been identified by sources as one of the carriers, according to a recent story in The Times of India, though the company itself provided no news or announcements about the phone on its Web site.
The other carrier, Aircel, took a more promotional route, confirming on its site that it will start selling the iPhone 4S, "the most amazing iPhone yet" on November 25 as well as touting the phone on its Facebook page. The phone will be available at Aircel stores, while pre-ordering will start this coming Friday, November 18.
Neither carrier has as yet revealed the price for the new iPhone, according to the Times of India. Noting that the unlocked version of the 16GB iPhone 4S runs $649 in the U.S., the Times believes that the 16GB model will sell in India for between 35,000 and 40,000 repees ($696 and $795). But as with earlier iPhones, both carriers will probably offer a reverse subsidy, which requires customers to pay the full retail price up front but offers them hefty discounts on the voice and data plans over the life of the agreement.
Already booming, the Indian mobile phone market is expected to grow more than 30 percent next year, triggering sales of around $18 billion, according to a June report from CyberMedia Research. The iPhone 4S debuted on October 14 in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia. In the initial launch weekend, Apple sold a total of 4 million units.
The new iPhone then trekked to an additional 15 countries last Friday where demand has been high. Police had to be summoned to the Apple Store in Hong Kong last Thursday after some of the 3,000 people trying to wait in line ahead of time were turned away. In the U.S. most retailers continue to run low on stock, with many now offering wait times of around 14 days on average, according to an analyst from Deutsche Bank.