The iPhone has long been available in India, but only at its full, unsubsidized price.
The contract system, which is widely prevalent in other parts of the world, is a rarity in India. Telecom operators in India don’t subsidize the handset for their subscribers as the lack of a universal data base–such as the U.S.’s social security number–makes it difficult to track users and determine their credit worthiness.
Reliance Communications, then known as Reliance Infocomm Ltd., had partnered with LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., and Nokia Corp., to offer subscribers a handset at a huge subsidy. A Nokia handset that cost about 10,000 rupees ($161) in the retail market was given to users for an upfront payment of a mere 501 rupees. The offer drew about a million new subscriptions within 10 days of the launch, but consumers dumped the phone and switched service providers) after a few months, leaving Reliance Communications with massive losses.
This time, Reliance Communications is minimizing its risks by tying up with credit card companies, which will be responsible for the billing. People without credit cards can’t sign up for the offer.
If this succeeds, this could be a big win for Apple.
People with credit cards will sign up, and then cancel their cards once they get their iPhones. If Reliance subsequently locks/bricks the phones, the phones will be harvested for parts.
This is not a contract scheme. You have to swipe your credit card for the full amount including the monthly charges . You then have to pay the bank / credit card company in 24 equal monthly instalments. This means that your credit card limit for the amount swiped is blocked. The bank also calculates the interest in their EMI. So although a great offer it is not a contract scheme . The best part is that you get unlimited talk text and data which is generally not available. Complete details at the link below :
http://www.bgr.in/news/should-you-go-for-rcoms-2-year-iphone-5c-iphone-5s-contract-plan/
Reliance is getting the money upfront so they dont have any reason to block the phone . They are not at risk.
Also from bgr.in
“Scenes at the iPhone launch event in Delhi have been crazy to say the least. At the time of filing this story, Apple has sold more than 200 iPhones since it opened the counters. Not surprisingly, the gold iPhone 5S got all the attention and it sold in the first hour itself. Apple had issued 600 coupons for people standing in line with the first buyer arriving at the mall as early as 6AM today. As we type this, there are still more than 300 people waiting in the queue.
The sheer number of people waiting to buy the new iPhones also caused the credit card machines to overheat and stop functioning in an hour and half. People were urged to go and get cash from the ATMs situated in the mall, and very soon those ATM machines too ran out of cash.”
Only if they want to ruin their credit history
which means no future loans like car, home, school.
and the bank will come after them hard.
There is no such thing as personal bankruptcy in India.
Hi Jim, I am looking at this with close interest and talking to other carriers here if they are planning on emulating this. Airtel and Vodafone have better networks then Reliance does but Relaince does have a broader reach.