Vodafone is likely to launch the Apple iPhone 3G on its platform in mid-August.

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Airtel is expected to follow suit and launch the phone in mid-September.

The phone will start selling in the US markets on AT&T network from July 11, priced at $199 (Rs 8,500) for the 8 GB model and $299 (Rs 12,800) for the 16 GB model. Buzz is that the model would be available in India at Rs 10,000. Apparently, the iPhone 3G would be priced higher in other countries compared to the US pricing as Apple has a revenue sharing agreement with AT&T in the US. However, in case of India, it is a direct selling agreement and there is no revenue share involved.

However, to ensure that the competitive advantage is not lost, both Vodafone and Airtel are working on strategies to keep prices low.

Despite that fact, the handset might be made available to Indian operators at higher prices. It has been learnt that Airtel is planning to offer the handset at Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. Industry people said that Airtel is planning to launch the iPhone on a different monthly subscription plan of Rs 699.

“For Airtel customers, there will be a different subscription plan and lock-in period, which could stretch up to 18 months. The company is working on a couple of subscription plans before it is available to the customers,” an industry official close to the development told Financial Chronicle.

When contacted, Airtel spokesperson declined to comment on the pricing strategy but said that there would be some subsidy on it. “As a part of the business strategy, we cannot divulge the price of the phone, but there will be some subsidy on it,” the Airtel spokesperson said.

Vodafone marketing plans are not known yet. An email query sent to Vodafone did not get a response.

At present, the earlier version of iPhones is available in the grey market for prices ranging from Rs 24,000 to Rs 32,000.

Apple is planning to launch its new model in more than 70 countries later this year. However, it will be available in 26 countries from July 11.

According to Apple, the new iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast as the first generation iPhone.