In a surprising move from Nokia, India becomes the first country to get the mother of all smartphones - the Nokia N96! In the launch event today, Nokia unveiled the much awaited handset which is a HSDPA enabled QVGA phone with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera. The phone also features the dual slider, which was first seen on Nokia N95 - a very successful n-series handset launched last year.
The Indian N96 will come pre-loaded with plenty of Bollywood content, which includes the Shah Rukh Khan starring “Om Shanti Om”.
The launch date seems to have been pre-poned since the iPhone is all set to launch on August 22 in India. The unlocked handset is priced at a hefty Rs. 36000, which is around US $850 by today’s exchange rates. Believe me, there are people in this country who are ready to shell out this kind of money for a mobile phone. Incidentally, the predecessor N95 too launched at a similar price point.
The handset will be available from the first week of September, but you can pre-book it now with an advance payment of Rs. 4000. I feel this is just a gimmick as I have never seen people queuing upto buy mobile phones in India, as they do in certain other countries. You will be able to purchase it comfortably on the day one of launch.
Related News: iPhone 3G India pricing announced with outrageous data plans!
[via The Economic Times]
