Apple headquarters on Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California

Staff Reporter | 12 May, 2008
Bharti Airtel on Monday announced a tie-up with US-based Apple Inc to bring the popular GSM-based iPhones to India.

According to sources in "Bharti Airtel, It has signed a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to India later this year".  Sources, however, said that Airtel may start offering iPhones around Diwali festival to its over 65 million GSM-based subscribers.

Asked about the prices, they declined to give any details about the agreement. But in the grey market the devices are available in the range of $500 to $600 (about Rs 25,000), sources said these handsets procured from the grey market need to be unlocked .

Airtel's announcement comes on the heels of mobile phone operator Vodafone announcing last week to distribute iPhones worldwide including India.

iPhone is a mobile phone that allows its users to make calls by simply tapping a name or number in the address book. It leads the customers to select and listen to voice-mail messages in whatever order the consumer wants.