Handset major Nokia Corporation’s global president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo on Thursday said that the launch of Apple’s iconic iPhone in India would have an impact on the company here, “When iPhone comes to India, it adds to our competitors here. The entry of a new product in the market creates customer interest and it, therefore, impacts us in India,” Mr Kallasvuo said.

Nokia is the market leader in India and commands a 60% marketshare in the handset space. The company has so far largely remained unchallenged in India as it continues to extend the lead over its rivals in the domestic market.

At the same time, Mr Kallasvuo pointed out that consumer interest in iPhone would lead to an increased awareness on many of the concepts and features available on Nokia’s handsets.

Earlier this month, both Bharti and Vodafone had announced that they would soon be offering the new and cheaper version of iPhone to their customers by the year-end.

According to him, Nokia would continue to focus on its branding, distribution, logistics, services and support to fend off competition from iPhone. “In India we have to scale to manage all our operations in totality. This is an advantage we have over our competitors,” he said, when asked on the company’s strategy to counter the cheap handsets that are increasingly being offered by Chinese players in India.

p class=”c7″>All those eagerly awaiting the India launch of Apple’s iPhone 3G can now make sure they get their hands on the device soon after its launch — by booking their piece online.

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Both Vodafone and Airtel have started pre-registration for the iPhone 3G on their respective Web sites. However, both companies have said nothing about when the iPhone will be launched. All they've managed to reveal is that it would be coming later this year. Yet, speculation is rife that India can expect the iPhone 3G sometime in September this year.

It would be worth mentioning here that while both Vodafone and Airtel are allowing consumers to pre-register for iPhone 3G, the Indian government is yet to finalize matters regarding 3G telephony in the country. Possibly, this is one of the reasons why Vodafone and Airtel are keeping mum on the date of launch.

What’s certain is that the iPhone is coming to India. So while most of you wait with bated breath for the famed gizmo, let us take you through some of its main highlights. iPhone 3G marries all of the features of the iPhone plus 3G networking to be touted as “twice as fast as the first-generation iPhone”. iPhone 3G also features built-in GPS for expanded location-based mobile services, iPhone 2.0 software with support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and compatibility with third-party applications built with the iPhone SDK (software development kit). 

The iPhone is an Internet-enabled multimedia mobile phone designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It has a multi-touch screen with virtual keyboard and buttons, but a minimal amount of hardware input. The iPhone’s functions include those of a camera phone and portable media player (equivalent to the iPod) in addition to text messaging and visual voicemail. It also offers Internet services including e-mail, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity. The first generation phone hardware was quad-band GSM with EDGE; the second generation uses UMTS and HSDPA.^[28]

Apple announced the iPhone on 9 January 2007.^[29] The announcement was preceded by rumors and speculations that circulated for several months.^[30] The iPhone was initially introduced in the United States on 29 June 2007 and is in the process of being introduced worldwide. It was named Time magazine’s Invention of the Year in 2007.^[31] On 11 July 2008, the iPhone 3G will be released which supports faster 3G data speeds and Assisted GPS.^[28]