Vodafone and Airtel are probably hoping that a quiet, unobtrusive entry into the market may be a better bet than the over-the-top iPhone 3G launch last year. Even though the launch had created a buzz, Vodafone and Airtel got slammed for pricing the iPhone 3G exorbitantly high. As a result, iPhone 3G sales were lukewarm at most. So much so that they had to introduce installment plans to induce people into buying.

Coming back to the iPhone 3G S launch, to be fair to Apple, a screenshot of one of it’s presentations, published by Gizmodo, showed that India was in the list of countries where the iPhone 3G S would be launched in August. However since the screenshot showed a calendar saying “Aug ‘09“, I think people mistakenly thought the India launch date was 09^th August and rumours flew everywhere about a launch on Sunday 09^th August. I suspected that this was just a rumour in a tweet on 5^th Aug morning. Later that evening, there was a post at Fone Arena saying the launch would not happen on 09^th August and it may in fact happen by the 3^rd week of August.

Now, the 3^rd week of August sounds like a much more likely time-frame for the iPhone 3G S launch in India. That’s because it would then be 12 months since the iPhone 3G was launched, so the carriers could then offer to unlock current customers’ iPhone 3G phones and sell new unlocked iPhone 3G phones at low prices (my guess is ~Rs.20000). This could help them price the iPhone 3G S at around Rs.31K-Rs.32K for the 16GB variant and Rs.38K-Rs.39K for the 32GB variant (please note though, that the prices may be slightly higher in Mumbai due to the recently hiked VAT. Thanks to Anupam Gupta who pointed this out via a tweet reply). So even if people are hesitant about the iPhone 3G S prices, the carriers would be able to offset any disappointments (in 3G S sales) by the increased iPhone 3G sales. And that is probably one of the reasons for not hyping up the 3G S prior to launch… so that it gets positioned as an evolutionary model than a revolutionary one, thereby ensuring its predecessor, the 3G, does not get downplayed a great deal.

Having said that, is the iPhone 3G S worth it? What does it offer over the iPhone 3G? Should you rather buy a iPhone 3G rather than spending almost double on the iPhone 3G S? Stay tuned for my post that looks at these aspects of the iPhone 3G S.

But consider what would happen if indeed that comes to pass. Kingfisher Airlines would become a fleet piloted by drunk pilots and owned in parts by a flamboyant man with interests in booze and expensive and underperforming sports teams and an entity with an unblemished record of mismanaging an airline it already owns.

Fly Kingfisher, anyone?

Rajya Sabha debate on MEA ends. Minister Krishna’s reply broadens the terms of argument by covering whole of fp & not just one narrow issue

The “narrow” issue being debated was the fallout of the India-Pakistan joint statement issued at Sharm-el-Sheikh, notably the de-linking of terror from dialogue and the mention of Balochistan.

Messrs. SM Krishna and Shashi Tharoor are both extremely urbane gentlemen. And I reckon they certainly know how to nip out of a tight spot. After the PM Dr. Manmohan Singh put up a weak defense of his actions at Sharm-el-Sheikh, while responding to the debate in the Lok Sabha, it was upto the two external affairs ministers to carry on the debate in the Rajya Sabha.

And what did they do? SM Krishna expanded the scope of the debate to cover the full ambit of India’s foreign policy. Now there has always been a general consensus about the foreign policy. Debating the general foreign policy might be seen as a schism in the Indian polity over the issue. So obviously any criticism that the opposition might have about Sharm-el-Sheikh gets pre-empted and the debate peters out into nothingness.

Generalizing the debate obfuscates the specific concerns/criticisms, some valid, others only noise. The much-needed debate is dodged, albeit artfully. Too bad, India lacks an opposition party it deserves.

Pretty much sums up why John Buchanan’s coach-by-laptop method does not work.

Poor KKR!

Just the other day, Rahul baba spoke in glowing terms about Dr. Manmohan Singh. Fair enough, I say. But because it was an election rally in Punjab, Rahul Gandhi went a step further to massage the collective Sikh ego…

They call our prime minister weak, the lion of Punjab, who has earned a name to the country in the world. I have not seen a weak Sikh in my life,’ Gandhi told an election rally at Barnala.
[Source: ANI report]<

Amit Varma rightly points out the patronizing nature of that assertion. I wonder why that kind of patronizing tone is made use of around the election time. I wonder, indeed!

A couple of days later, Rahul Gandhi is at it again… this time in P Chidambaram’s constituency, Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu. At an election rally, Rahul said…

“We have given thousands of crores of rupees for the development of Tamil Nadu. The Central government’s first decision was to sanction setting up of a desalination plant in the state.”

Referring to his visits to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Congress leader said he will visit Tamil Nadu regularly after the elections.
[Source: IANS report]

Rahul makes the government’s allocation of funds to Tamil Nadu seem like a dole… a mere handout. And which self-respecting Tamizh would, I wonder, be impressed by Rahul Gandhi’s promise that he would visit the state regularly after the elections!? If that is not patronizing, I wonder what is!

The fact that Rahul Gandhi is a young upcoming politician is a good thing. We definitely want more of those, though I’d much rather prefer a young upcoming politician who’s not in politics just because of the family name. But if Rahul Gandhi continues to live under the delusions that his is a blue-blooded lineage that reserves the right to “rule” the country, he would continue being patronizing and shallow.

Quit being patronizing, Rahul! Wake up and smell the filter coffee!

I voted! Did you?

It looks as if the voter turnout will be fairly decent, at least here in Mumbai. The sparse crowd at the polling station comprised of people from different economic classes and almost an equal no. of male and female voters. Of course, it was too early in the day to call, but signs were encouraging indeed.

If your constituency is going to the polls today and you haven’t voted already, please go out and vote as soon as possible. Not voting does not mean the candidate you don’t want to come to power gets defeated. In fact the opposite happens. So go out and vote for a better, cleaner & worthier candidate and make your voice heard.

Do not shut up and vote… get up, think and shout out a message loud and clear through your vote. Do it now, folks. It’s probably the best thing you would do for now!

Fair enough! The Congress is entitled to it’s share of buffoonery. But shouldn’t we look at the bigger picture here? The engineering student is an Indian, isn’t he now? So going by the Congress logic, shouldn’t it be the head of the Indian State who should be doing the apologizing? Dr. Manmohan Singh apologizing to Dr. Manmohan Singh… now that sounds like a plan! :-P

Consider this…

On Tuesday, this gentleman says and I quote…

‘Weapons are an ornament of Pakhtuns, but now that Shariah has been enforced in Malakand, there will be no need of arms anymore,’ [Source: Dawn.com]

Let us leave aside the WTF remark about weapons being the the ornament of Pakhtuns because it brings to mind an image of grenade earrings hanging from the ears of Pakhtun tribesmen and other such disturbing imagery. But the point here is that the Dawn.com link I have quoted reports that Taliban have called for a ban on display of weapons in Swat.

Now consider this statement from the very same Muslim Khan, the very next day…

‘Sharia doesn’t permit us to lay down arms,‘ … ‘If a government, either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, continues anti-Muslim policies, it’s out of the question that Taliban lay down their arms.‘ [Source: Dawn.com]

Massive WTF-ness has been precipitated. Levity, if any, aside… I think the reason for this doublespeak is the TNSM struggle to legitimize it’s drive to enforce Sharia law progressively through Pakistan. Being a militant group trying to force the Sharia law is self-limiting in it’s effectiveness. Moreover the talk of the western world being agreeable to a “moderate Taliban” may be an added incentive. Of course, Zardari’s deal with the Taliban is rumoured to have a clause that asks the Taliban to lay down their arms. And so perhaps the first statement. But a chameleon may change its colours, but not the fact that it’s a lizard. That’s probably the reason behind the second statement. The Taliban has been and will continue to be a militant, religious fundamentalist force that is, at present, a grave threat to Pakistan’s weak democratic setup and a clear danger that will knock at India’s borders in the not-too-distant future.

On a slightly related note, speaking of lizards, here’s an interesting Pakistani lizard story via @acorn.