iPhone 3G Booking open in India now

I’m not sure, if I’m the one among few to see this first, but here it is.
Today when I logged on to Vodafone.in site to pay my mobile bills, the home page greeted me with huge banner saying “Pre register here for your iPhone 3G”.

I couldn’t wait to check out the Airtel.in site as well to check if Airtel has some booking open, it turned it has.

This confirms few things

1. iPhone comes to India as “iPhone 3G” – this is obvious, but the sites confirm now
2. Both Airtel and Vodafone will be offering iPhone to Indian mobile subscribers – the question for which I was looking for a clear answer somewhere.

So, why wait, people who have been looking to pounce on this artistic beauty can go ahead and pre-register in the following links

link > Vodafone – iPhone 3G – Pre registration
http://vodafone.in/existingusers/iphone/pages/preregister-iPhone.aspx
link > Airtel – iPhone 3G – Booking
http://www.airtel.in/iphone3g
[Disclaimer: These links are just provided for convenience]

Here’s a screen shot of the home pages of both the sites, just in case they remove it in the future.

Vodafone.in	Airtel.in

Whatever may be the buzz, I’ve my own list of ‘Why I should NOT buy iPhone 3G now?’ as below

1. What is good is 3G with out the 3G infrastructure (in India 3G network is to be deployed only late 2009)
2. A 3G has to have a front facing camera. I still wonder why iPhone didn’t have one. Here’s a fun reply to Apple on this issue.
3. Then the usual stuff, battery life. I really hate recharging my phone everyday.

Update: The AirTel booking page is not working now.

Update: Seems the AirTel iPhone booking site is just being setup. It’s up again now, but still actual registration page not opening yet! Hope this will be restored soon.

Update: This site states the additional facts about iPhone 3G in India http://www.imacusers.com/iphone-3g-in-india/

Update: Rumours!?!?  Economic times says AirTel will open sale on Aug 22 here and Tech2 post mentions Vodafone will make iPhone available in it’s store by Aug 18 here. Anybody got any more information???

Update: iPhone 3G to become cheaper in india! read this