Almost 10 months after the original release date in the United States, carriers Bharti Airtel and Aircel have confirmed that they will bring the iPhone 4 to India “in the coming months”. No details about pricing and availability have been provided, but at least this should be good news for Indian users that have been waiting for the device to launch on their local networks (assuming they didn’t go ahead and imported an iPhone 4 months ago, that is). India isn’t new to these delayed launches: the iPad 1, for example, was released a year after the announcement from Steve Jobs.
Furthermore, India has always seen an unexpected rise of iOS devices’ prices in the past – something that Apple never addressed specifically but that’s likely linked to the different economy of the country (smartphones have a 5% market share) and issues with international shipments. It’s also worth remembering that last year a rumor suggested India’s Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices were in talks with Apple for a CDMA iPhone 4 – which has been released on Verizon and it’s now awaiting an international expansion.
Last, as noted by 9to5mac the iPad 2 has been cleared for sale in China and should be launching soon:
The product obtained the license after passing a series of tests. It has a validity of five years, expiring on April 8, 2016. This move signals that the iPad 2 is set to make its official entry in the Chinese mainland market soon.
Apple’s Chinese website still has a “Notify Me” page as you can see here. The iPad 2 was released in 25 countries on Friday, March 25th.
