1) Leo’s iPhone Theme for S60

This is a Freeware iPhone theme for S60 phones released way back in 2007. Not a whole lot of features but simple and gives your UI a reasonably iphone-like feel. You can download it from here.

2) iLauncher for Series 60

Another free alternative, this flash lite app has been floating around the web since past six months or so. It is not supported on Flash Lite 3 but the in-built flash on more S60 phones supports this. A more advanced version than #1 above. Click here to download it.

3) MyPhone by immmooo

Probably the most polished and up-to-date method of the three mentioned here, MyPhone is a series 60 application developed by immmooo. These guys have put in efforts to replicate the iPhone UI feel to the smallest possible detail, this includes things like new SMS and email alerts, support for touch screen phones and a whole lot more. There is also a special version for Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phones. This app, however, is not free, you can visit the site and download the trial version though.

If we missed something, please write about it in the comments below.

Let us first check out iPhone’s prices in two opposite countries, US and Hong Kong. I will return to you shortly why they are “opposite”.

In the US, iPhone 3G sells for $199 (Rs. 9700) for 8 GB version and $299 (Rs. 14,500) for the 16 GB version with which comes the carrier lock for 2 year with AT&T. Which means you can use AT&T network only and it costs about $20 (Rs.970) more per month than their other available plans.
In Hong Kong, you get an iPhone 3G officially unlocked at HK$ 5400 (Rs.34,000) for 8 GB and HK$ 6200 (Rs.39,000) for 16 GB. So you can buy plans and insert sim card of any network provider.

Now on one hand you get an iPhone real cheap in the US but end up paying more to your cellphone provider (who pays to Apple) every month and its the exact opposite in HK where the phone comes quite expensive upfront but you are then free to use any network provider you want. Two extreme opposites, right? Additionally in US with the iPhone plans AT&T provides frills like free access to internet on your phone via thousands of WiFi hotspots it has all over the country, Visual Voicemail, GPS, etc (which, by the way, are not available in India).

Now let us see whats on offer for us desis. 8 GB iPhone for Rs.30,000 and 16 GB for Rs.36,000 PLUS you can only use either Vodafone or Airtel on their exorbitant “iPhone plans”.

Take for example, Vodafone’s cheapest iPhone plan has minimum monthly rental of Rs.799 with which you get 250 free minutes and Rs.0.6 per minute for local calls; this plan falls flat when compared to Vodafone “Corp 299″ plan where monthly rental is Rs.299 only with just as many free calls (250) and cheaper calling rate of Rs.0.5/min. Roughly you pay Rs. (799 – 299) = 500 more every month being an iPhone user. Similar is the situation with Airtel. And of course, neither Airtel nor Vodafone has a single wifi hotspot anywhere in the country.

So we are being given the worst of both the worlds, that is: high cost iPhones, network lock and zero additional frills from the network providers.

The bottomline? In India you pay almost as much for a locked iPhone as it costs unlocked. You do not enjoy free WiFi, you do not enjoy basic iPhone services like Visual Voicemail or GPS and yet you pay more monthly fees to Vodafone or Airtel with no choice of another service provider.

Do send this to your friends and family in India and save them from burning holes in their pockets for nothing.

In our next article, we will help you decide the new iPhone expected in India suits your needs or not.

Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel and Optus today announced that they have signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Australia later this year.

More information will be released at a later date.

Also, reports have started coming in that Airtel has also issued a statement saying it plans to launch iPhones in India before the end of this year.

Whoa… so now Bharti Airtel is in the iPhone race too? Then what about the announcement by Vodafone? Are we also going the Italian way having two iPhone carriers?

If the two carriers story turns out to be the case, Indian consumers will have something to rejoice about as the competition between Vodafone and Airtel will keep monopolistic behavior at bay and subscribers can expect better deals.

Vodafone will be offering iPhone in 10 new countries and among other developments for the first time, two carriers will be offering iPhone in a single country (Vodafone and Telecom Italia).

India is a unique iPhone market because of the fact that we already have thousands of iPhone users who have been using unlocked iPhones in India. Apart from the obivious question about the price, there are some more answers that eager iPhone fans in India seek from Apple/Vodafone.

Tariff Plans

Since the phone will be in partnership with Vodafone, it will most certainly be carrier locked by them but.. Is Vodafone going to introduce special (read costly) tariff plans for iPhone users or can any Vodafone postpaid user be eligible to buy and use iPhone? AT&T has some special iPhone plans and has also classified some of its existing plans as ‘qualifying iPhone plans’.
Secondly, will iPhone be available pan-India or only in select geographical regions?

Visual Voicemail
Voicemail usage in India is very low, the main reason for this being lack of awareness and high charges. All this can change by iPhone’s revolutionary Visual Voicemail – It is a voicemail system where users can see on thier iPhone screens all the pending voicemails and only listen (and be charged for) to those which they choose. This system cost AT&T a small fortune to set up in US, will Vodafone be willing to invest in it for their Indian iPhone users?

Location / Where am I?
Another of iPhone gems, iPhone’s Location feature oblivates the need for GPS. This technology uses cell phone towers and wifi access points to indicate to users EXACTLY where they are on a Google Map. This powerful combination of Google Maps/Earth and iPhone’s graphic and intuitive capabilities make it an indispensible tool. Only problem is that there are few “branded” wifi access points throughout the country. How will this work in India?

Note: The above two questions (Visual Voicemail and Triangulation) were pertaining to special iPhone apps that users of unlocked iPhones cannot use. If these are not viable in India, what incentives do Indian iPhone users have to pay higher charges for a Vodafone enabled iPhone as opposed to an unlocked iPhone?

Existing iPhones

Will Apple service iPhones brought into India before they were officially introduced? Given the current conditions, will there be a “legalization” option where unlocked users can convert to official users?

Opting out

What if an iPhone user wants to buy some other phone? Will he have to mandatorily return it to Vodafone at prices set by them? If yes, there will be no legal second-hand market for iPhone and iPhone users may be stuck with an iPhone if the return price offered is not competitive.

If you have a clue about any of the above questions or have even more rhetorics to add, please post them in the comments below.

This news should also bring some cheer for owners of iPhone 1.1.2 who are stuck with an iBrick since public release of this firmware is expected to speed up the path towards software unlock of 1.1.2 OTB.

Google also announce more tweaks to its existing suite of iPhone apps at the show, this includes more customization option to users, speedier GMail and Google Calender apps and ability to completely import iGoogle personal home page to iPhone.