Finally the iPhone is here much to the deception of those who went to the release with the intention to get one. According to Armand, who posted a comment to my previous post, there were many in the line to purchase an iPhone, except that they all went home without one because of the exaggerated price imposed by Orange. For the readers out there, note that a dollar equals Rs32.46 and Orange is offering an 8gb iPhone 3G for Rs11,899 plus a monthly charge of Rs1259. This is simply outrageous. According to other sources close to Orange, they manage to sell only 40 units with the first buyer getting one free. Knowing that one owner of an iPhone can only purchase applications through the Apple store, and that internet connection costs that much, I strongly suggest that Mauritians buy the HTC Touch series instead, because Orange requires that you sign up for a postpaid service whereas Emtel offers internet access for prepaid as well.
Clearly, the iPhone or any Apple products are geared towards the haves. And those are relatively few in Mauritius compared to the have nots. So now is the time for Microsoft Indian Ocean Islands to evangelize Windows Mobile in the consumer market. The HTC Touch brands released by HTC lately are much cheaper and "open" in the sense that Mauritians don't have to sign up for an onerous plan with Orange or purchase Apple-chosen applications. The Windows Mobile developer community is much more important and wider than Apple. Not only you get to buy software but there are plenty of free applications on the web that you can download. The only limit is the memory available on your device. Above all else, a Windows Mobile phone was designed to work with XP, Vista and Mac. How many Macs do we have out there? Does the iPhone work with Microsoft products? Is it worth it to shell out so much money fo it, knowing that the iPhone has so many limitations?
I forgot to mention that the iPhone has no removable battery.
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