India’s Aircel Offering the iPhone for Just $180

[Maura]

The Next Web reports today that India’s Aircel carrier has just started selling the iPhone 3GS for the equivalent of just $180, plus a yearly commitment of $55 for a year’s worth of unlimited data, bringing the total cost for the phone to $236, which, as The Next Web points out, must be one of the lowest prices for an iPhone anywhere. A couple of months back, when Cricket started selling the iPhone 4 and 4S for $399 and $499 respectively, The Next Web said that was very aggressive pricing from Apple and showed how they wanted to break into the pre-paid market with such competitive pricing. They even suggested that Apple would soon start selling the iPhone 3GS in developing markets for around $225, which is almost exactly what has occurred in India. As The Next Web points out, the iPhone 3GS could be the key to Apple making inroads into the incredibly lucrative pre-paid phone market in countries such as India, China and Africa, where people only expect to pay around $200 for their mobile phones, maximum.

Source: Apple Expands Aggressively With $236 iPhone 3GS in India