Apple's iPhone, the touch screen handset that acquired a cult status in the United States and other Western countries, will be available to Indian mobile users through private telecom operators Bharti Airtel [Get Quote] and Vodafone Essar from August 22, giving competitors like Nokia, Samsung and others a run for their money.

Millions of Airtel sand Vodafone Essar subscribers would be able to purchase the iPhone at their retail counters from August 22. While Bharti Airtel has 69 million subscribers at present, Vodafone Essar has 49 million.

"iPhone has been an iconic technological revelation of this year and Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer delight in the Indian telecom sector," president Bharti Airtel mobile services Sanjay Kapoor said in a statement.

Vodafone Essar executives also said their launch date of iPhone is same.

iPhone is embedded with all 3G (third generation mobile telephony) features and is twice as fast as the existing mobile phones. The phone also has in-built GPS system, that facilitates as a navigation and positioning tool.

The Indian mobile operators are not disclosing the price of iPhone at this point.

Analysts said Indian operators may not subsidise the handset which is a case in the United States as operators there make up for that with their call charges. They charge rates like 25 cents a minute. In India, the charge is 1.5 to 2 cents a minute.

If this is taken into consideration, essentially iPhone could be priced somewhere around $499 or Rs 20,000.

Leading cell phone makers like Nokia, Motorola and Samsung have stepped up their R&D efforts to bring feature rich phones in India to compete with the iPhone.

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