Here’s the thing: in Mumbai, the voicemail number is 555, except it isn’t, and most of Airtel doesn’t know this. After a number of complaints, a mysterious call from an Airtel employee told me to use 567 instead. This works. Still no idea how to set a custom greeting.

So you now know your voicemail number. Great! Except that your iPhone doesn’t. It still thinks it’s 555. You tell it otherwise by punching in a USSD code on your phone dialpad thus:

*5005*86*567# (press “call”)

Now your iPhone knows it’s own voicemail number. Brilliant. Almost.

Here’s the other thing: the iPhone doesn’t have settings for “call divert” like other phones. That is, there are no explicit settings for whether the call should go to voicemail if unanswered, busy or out of coverage. The iPhone manual is also vague about this. However, since voicemail is a network feature, it’s possible to set options using network USSD codes, and generic GSM ones at that! What I used:

Send to voicemail if unanswered: **61*567#

Send to voicemail if out of coverage: **62*567#

I didn’t use this one, but it’s useful because you can then send any call to voicemail by simply pressing the lock button twice (busy signal):

Send to voicemail if busy: **67*567#

There’s a whole bunch of options to these well, so I’ll just link to the sources:

http://www.iphonehacks.com/2007/09/voicemail-hack.html

http://www.theunwired.net/?item=how-to-diverting-voice-calls-by-using-ussd-codes

And it gets better from there. One of the stories is about Airtel’s “techies” being super-confident that their built-in security measures will ensure that swapping SIMs remains an unattractive alternative for iPhones bought from Airtel. Their claim is that while it may be possible for “hackers” to use Airtel’s iPhone for voice calls, they will be left out in the cold for the new, Airtel-exclusive features including Airtel Live and Google.

I don’t even know where to begin with this article. It’s grossly inaccurate in some parts and utterly banal in others. From Airtel’s perspective, what it reads like: “You can buy it and put another SIM into it, but you won’t be able to access our overpriced ringtones, news alerts, wallpapers and assorted crap. Because that shit is on an internal network. So you can’t get at it from elsewhere. We call that security.”

Tech reportage at it’s finest: by the feeble-minded, for the feeble-minded.

There is some indication that first-gen iPhones should now be unlocked on Airtel and Vodafone. Can anyone confirm this?

All in all, I’m left with a bad taste in my mouth. They’re trying to drum up some hype with midnight availability, early bookings with part payment and availability in tony areas of town, but it just isn’t the same. You can’t wish a long line of eager customers into existence with a Rs 31,000 base price. Without 3G or GPS routing.

The executive summary: 8GB for Rs 31,000 (about $730) and the 16GB will retail for Rs 36,000 to 37,000 (around $870). This is without factoring in the accompanying voice/data plans.

I don’t know how credible these numbers are, but I would not be surprised if they are accurate. Why?

• There are no subsidy models in India (or if there are, they don’t amount to much)
• There are no alternative revenue streams for mobile providers that could potentially offset a handset subsidy (VAS revenue-sharing is cream, not bread). Apple doesn’t give carriers a cut in the App Store/iTunes.
• High-end handsets launched by carriers have traditionally carried insane price tags.
• The most recent high-end launch by Airtel—the HTC Touch Diamond—retails for Rs 27,500.
• BlackBerry devices, despite requiring relatively expensive data plans, retail for a minimum of Rs 24,000.

From a brand/positioning standpoint, it would be unjust to price the iPhone 3G lower than the average BlackBerry or HTC handset. Vodafone and Airtel have painted themselves into a corner. I don’t anticipate big sales numbers—quite likely less than the erstwhile grey market for first-gen iPhones. My fervent prayer remains that I am all wrong about this, but I can’t think of another scenario, without forsaking logic.

Winner: Apple. Hustler: Carrier. Loser: User.

So why should one buy the iPhone 3G? The reasoning is pretty simple, really. If you could justify the original iPhone to yourself, there’s no way this one will be any different. It’s cheaper. Additionally, you get 3G and GPS, making for a nicely rounded-out feature set. I don’t think there are too many GPS-enabled phones out there for $199. The new firmware brings third-party apps to the party, which should be fun. Jobs was smart to feature lots of free stuff that will be available in the App Store.

MobileMe sounds very nice indeed, but my data is increasingly—or near-totally—on the Google cloud now, and I wouldn’t want to pay money to move out from a free, and perfectly workable suite of services. I’d like to believe that Google will put out a syncing app for their services as well, but it may be wishful thinking, given the evident conflict of interest.

While GPS and all the possibilities that follow are nice, they won’t really make a big difference for us in the 2.5th world, i.e, no routing in Google Maps.

So it boils down to price. For the amount you’d pay for a typical feature-phone, you’ll soon be able to buy an iPhone. I’m curious about how Apple will enforce a single global price, given that in markets like India, carrier subsidies are not as big as they are in the USA. Both Vodafone and Airtel have announced their intent to bring the device to India.