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Just a couple of days ago we told you about Airtel's tie up with Apple to land the iPhone 3GS in India and, less than 100 hours later, here we are with an official release date and estimated price of the Apple masterpiece.

Bharti Airtel has now issued a formal press release revealing that the iPhone 3GS will be available from Airtel all over India starting on March 26th, 2010.

So it is finally here and up for grabs from tomorrow.

Airtel also released the prices, though it claims that it could increase in states such as Maharasthra which levy extra VAT on high-end phones.

The prices may look outrageous but this is more or less what no-contract iPhones are now being sold for in the US (according to Gizmodo) plus about 30% in import duties and other taxes. While Airtel may not have control over the price of the unit, it could certainly do better than the measly 500MB per month of free data being offered to customers and that too only for a year! How about an unlimited plan to start with?

Best buy:

iPhone 3GS 8GB Rs. 29,500 (USD 651)
iPhone 3GS 16GB Rs. 35,500 (USD 783)
iPhone 3GS 32GB Rs. 41,500(USD 916)

(Approximate US$ currency conversions from xe.com’s live rates at 2010.03.24 09:47:42 GMT with the United States Dollar at 45.3 Indian Rupees)

Check official website for more info.

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