Atul Kumar, the first iPhone owner in Ranchi, shows off his prized possession on Friday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi/Jamshedpur, Aug. 22: It was a mixed bag of cheer and disappointment for residents of this state as Apple launched its iPhone across the country today.

While Atul Kumar, a network engineer with Tata Sky, became the first proud owner of the pricey gadget in Ranchi, businessmen Chintan Vasani and Manish Khara had to remain satisfied with booking slips because the handsets will debut in Jamshedpur tomorrow.

The capital was buzzing with activity since early morning. The third generation (3G) phone was the topic of discussion everywhere — be it schools, colleges, government offices or business centres.

Tech enthusiasts made a beeline for the Airtel Relationship Centre in Bahu Bazaar. “It looks so cool. The speed of Internet is 50 times faster compared to the ordinary cell phones. Besides, the iPhone has numerous applications that can be used at a time,” Atul said. The network engineer said the first time he had read about the iPhone in a magazine, he had decided to buy one.

“This multitasking handset has wi-fi and is GPRS-enabled. Music and movies can be downloaded more easily,” said Raghav Sinha, a third-year student of St Xavier’s College.

Abhishek Banerjee, the zonal customer service officer at the Airtel outlet said at least 50 people had booked the iPhone today.

“Most of our customers are college-goers or young businessmen,” he said.

“We have sought two days’ time for delivery since we do not have adequate number of handsets now,” he added.

Airtel is planning instalment schemes to make the iPhone more affordable. The 8GB model of the phone is priced at Rs 31,000 while the 16GB version costs a cool Rs 36,000.

Airtel officials, however, refused to divulge the number of sets they sold today. Communications officer Anind Fauzalar said they were collecting data regarding bookings from showrooms in both Bihar and Jharkhand.

In Patna, the first two customers to buy the iPhone were Shiv Kumar Gupta and Prabhat Singh, the general manager and the senior AGM of Mc Dowell’s, respectively.

Though handsets were not available in Jamshedpur, it recorded 15 bookings on the first day. Prospective buyers were asked to deposit Rs 5,000 for the handsets.

“I had been waiting for the launch for so long and am a little disappointed today as I did not get the handset. I have already used Apple’s 2G version while in the US, but now I want the upgraded version,” said Khara.