Expert: DebiN - 9/10/2011

Question
QUESTION: Hi, i'm interested in buying the iphone and sending it as a gift to my brother in India. just curious to know abt the postage to India, whether he wil have to pay customs to receive the gift or not? Please advice accordingly..


If you Have Any Other way Please let me know..



Thankyou..

ANSWER: The iPhone will not work in India unless the area where you brother is has GSM service. Many areas in India use CDMA. Verify that it can be used in India before you bother sending it. If it can, then greater, but plese remember, it will need to be jailbroken in order to work there. Why would he have to pay customs if you send him a gift? If you were bringing it into the country, that's one thing, but mailing it wouldn't require customs.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks For the Reply Expert..

I am going to send the Unlockec Version from here.. And Yes The GSM service is available all over the India Now..

And People Are Using Apple Product In India.. I want to just clear the doubt about the Custom and Taxes.. And One More thing Can you tell me from where can i order one for him ?? Any Trusted Online Store Or Site ?

Thanks Alot :)

Answer
Sounds great that you got a jailbroken iPhone that will work in Inida. You don't have to pay customs or taxes and neither does your brother. Only if he himself physically brought the device back from the US or if he ordered it on line and had it shipped to himself in India. Just package it up the way you would anything else and send it to him. There aren't any official trusted resellers of the iPhone. Officially, only Apple and the carriers and third parties like Best Buy can sell the iPhone. Anyone you buy it from is reselling it on their own so I would suggest being very careful. I'm not a fan of jailbroken iPhones because of the issues that occur when you try to upgrade the Operating Systems and that you have to then go ahead and jailbreak them again. If you could get a hold of a unlocked (not jailbroken) iPhone from outside the US, that might be a better idea, but as long as you feel comfortable with the seller and you purchase a new iPhone that hasn't been used, you should be okay. Thanks so much for the updated info on iPhones in India.