Flipkart Expands 'In-a-Day Guarantee' Delivery Service to 50 Cities

Flipkart kicked off its 'In-a-day Guarantee' service with some selective Indian cities last year. The online retailer has now announced that the service is now available in 50 cities.

The Internet retailer giant announced the news on Twitter and said, "The wait is now over! In a day guarantee in 50 Indian cities at Rs. 50! Offer valid for 2 days."

The company as an introductory offer has slashed the price of its 'In-a-day Guarantee' service to Rs. 50 from Rs. 90 for two days on orders above Rs. 5,050.

For those unaware, the 'In-a-day Guarantee' service initially was available to customers in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. Now the offer includes Kolkata, Agra, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Ambala, Bhatinda, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chandannagar, Coimbatore, Davangere, Durgapur, Erode, Faridabad, Goa, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Hissar, Hosur, Howrah, Hubli, Jaipur, Kanchipuram, Kharagpur, Kota, Ludhiana, Madurai, Meerut, Nagpur, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Panipat, Panjim, Patiala, Pondicherry, Salem, Secunderabad, Thane, Thanjavur, Tiruvallur, Tiruppur, Tiruchirappalli and Vellore.

In April, Flipkart also introduced a 'Same-day Guarantee' delivery service in select cities, which can be availed by paying an additional Rs. 200 per item and is only available for orders placed before noon.

Earlier in June, Flipkart announced an annual subscription service for frequent shoppers, called Flipkart First. The service is available for interested customers for a subscription fee of Rs. 500 per year.

Notably, the Flipkart First service is similar to the Amazon Prime premium subscription service in the US.

Flipkart last week also launched its first tablet, the Digiflip Pro XT 712, at Rs. 9,999.

Idea Cellular slashes 2G tariff by 90 percent in 8 circles

Triggering a tariff war, Idea Cellular
Friday slashed data charges by 90
percent in eight circles, following
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone , who
recently cut their rates by similar
margins in select circles.
"Idea Cellular has revised data tariff in
eight circles across the country users
can now access data for 2 paise/10
KB, which is a 90 percent reduction in
the existing tariff of 2 paise/KB," Idea
Cellular said in a statement.
Bharti Airtel had Wednesday slashed
data usage charges by 90 percent for
pre-paid subscribers in Punjab and
Haryana, a day after Vodafone lowered
its data charges by 80 percent for pre-
paid and post-paid customers in three
circles.
Airtel has reduced the price to 1 paisa
per 10 KB from 10 paisa per 10 KB and
Vodafone slashed the tariff from 10
paisa per 10 KB to 2 paisa per 10 KB.
Idea's new tariff is applicable to all 2G
data users who use data on pay-as-
you-go basis and also on an average
on regular data from July 1, 2013 and
the offer will be valid for 90 days, the
statement added.
"The new data rate will be
automatically implemented for all Idea
2G postpaid subscribers in these
markets, effective July 1 prepaid
users can avail the new rate with a
value recharge priced between Rs.
5-10," the statement said.
Idea said Tamil Nadu & Chennai,
Karnataka, Kolkata, West Bengal,
Assam, North East, Bihar, and Orissa
circles will benefit from the revised
data tariff.
"These eight circles comprise 1/3rd of
the total mobile users in India, with a
large number of users waiting to board
the mobile broadband wagon.
Availability of data at such affordable
rates will usher in a new wave of
mobile data growth in the country,"
Idea Cellular Deputy Managing
Director Ambrish Jain said.

Apple reintroduces 16GB iPhone 4 in India for Rs. 31,800

In a surprise move, Apple has
reintroduced the iPhone 4 16GB model
in India for Rs. 31,800.
When the iPhone 5 was launched in
India, the prices of all iPhone 4S
variants were slashed and only the
iPhone 4 8GB variant was available, in
line with Apple policy in other
markets. However, Apple has now
decided to reintroduce the 16GB
variant of the phone and indeed it has
already been listed on some online
retailers.
The phone is expected to be available
across the country shortly, with
supplies already on their way to
retailers. iPhone 4 will be available in
both Black and White colour variants,
as before.
The move is certainly an interesting
one on the company's part, as the
16GB variant of the iPhone 4 is not
officially available in any other major
markets that we know of. Whether
this means end-of-life for the 8GB
variant and/ or if Apple will introduce
the 16GB iPhone 4 variant in other
markets as well is not clear at this
stage.
The 8GB iPhone 4 is available at a MRP
for Rs. 26,500, though it's usually
available at a lower price in the
market. The phone did some brisk
business in the recent month, thanks
largely to the cash back and exchange
offers that Apple was running, which
brought the effective price below Rs.
20,000.
It is expected Apple will run similar
offers on the 16GB iPhone 4,
otherwise a phone that will be exactly
three years old next week is unlikely
to find many takers carrying a price
tag in excess of Rs. 30,000.