HCL Info, Wipro for dealerships with iPhone

Friday 6 pm U.S time. As the world gets ready for this deadline to grab one of the most sought after handsets - the iPhone - two Indian companies are also getting ready to register gains from this revolutionary offering of Apple Inc., the makers of Macintosh computer (popularly called Mac) and the iPod.

Noida-based HCL Infosystems and Bangalore-based Wipro Technologies are close to becoming the exclusive Indian distributors of the iPhone. Analysts are expecting 1-3 million handsets to hit the shelves on Friday.

A luxury product costing $499 for 4 gigabytes memory and $599 for 8 gigabytes memory, iPhone will have a large touch screen minus the conventional keypad. It will also double up as an iPod, video player and will come equipped with a digital camera.

Despite some of its flaws, the iPhone has bagged rare reviews and is being branded as a 'breakthrough handheld computer' as it automatically syncs all contacts from a PC, a MAC or internet service.

The good response is seen helping Apple Inc's head, Steve Jobs, to meet his goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008. Such sales will automatically catapult iPhone to third major revenue garner for Apple along with Mac and the iPod. More>>