Airtel and Aircel have upped the war quotient in the mobile data space, with the launch of the iconic iPhone 4 today, in a bundled package with a two-year connection.

Shashi Arora, CEO, Airtel- Mobility (Upper North), said: “The market is witnessing an increasing demand for devices that deliver the ultimate user experience — through a good user interface, rich feature capabilities and innovative applications,” he added. Airtel has launched iPhone4 today at Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Shimla and Srinagar, besides 30 other cities.

Aircel, too, is looking at wooing a large number of hi end customers through its bundled offer with iPhone. Gurmeet Makkar, business head, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, said that they were expecting a good response from this launch. “We are also offering a 100 per cent return on the cost of buying the handset, by giving freebies over two years. For the phone that costs Rs 40,900, we are giving freebies and waiver on monthly rental worth Rs 41,090 over two years,” he said. In North India, Aircel has launched iPhone 4 in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Jammu and Srinagar.

Idea, though, not chosen by Apple as partner, has come up with special plans for data downloads. In Punjab telecom circle, the company is offering GPRS 1GB at just Rs 29 per month.