Apple’s iPhone is yet to catch up with Nokia and RIM in smartphone segment in India as its sales are hindered because Indian wireless carriers, which started third- generation networks this year, have yet to offer nationwide services fast enough to take advantage of iPhone features, according tto a blloberg report.

Apple, which will introduce a new iPhone version on Tuesday, ships fewer handsets to the world''s second-largest mobile-phone market than it does to Norway. Nokia and Research In Motion (RIM) sell more devices in India, where smartphone shipments are forecast to grow almost 70% a year until 2015, helping mitigate their market-share losses in the US and Europe.

Sales for the world's biggest company by market value are hindered because Indian wireless carriers, which started third- generation networks this year, have yet to offer nationwide services fast enough to take advantage of iPhone features, said Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst at Scotia Capital in Toronto.

"Networks in India are just not conducive for Apple -- 3G networks aren't quite where they are in Western Europe and North America," he said. "RIM got the right product, the right timing, the right app."

Apple shipped 62,043 iPhones to India in the quarter ending June 30, or fewer than to Norway, Belgium or Israel, according to estimates by Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC. Apple dropped 0.6% to the equivalent of $381.08 in German trading as of 11:22 a.m. in Frankfurt.

Apple accounted for 2.6% of India's smartphone shipments in the quarter ended June 30, trailing RIM's 15%, Samsung Electronics's 21% and Nokia's 46%, IDC estimates. "The iPhone only really works when you have Wi-Fi," said Kshma Shah, an interior designer in Mumbai. "3G has barely started in India, and on 2G you just can't have the same experience."

The world's largest maker of tablet computers also shipped about 21,150 iPads to India in the same period, or 0.2% of its global total, according to IDC. RIM's BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging is popular because it was one of the first, and it functions well on networks a generation behind the speeds offered in the US and Europe, Papageorgiou said. "Only a few of my friends have iPhones," said Mahafareenn Sarkari, a 25-year-old dance instructor in Mumbai. "BlackBerry is where everybody is, so it made sense for me to be on it, too."