For two brief days, Indian iPhone fans held out hope that they might be able to get the gadget for less than the $715 price tag that Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) India put on the 8 gigabyte model, and $830 for the 16 gigabyte one. But there will be no price war, as Bharti Airtel, the other Indian carrier to sell the iPhone, released its prices today, matching Vodafone’s. As pointed out earlier, this is big money even for a professional Indian IT worker whose average salary ranges from $12,000 to $24,000. Remember, too, that there is no 3G service yet in India and the phone, the paper believes, will be locked to either the Vodafone or Airtel network.

According to the IndiaTimes, the two operators had little choice on the pricing, and sources inside the two firms blamed Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) for “controlling almost everything very closely, leaving very little elbow room for them.” Apparently, Apple has not only dictated the price of the phone, but also how it’s sold, publicized and the branding materials around it. It’s hard to see how the phone will get traction in India, as one Bangalore reader to the India Times said, “I don’t think anyone will buy the iPhone at this price. But there is hope for Airtel and Vodafone if they have a store near a mental hospital—provided the patient has enough money with him.”