The much-awaited iPhone 5 hits the grey market in Thailand today, priced at 35,000 and 43,000 baht.
A shop in MBK Center gears up for today’s greymarket introduction of Apple’s new iPhone 5. The official launch in Thailand is scheduled for December. PATIPAT JANTHONG
The grey iPhone 5 in Thailand will be imported from Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.
Apple announced the launch of the iPhone 5 on Sept 12, saying the product will be made officially available in nine markets today - the US, Singapore, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and the UK.
The device will be launched in 22 more markets next Friday and another 100 in December including officially in Thailand.
Apple recently said pre-orders of the iPhone 5 topped 2 million within 24 hours, more than double the previous record of 1 million for the iPhone 4S.
The new iPhone 5 will cost 35,000 baht for 16 gigabytes and 43,000 baht for 64 gigabytes.
Narong Intanate, the chairman of Copperwired, an authorised Apple partner, said Apple partners will likely lose a number of potential customers to the grey market.
The Thai government needs to review existing regulations governing the imports of frequency-based equipment, which now take about one month to be approved, he said.
Mr Narong said approval of the import of this equipment takes just days in Singapore.
"With the advent of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, the state needs to amend the rule to be on a par with neighbouring countries to maintain competitiveness," he said.
Attaphon Satidkanitkul, the research manager of the research firm International Data Corporation (Thailand) or IDC Thailand, said intense competition between Apple and Samsung will continue to next year.
Songklod Wongpeng, manager of the market research firm GfK Retail and Technology (Thailand), said the iPhone 5 is poised to become the fastest-selling gadget ever in the Thai market, as Thais have been eagerly anticipating its arrival.
IDC expects sales of smartphones in Thailand will reach 5.3 million units this year, up by 35% from last year.
Of this year's total, Android-based smartphones will account for up to 60%, followed by Apple iOS at 26%.
This year Android phones have made up only 35% of total sales in the local smartphone market, while Apple iOS have a 20% market share.
The number of smartphone users in Thailand should reach 20 million by 2013, almost one-third of the Thai population.