iPhone 3G Thai sales agreements | Bangkok Post: tech

NEXT-GEN SMART PHONES

An attempt by Apple to protect its market share from rival BlackBerry needs to increase data revenue if it is to produce positive results for the Dtac and Apple deal.

According to a statement, Dtac and Apple have reached an agreement to bring the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, the fastest and most powerful iPhone to date, to Thailand.

The source said Dtac's deal with Apple suggests that TrueMove may not achieve its own target with Apple.

The source added that the company expects to sell the next-generation iPhone by Mar or Apr and the price point will be slightly cheaper than on TrueMove.

"Both Dtac and AIS have been in discussion with Apple for a long time but the sales quota is quite high, meaning the deal had not been finalised, but now it has been reduced down to around 80,000-90,000 units.

"This sales target is realistic and will help boost average revenue per use by data service usage by at least 300-600 baht per month. However, there is already a product roadmap for iPhone 4G, so 3Gs is a minor change."

Pratthana Leelapanang, AVP VAS of AIS, said the company is still in discussions with Apple but has not reached any conclusions regarding future sales.

"True is focusing on marketing the iPhone, which I accept is a very good model. However, customers from the three mobile operators who use iPhone and can access its App Store will not see a big difference between operators, so we expect iPhone will also sell through other operators," Pratthana said.

Earlier this month, TrueMove announced an iPhone price to celebrate hitting its sales target of 100,000 units.

New customers who buy new phones with new numbers can enjoy the following discounts: iPhone3Gs 16GB from 24,500 to 22,900 baht; 32 GB from 28,500 to 26,400 baht; and iPhone 3G 8GB at 18,900 baht from 19,900 baht under one year contract.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal published that in the last quarter, the iPhone lost market share.

The device accounted for 16.6 percent of global smart phone sales in the fourth quarter, down from 18.1% in the third.