Tags: Consumer Electronics, Internet, Mobile Phone Industry, teleco
By Alexander Villafania
MAKATI CITY, METRO MANILA – When the clock struck midnight last Friday, the war to get everyone’s attention to Apple’s much-vaunted iPhone 4S smartphone began in the Philippines.
Rival firms Smart Communications and Globe Telecoms have both launched the latest iPhone at the same time, with different gimmicks to try and draw the market in their direction.
Globe held its launch party at the MCafe in Greenbelt 4 with at least a few hundred loyal subscribers. There was also a concert featuring internationally renowned DJ Kaskade.
The following day, the mobile firm held a subscriber showcase at the Hotel InterContinental in Makati City where the company claimed that it has already sold out its stocks of iPhones.
On the other side of the city, Smart closed the entire Rockwell Mall for what it calls the biggest technology event of recent history, a multi-million event that included free food, booze, and tons of extra prizes for their subscribers. They also brought their own international artists, including DJ Ace, Lupe Fiasco, and Jermaine Dupri.
In fact, Smart gave extras to the first ten iPhone 4S subscribers – from iMacs, iPads, Xbox 360s, PlayStation 3s, among others. They even raffled off a Subaru Impreza STi.
All for a phone.
This rivalry started when Globe lost its four-year exclusivity to sell and distribute the iPhone series in the Philippines.
But the real score is not the device itself but what both mobile providers are opting to do. The goal is to get more people to use their devices beyond text and calls and more into mobile Internet data access, which could be a more lucrative platform given the type of services that can be offered.
Already, Globe and Smart have started introducing mobile data-only services, in an effort to spur the market. For instance, Smart had its SmartNet cloud service while Globe put a similar rival service called m.Globe. These are just the first ones and both companies have been talking about introducing newer services in the months ahead.
Surprisingly, both Globe and Smart seem to agree that it’s only up to the hardware manufacturers to introduce mobile devices that can accommodate the kind of mobile service to be introduced.
Indeed, it will be a heated war for Globe and Smart but it won’t be just on the iPhone but on data services.
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