<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>SingTel cuts prices for new iPhone 3GS
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE new Apple iPhone 3GS which goes on sale on Friday will cost less than its year-old predecessor, but those who bought the earlier model will be allowed - for a price and a new contract - to trade it in for the new handset.
SingTel, the handset's exclusive local distributor, announced yesterday that the iPhone 3GS will be given free to those who sign up for its $205 monthly mobile plan, while those on its new, low-end $39 a month plan will have to pay $678. Users will also be tied to SingTel for two years.
In August last year, SingTel priced the iPhone 3G at up to $848, and it still sold more than 100,000 units. Given the ecstatic reception, industry observers had expected that the telco would not be lowering the prices of the new model.
The consolation for the early adopters is that SingTel's iPhone 3G customers who have been with the telco for at least six months will be able to upgrade their handsets. They will have to pay between $200 and $738 to get a new handset, after the penalty and trade-in value of their existing iPhone 3G handsets, and their contracts will also be 'reset' to 24 months.
The Republic's biggest mobile operator, meanwhile, is cutting the price of the older 8GB iPhone 3G to $398, which also has a two-year plan, making it 'one of the lowest entry prices for touchscreen smartphones', said a SingTel spokesman.
Mr Foong King Yew, the research director for carrier operations and strategies of technology analyst firm Gartner, said 'there are still a lot of iPhone fans out there' willing to pay any price for the latest Apple offering.
SingTel probably decided to lower its prices to suit recession-hit purses, so that everyone who wants an iPhone can get one.
The upgrade offer is a bid to persuade original iPhone customers not to switch to a competitor in the mature mobile telecommunications market, he said.
But SingTel iPhone 3G user Lina Tan is not tempted by the upgrade offer.
'It's nice, but next year Apple will launch yet another iPhone. I may as well wait until then, when my contract is up, and then change,' said the 20-year-old student.
'Anyway, from what I read, it's physically identical to (my iPhone 3G) and doesn't do much more,' she added.
CHUA HIAN HOU
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE new Apple iPhone 3GS which goes on sale on Friday will cost less than its year-old predecessor, but those who bought the earlier model will be allowed - for a price and a new contract - to trade it in for the new handset.
SingTel, the handset's exclusive local distributor, announced yesterday that the iPhone 3GS will be given free to those who sign up for its $205 monthly mobile plan, while those on its new, low-end $39 a month plan will have to pay $678. Users will also be tied to SingTel for two years.
In August last year, SingTel priced the iPhone 3G at up to $848, and it still sold more than 100,000 units. Given the ecstatic reception, industry observers had expected that the telco would not be lowering the prices of the new model.
The consolation for the early adopters is that SingTel's iPhone 3G customers who have been with the telco for at least six months will be able to upgrade their handsets. They will have to pay between $200 and $738 to get a new handset, after the penalty and trade-in value of their existing iPhone 3G handsets, and their contracts will also be 'reset' to 24 months.
The Republic's biggest mobile operator, meanwhile, is cutting the price of the older 8GB iPhone 3G to $398, which also has a two-year plan, making it 'one of the lowest entry prices for touchscreen smartphones', said a SingTel spokesman.
Mr Foong King Yew, the research director for carrier operations and strategies of technology analyst firm Gartner, said 'there are still a lot of iPhone fans out there' willing to pay any price for the latest Apple offering.
SingTel probably decided to lower its prices to suit recession-hit purses, so that everyone who wants an iPhone can get one.
The upgrade offer is a bid to persuade original iPhone customers not to switch to a competitor in the mature mobile telecommunications market, he said.
But SingTel iPhone 3G user Lina Tan is not tempted by the upgrade offer.
'It's nice, but next year Apple will launch yet another iPhone. I may as well wait until then, when my contract is up, and then change,' said the 20-year-old student.
'Anyway, from what I read, it's physically identical to (my iPhone 3G) and doesn't do much more,' she added.
CHUA HIAN HOU
