Taiwanese carriers to offer new nano-SIMs on iPhone 5 launch
CNA 2012-09-22 10:01
A visitor to an Apple store takes a photo of the iPhone 5 with an iPhone 4S. (Photo/Xinhua)
Taiwan's three major telecom companies said Thursday that they will offer a SIM-card changing service when the highly anticipated Apple iPhone 5 debuts in nine countries or regions on Sept. 21.
Although local consumers will not be among the first to get their hands on what will reportedly be the world's thinnest smartphone, they will be able to get the new nano-SIM cards used by the iPhone 5 at stores operated by Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone Telecommunications and Taiwan Mobile.
While Far Eastone will provide an unlimited number of cards, the other two companies will only have a limited number of cards available this month.
Based on previous launches of other iPhones, Taiwan is likely to be among the third wave of countries where the iPhone 5 will officially go on sale in stores, with November expected to be the earliest time.
However, parallel imports of the iPhone 5 could arrive on as soon as Friday since the product is being launched in neighboring Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong that day. The other six countries in the first wave are the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France and Australia.
The Taiwanese companies said the first nano-SIM cards are mainly for technology bloggers and smartphone application developers. They do not encourage consumers to buy parallel imports, which could be up to 1.57 times more expensive than the lowest retail price of US$649, according to local media reports.
