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Ok, this isnt something heard from industry insiders, but based on some basic analysis.
SingTel just secured iPhone distribution deals in Singapore, India, Australia and Phillipines. The latter three are via partly-owned subsidiaries.
SingTel also owns 30% of Warid Telecom now. It makes pretty reasonable sense for SingTel to push iPhone distribution in Pakistan and even Bangladesh via Warid as well, since for a hardware product like the iPhone and aggressive vendors like Apple, the margins for SingTel would depend so much on scale.
That doesn’t close the market for others - e.g. Vodacom is also using its massive global footprint to plan distribution in India alongside SingTel.
That theoretically leaves Orascom Telecom, Telenor, and China Mobile still in the game… but again it wouldnt make sense for any of these to make iphone distribution deals just for the Pakistani market (sorry.. not scale enough for the Apple beast). So they are likely to only enter if their global footprint is interested.
Orascom Telecom? Hmm.. probably not so much right away. Telenor? Already lost some key markets to Vodacom. China Mobile? Hmm… controversial economics may make Apple think twice about jumping in right away.
So that comes back to Warid being the most likely company to start iPhone distribution in Pakistan, or atleast do it with the highest margins anyway.
| Written by Osama A. on 05/12/08 in Telecom |
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May 13th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Another angle of this I forgot to write about - would Apple even agree to iphone distribution in Pakistan?
My take is unlikely, since they still dont let the country use iTunes from fear of copyright violations.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Osama,
iPhone!=iTunes
May 13th, 2008 at 1:53 am
I dont think the value Apple gets from you buying an iphone is as big as the long-term value they get from you buying ringtones, music and soon applications on impulse.
Without iTunes, you cut off the majority portion of value. Add to this the fact that the iphone consumers are still going to be few and far between at those price points (let say, instead of the 20Million prepaid customers, maybe only the 4000 GPRS users on a network)
So where’s the value?
May 13th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Following news would be present in every day newspapers:
“40 IPhone cheen liye gaye”
May 14th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Thats what I predicted ! yay! I should be a millionaire on that bet!
May 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
In agreement with a major thrust of iPhone inable to run 3rd party Apps. By late June iPhone will sync., wirelessly with MS Exchange for contacts, calenders, and notes. An “App Store” on the handset will distribute potentially thousands free @ for pay applications from 3rd party developers, make iPhone a true smart phone platform.ACL, Electronic Arfts, MS Office compatible utility provider Quick Office have all said they’ll be writing iPhone Apps. A high end, high speed iPhone release likely by mid year.
All happenings go in favour of iPhone officially marketed in Pakistan with a market share for the smart phone market. The Smart Phone market has major market share because of the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS released at 3GSM Barcelona in February 2008, which adresses lots of issues earlier. Microsoft is focusing on the Smart Phone handset market, which will easily take off in the name of iPhone in Pakistan. Microsoft is the event sponsor of the CIO conference 2008 at the World Telecom Day Event, sounds like they’re ready for the threat. eMail: haroon.rashid@akunet.org
May 14th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
cool! i want one of em iphones!!!
saw one with a certain ms. president and have fallen in love ever since!
May 14th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I don’t suppose anyone would be excited of this distribution agreement, specifically when iPhone is already available in Pakistan
May 18th, 2008 at 4:42 am
I think it is very much possible as Osama has said because Warid has already distributed platinum coated Motorolla sets in Congo on its launch. Since officially unlocked sets of iPhone are about to be released in the international market, i think offering this into Pakistan will surely be a good option.
Moreover, the recent opening of official Apple Store in Lahore in collaboration with Raffles shows their interest in this market. Now that they are selling their ipods through their official store, i am sure selling iPhones won’t come as surprise to us.
The real questions is as to why Warid will think of going ahead with this deal? And what value they will get out of this deal keeping in mind the fact that iPhone is available in market.
In the end, a remarkable site as i just found it out after a friend referred me to it.
July 12th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I still have iPhone 3G with me hahahahahaha
July 14th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
hi Mr. Sad,
can u tell me from where u buy iphone 3G,
can i…?
reply plz
thanxxX
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
i want to do internship
i m doing B.E(Telecom.)
i passed 4 semester
my cgpa is 2.59
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:25 am
want to buy iphone,so want to know that if without breaking contract you bring the mobile to pakistan,than wat will be the problem. means except unlocking it wat we vll have to do to make it workable in pakistani networks
July 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
iPHone 3G is available every where especially if you visit Hafeez Center Lahore.
In the start of this year Apple was talking to Mobile Zone for the distribution as they didn’t want to handover the distribution of iPhone to Raffles so they just made them happy with laptops and ipods. So far company hasn’t reached any agreement with Mobile Zone.
Apart from iphone Other manufacturers have also introduced similar sets like Samsung Omnia i900 or HTC Diamond and they are being introduced officially in Pakistan.
I believe this will hit iPhone’s pace. you can check it here
http://www.apnawaqt.com/content/gallery/More%20Magzine/Page-40.jpg
July 25th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Mudassar Jahangir, do you know the price of iPhone 3G in hafeez center? Is it cheaper than the older version?
July 25th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Saad, last week i checked from the market, it was around Rs. 52,000. If you need it i’ll send you the updated price.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Mudassar jehangir , i want to know
the price of iphone 3G and nokia e90
i want to buy a new cellphone
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:45 am
To be very honest and a person who has closely watched apple since a long time. Apple would be happy to lose pakistani business but will not give the iphone 3G to warid. As warid is not really good at marketing and secondly Warid is not as agressive as Telenor in introducing new services… If you know apple really well then a carrier like Warid is against their ego…
An important aspect that comes to my mind is that since Apple wants to promote a certain culture (the iPod culture) pakistan as a developing country is not lucrative as we some social problems which are against the ipod culture… (We all know them really well)
Lastly, apple wants carriers to upgrade their networks to 3G as a basic requirement for getting the distribution, and if you can remember telenor brought Edge to Pakistan long before mobilink and others. I don’t really think warid would be so interested and then the carrier has to purchase some equipment from apple for visual voicemail. come on, you are using assumptions to come up to a conclusion which is not logically correct. I personally believe Telenor has a much greater chance to bring iPhone to Pakistan then Warid… I would buy an iPhone if I saw Ali Zafar having an iPhone 3G in Telenor advert rather than the fat guy using iPhone in McDonalds;)
Just my 2cents… I may be wrong but if you know china mobile has finally secured iphone for mainland china… But who can say anything about apple if you see the distribution stats they have mostly given iphones to largest and oldest carriers of a country… (At&t, rogers of canada) maybe mobilink might get it!!!
Umer
August 11th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
hiya is iphone available in the city of Quetta,pakistan?
August 20th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Good comparission guys but Warid will do it in a smart way. The way other cant even with aggressive maketing compaigns. See what happen when Warid Zem it…………..
August 20th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
I believe Warid will desperately welcome the iPhone deal but at the same time Apple’s management is too conscious. They have hired a new guy for the iPhone. The previous one is just taking care of other Apple’s products which are being distributed by the Raffle.
Apple will consider the reputation of the company while choosing the distributor in Pakistan because this was the reason they dropped Raffle in this category. I believe they will be very cautious in case of Warid looking at their past performance. Telenor and Warid started simultaneously, former is number 2 now and latter is at 4th position in terms of subscribers.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
The people of iRaffles in Lahore said the iPhone (3G) is coming to Pakistan in December, they had no details though on who would be the carrier yet. Well if the phone is coming then their must be a carrier right ?
August 25th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
UPDATE: I just checked with the people at iRaffles and they said it can be used with any sim
August 31st, 2008 at 9:40 am
If this iphone will be i December then we are ready to buy but we need all guaranties like SingTel have and also in india vodaphone and Airtell have.. except sim locking means only warid sim will run at this set is not the right decision.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:48 am
But isn’t Warid also offering Blackberry now? I was told Blackberry was the reason why Mobilink didn’t get the deal…
September 9th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
can any 1 tell me that where i can buy iphone 3G in karachi…
September 9th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
can any 1 tell me that where i can buy iphone 3G in karachi…
September 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
google it :p
September 12th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I WAS AT HAFEEZ CENTRE, LAHORE THE OTHER DAY TO CHECK OUT THE LATEST PRICES FOR APPLE IPHONE 3G.
THE PRICES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
APPLE IPHONE 3G 8GB IS 75,000 RS/-
APPLE IPHONE 3G 16G IS 85,000 RS/-
I HAVE GOOD SOURCES IN USA AND I CAN GET YOU THE IPHONE 3G FOR 10,000 RS/- CHEAPER THEN SHOPS IN HAFEEZ CENTRE.
IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN BUYING PLEASE EMAIL ME:
saad4355@gmail.com
IM FROM LAHORE AND PICKUP OF THE PHONE WILL BE ARRANGED.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Well…i would simply say that instead of buy such an expensive phone which is also without warranty…would not be a good idea. Almost same features are available in Touch Diamond and Samsung Omnia which are half the price of iphone 3G. What is the use of 3G when such a network is not available in Pakistan for another year or so.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Hi Mudassar,
The Iphone 3g has a built in Ipod aswell. And as far as my experience goes no mp3 player or mobile can beat its quality.
And HTC touch diamond is available in some shops of hafeez centre for 65,000
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
THE PRICE FOR IPHONE 3G 8GB HAS DROPPED.
PRICE IS NOW AROUND 57,000
I CAN ARRANGE ANY QUANTITY IF ANYONE NEEDS.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Guys , I suggest you wait till December when the iPhone officially comes to Pakistan , It will be avalible for only 16,000 Rs with warranty and everything from iRaffles (authorized apple reseller) in Lahore. The best part is that it can be used with any Sim just like any other mobile phones
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
*(May ik din loat k aoon ga)*
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