iPhone 3G to come later than July 11, no pricing yet--Globe
By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:46:00 07/10/2008
Filed Under: mobile phones, Telecommunications Equipment, Technology (general), Telecommunications Services
MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- There are no details yet on the pricing or the packages for the much-anticipated Apple iPhone 3G in the Philippines, a Globe Telecom executive told INQUIRER.net on Thursday.
"The Philippines is not part of that batch for the global debut. We will come later," said Manny Aligada, head of the customer engagement of Globe Telecom, in a telephone interview.
He said that while customers have been inquiring about its local availability, the mood here is more "subdued" because no dates have been specified for the Philippine rollout of the product.
The Apple iPhone 3G will debut in more than 20 countries including the United States on July 11.
The Philippines was listed among the other countries where the much-awaited Apple "smart phone" will be available.
Aligada said the Apple iPhone 3G will be available to pre-paid and post-paid subscribers.
Elbert Cuenca, who believes he was among the first users of iPhone in the country, had this to say about the local rollout of Apple iPhone 3G: "It would be too much to hope that the Philippines would be part of the July 11 rollout, considering only developed countries are part of that exclusive list. Not even Singapore or Australia will have iPhone 3G this early."
Globe Telecom and Apple announced last month that they will be bringing the Apple iPhone 3G to the Philippines later this year.
The Apple iPhone 3G, which operates on the third-generation (3G) mobile network, will also come with a built-in global positioning system (GPS) for location-based mobile services.
The iPhone 2.0 software includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, apart from hundreds of third-party applications built with the recently released iPhone software development kit.
Globe Telecom has more than 21 million mobile subscribers to date.
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