Cellular operators hope to cash in on iPad
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Three major cellular operators late this week launched the latest iPad tablet device to woo tech geeks.
Advanced Info Service (AIS), Total Access Communication (DTAC), and the TrueMove H 3G service brand of True Corp each was allocated about 1,000 units of the new iPad device by Apple in the first lot.
Pratthana Leelapanang, AIS vice president for the value-added service business, believes that the device will see hot sales.
Currently, about 5 million AIS customers out of 33 million own smart mobile devices. The number is expected to increase by another 2 million by the end of this year. Of the current 5 million smart mobile device users, about 10 per cent use tablets.
Recently, AIS estimated that 5 million smart phones will be sold in Thailand this year, while the number of tablet users is expected to exceed a million, up from about 500,000 last year.
DTAC senior vice president for device management Prapaprot Puprasert said the company is targeting sales of 40,000 to 50,000 units of the new iPad device this year. It got the first lot of less than 2,000 units from Apple.
DTAC has about 3.8 million smart-phone users, of which about 100,000 are tablet users.
According to Adhiruth Thothaveesansuk, TrueMove’s managing director, TrueMove H 3G service has highlighted its nationwide 3G-high speed packet access (HSPA) network and vast WiFi network and content to woo new iPad users.
Real Move, which provides TrueMove H 3G service, currently has about 1 million mobile phone subscribers, while AIS and DTAC have about 2 million and 1.8 million 3G subscribers, respectively.
