True sets 1m target for iPhone

By: SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN
Published: 15/06/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: Business
True Corporation is moving aggressively to push iPhone 3G sales with a goal of one million units of the Apple handset in two to three years.




‘‘We believe the iPhone will become a massmarket product by hitting the onemillion sale figure over the next two to three years,’’ says Mr Papon, who believes the 100,000-unit mark will be reached by the end of this year, propelled by the Thai-enabledOS 3.0 to be launched on Wednesday.

The company on Wednesday will introduce a new operating system, iPhone OS 3.0, featuring a Thai keyboard and allowing users to send multimedia messages and cut, paste and copy messages.

Users of all of the existing 50,000 iPhone 3G handsets signed up with True Move can get free upgrades to the new OS at True shops.

Papon Ratanachaikanont, deputy chief commercial officer, said the company expected its total iPhone sales to reach 100,000 units by the end of this year, helped by the new OS 3.0.

"We believe the iPhone will become a mass-market product by hitting the one-million sale figure over the next two to three years," he said.

He estimated there were around 250,000 iPhone users in Thailand, including those who bought grey-market units.

Thailand has posted the highest iPhone sales growth in Asia Pacific, and Apple's support for Thai-language keyboard reflects that success, Mr Papon said.

The one-million sales figure has nothing to do with the contract agreement True signed with Apple, which contained no minimum sales guarantee to the US handset maker, he said.

"Apple is our strategic partner. The company brings specialists in areas of technical, marketing and product development into our team in Thailand."

Mr Papon said Apple also saw high potential for True Move's WiFi network of 17,000 hotspots nationwide, which could serve the iPhone's internet-rich applications.

He expressed no worry about the solid sales of iPhone rival BlackBerry smartphones, saying the iPhone had the strength of rich data services enabling consumers to download entertainment applications via WiFi.

BlackBerry's main focus is on e-mail on slower-speed GPRS and Edge networks, targeting businesspeople.

True plans to introduce two new iPhone versions next month: a 16-gigabyte iPhone 3G and a 32-gigabyte model.

Mr Papon also clarified a recent report saying that Apple had cut the price of its current 8Gb handset by half to US$99. "The price tag was just a promotional tactic of the US cellular operator AT&T."

Indeed, he said the $99 package costs customers as much as 67,000 baht based on the US carrier's entry and activation fees plus internet airtime under a two-year contract.

In comparison, a customer buying an iPhone from True Move and agreeing to two years of services would pay only 37,000 baht in total, said Mr Papon.

51 new flu cases confirmed

By: BangkokPost.com

Published: 15/06/2009 at 01:38 PM

The Ministry of Public Health reported 51 new A(H1N1) flu cases on Monday, raising the number of confirmed infections to 201.

The Public Health Ministry also upgraded the influenza alert in Thailand from level B, which is an outbreak within a limited circle with only 10-15 patients to a group, to level C, which is an extensive outbreak as seen in the US, the UK and Japan.

On Sunday, the ministry confirmed 44 people had caught the virus.

Officials from the public health and education ministries and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration will meet in the afternoon to discuss measures to contain the outbreak.

Education Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said eight schools had now closed indefinitely because of the flu.

He asked teachers to take special care of students during this period.

The minister said he believed authorities could handle the situation.

The Education Ministry had emailed to more than 30,000 schools in the country, informing ways to tackle the H1N1 flu outbreak.

Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said the currently limited outbreaks of the influenza could potentially spread nationwide by next month. Health officials had been warned to be on the alert.

"The ministry will step up monitoring measures for crowded areas to prevent the spread of flu," Mr Sitthaya said.

People should take precautions to protect themselves, but there was no need to panic because the disease was curable.

Only the weak were really at serious threat from the virus, he said.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday also advised Thais not to panic about the growing number of swine flu cases.

The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority and State Railway of Thailand announced measures to prevent the spread of the virus on public transport..

Land Transport Department director-general Chairat Sanguanchue said the city bus operator had instructed all bus drivers and fare collectors to wear protective masks and clean all bus railings and doors with alcohol.

Om airconditioned buses, the ventilators must be turned on every ten minutes, and curtains must be removed for two weeks to wash out the dirt.

After each day's service, all buses, particularly the seats, must be properly cleaned.

SRT governor Yuthana Thapcharoen said train staff had been instructed to clean all carriages, seats, beds, toilets, sheets and blankets with disinfectant solution on a daily basis.

Emphasis on hygiene will be placed on trains running to and from Malaysia, he said.