The Maxis and DiGi iPhone 5 price plans are out, while we wait for Celcom Axiata to officially reveal their price plans as well, here are some iPhone stories.
Sources close to MalaysianWireless indicated that Maxis ordered the most iPhone 5 units in Malaysia followed by Celcom and DiGi. The estimates are that Maxis ordered more than 100,000 iPhone 5 while Celcom ordered 20,000-40,000 units followed by DiGi with 10,000-20,000 units. Some of the shipments have already arrived in Malaysia.
As for the iPhone 5 Registration of Interest(ROI) which took place few days ago, some 150,000 people registered for Maxis iPhone 5 while we believe less than 50,000 people registered for Celcom iPhone 5. These are huge numbers considering that both Telcos can offer better network experience in terms of voice and data service compared to DiGi.
On top of that, there’s one important reason why Malaysians should get the iPhone 5 from Maxis and Celcom. We will reveal more but for now, we can only say that LTE or Long Term Evolution on the iPhone 5 will be supported by these two telcos within the next few months. The LTE on iPhone 5 supports download speeds up to 100Mbps.
Apple does not reveal any official sale numbers, however it is believed that last year alone, some 1 million iPhones were sold in Malaysia. Maxis has the largest iPhone market share in Malaysia with over 60% and the rest are shared between Celcom and DiGi. If my calculations are right, Maxis sold more than 600,000 iPhones last year!
The iPad Mini can be pre-ordered today on the Malaysia Apple Online Store however it will only be shipped within the next 2 weeks. However, Apple did not reveal this. The iPad Mini will also be offered by the Telcos.
So far we know that Maxis and Celcom will offer the 3G iPad Mini and its highly possible that it will be available at the iPhone 5 launch! Official 3G iPad Mini pricing in Malaysia- 16GB(RM1399), 32GB(1699), 64GB(1999).
Back to iPhone 5, Celcom will launch the iPhone 5 at its Blue Cube outlet located at Sunway Pyramid on December 14. While no Celcom pricing has been revealed yet, customers can pre-order the iPhone 5 with a RM200 deposit starting today and get them self invited to the launch.
I will be at the Maxis iPhone 5 launch at CapSquare next week, how about you?
