BANGKOK – IPhone fanatics lined up in their droves across Australia, Singapore
and Hong Kong to pick up the latest version of Apple Inc’s smartphone Friday.
But enthusiasm also raged in Thailand – a country where the iPhone 5 won’t go
on sale until later this year.
Customers here are flocking to
crowded shopping warrens such as Mahboonkrong in downtown Bangkok to place
deposits on phones smuggled in from places such as Hong Kong, Singapore and
even the United States. One vendor in MBK – as it is known – said his team will
try to bring over 100 phones into Thailand, and so far more than 80 people have
handed over deposits of 5,000 baht, or $160, per phone.
This contraband comes at a price,
however. The an unlocked, top-end 64 gigabyte iPhone 5 will cost 43,000 baht,
or $1,387, compared with about $927 in Hong Kong. The cheaper 16GB version goes
for 35,000 baht, with the 32GB version selling for 39,000 baht.
“There is very high demand here,
that’s why the prices are so high. Many people want to be among the first to
have the new iPhone, but nobody knows exactly when it will go on sale in
Thailand,” said a vendor who asked not to be identified, adding that this was a
“golden time” for MBK’s phone traders. “If you want one, you’d better make a
deposit now,” he said.
The first batch will arrive at
MBK at around noon on Saturday, traders said. “If you want to see some
pandemonium, come then,” one added.
The new iPhone will cost much
less when it makes its official launch in Thailand later this year, and will
set back customers around the same it costs them to get an unlocked iPhone 4S
at present.
What is less clear is when the
new phones will be available. Representatives at the DTAC network run by Total
Access Communications said they don’t know when they will be ready to sell the
iPhone 5 in Thailand. An official at rival network Advanced Info Service said
that it might be able to have the new phones available for subscribers at the
end of this month, potentially giving the first batch of iPhone buyers just a
couple of weeks of posing time before the rest of the country can get their
mitts on them.
Wilawan Watcharasakwet and James
Hookway
Business & Investment Opportunities
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