True Move iPhone 3G S launch set for August

He said True Move was still maintaining the prices of the current version of the 8-gigabyte and 16GB iPhone 3G devices at Bt24,500 and Bt28,500, respectively. The price will be cut if Apple decides to do so, he added.

During the week there was a report that Apple had cut the price of its current 8GB iPhone 3G mobile phones by half, to US$99 (Bt3,376). Papon explained that the price was in a promotional package in the US market offered by US cellular operator AT&T for its iPhone customers.

He said the news had caused a drop in the current iPhone 3G sales offered by True Move by 20 per cent per day for a short period. Thai techies anticipated that True Move would adopt the same price-cutting strategy.

True Move is the exclusive authorised cellular service provider of iPhone 3G devices in Thailand.

For the new versions, he said Apple had yet to inform True Move of the price range of the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3G S devices for the Thai market, but said it would be higher than the existing versions.

True Move, which launched the iPhone 3G in January, will allow existing iPhone 3G users to upgrade their gear with the new version of the phone operation system - the 3.0 version - from June 17, he added.

Papon said that though iPhone phone faced tough competition from other mobile-phone brands, he was confident True Move could still see brisk sales, especially among loyal Apple fans.

Thai people can buy iPhone gear from True Move with and without the air-time promotional packages. He said 60 per cent of True Move's iPhone 3G users use the 8GB gear and the rest use the 16GB version, unlike in foreign countries, where 60 per cent use the latter.

One telecom analyst said True Move's total handset sales in the first quarter surged to Bt592 million, up from Bt188 million in the same period last year.

According to the analyst, the company says 70-80 per cent of handset sales value in the quarter were contributed by the iPhone 3G devices.