iPhone launched in Thailand, but poor 3G network quality mars the product

The long-awaited iPhone 3G has finally arrived in Thailand, with the third-ranked mobile operator True Move staging a gala launch that drew thousands of people and lots of attention.

Thailand

Apple reportedly negotiated for some time to get the phone into that country, but with the state of the 3HG support there, will it matter?

But despite its potential appeal in the Thai market, the iPhone 3G has raised some interesting questions, including how many Thai users can take full advantage of its rich features, due to spotty 3G coverage and lack of education about the phone’s advantages, and also the lack of heavy data related usage there.

Besides, given its steep price tag, another question arises: Does the iPhone make sense for consumers and operators in Thailand, where voice calls dominate mobile use, and data/Wi-Fi usage isn’t very high? We’ll see, but for the moment, Apple may want to keep an eye on this market to see if it really will benefit them in the long term.

The two largest operators in Thailand, Advanced Info Service (AIS) and DTAC, decided last year to scale down their investment on 3G network upgrades in light of the flagging economy and shrinking consumer spending, which may result in a large group of iPhone users without a fast, native network to use their gadget on.

Posted on Jan 19th, 2009 by Philip King in iPhone News | 4 Comments

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4 Comments to “iPhone launched in Thailand, but poor 3G network quality mars the product”

  1. on 20 Jan 2009 at 12:54 am1wombatdolphin

    I just returned from 2 weeks in Thailand and used an Australian legitimately unlocked iPhone 3G with Optus. Although no 3G was available there was unlimited data for 250 baht on my PAYG SIM – approximately AUS$10.70 per month on the Edge network – not bad value – unfortunately one annoying glitch meant that each time the signal was lost the iPhone required an iTunes sync – must have been a problem with the unlocking of the SIM somehow – overall using the True Move PAYG SIM with unlimited data was good

  2. on 23 Aug 2009 at 4:39 am2John

    Where is 3G available in Thailand? I heard it was limited to the central business district (CBD) in Bangkok, but I am not sure what that means. Does it mean just Sathorn to Sukhumvit to Siam Paragon, or something much more limited? Anyone know?

  3. on 28 Sep 2009 at 2:59 pm3Colin

    @wombatdolphin… Do you recall the exact name of the TrueMove PAYG SIM?

    I’m off to Thailand in a few weeks, and need an unlimited data SIM. I’ve looked at so many different SIM offerings from the main networks that I am bamboozled! (There are so many ’sub-brands’, and almost all of them focus on voice rather than data).

    thanks

  4. on 30 Aug 2010 at 1:07 am4Laser

What's your opinion?

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