February 26, 2009
The Etisalat Apple iPhone 3G saga…
Data over priced?
… continues over at shuffle|gazine but here’s what I believe should have happened in any case…
If it were me and if I wanted to make a name from all of this and make the smoothest launch of the iPhone 3G globally and stun others, I would understand that there’s only one Apple iPhone 3G and it would do well with just one major data plan.
If I own any other device or even the unlocked iPhone 3G device, I can convert my Wasel connection to post paid, sign Etisalat’s Unlimited Broadband package at AED. 460/- a month and know at the back of my mind that anything beyond 10GB of data is going to become a big menace on my bill.
Looking from a pricing perspective, Etisalat are willing to let a 3G customer use 10GB of data at AED. 460/- per month. This is given and they don’t mind signing as many contracts as would come their way.
To make everyone win, Etisalat should have looked at what they were willing to offer on the iPhone plan in terms of free minutes and sms and dropped the whole idea by not offering any talk time or text credits. This would have allowed them to considerably reduce their cost (though they may have a good profit margin here and do have) on the AED. 460/- for 10GB and reinvest this into a better price for the ‘one’ iPhone 3G package that they’d want to sell and we’d want to buy - at any cost!
So, my package for the Etisalat Apple iPhone 3G would have been as follows:
Apple iPhone 3G 8GB: AED. 2,599/- for the device
Etisalat iPhone 3G 10Gb Data Plan: AED. 349 per month
Excess usage over 10GB: AED. 5 dirhams per 500Mb
Apple iPhone 3G 16GB: AED. 2,999/- for the device
Etisalat iPhone 3G 20Gb Data Plan: AED. 599 per month
Excess usage over 20GB: AED. 9 dirhams per 1Gb
I would introduce three installment plans for 1 and 2 years preferably with higher prices on the device. Current iPhone 3G users would be able to sign up for any data plan regardless of whether they have an 8GB or 16GB iPhone. 2G users would be able to use the EDGE network for the same rates.
This would have been an amazing product launch that would have sailed across the UAE as a winner.
Alas!
