January 21, 200818 yr AIS in talks with Apple to sell iPhones SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN, Bangkok Post Advanced Info Service (AIS) has joined with strategic partner Singapore Telecom (SingTel) to bring Apple's much-touted iPhone to the region, including Thailand. Chief marketing officer Sanchai Thiewprasertkul said AIS has been in talks with Apple in the US for several months to win the rights to import iPhones. The iPhone has touched off a new design revolution, as it does away with keys and makes use of a large screen display. Mr Sanchai said that AIS, in collaboration with SingTel and the Australian mobile operator Optus, were discussing phone volumes, marketing terms and business model partnerships. He declined to elaborate, but said some conditions still could not be settled. Mr Sanchai said Apple usually asked operators to bundle iPhones with postpaid plans and share revenue with it. That model simply doesn't work in Thailand. ''Given our one baht a minute of airtime, it would not make sense and would be impossible for us to share revenue with Apple,'' he said, adding that more than 90% of mobile-phone users are prepaid. He also acknowledged that the Thai handset market was considered small compared with the 300 million people in the United States. Mr Sanchai also said that up to 60,000 iPhones have been smuggled into Thailand so far. They sell for about 22,000 baht, compared with only 14,000 baht in the US. ...." Full article http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/21Jan2008_biz22.php
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