VietNamNet
Bridge – “Vietnamese mobile service providers have fallen into the trap set by
the ‘bitten apple’” is the conclusion which has become a hot topic on
information and communication technology (ICT) forum.

The club
of ICT journalists yesterday, December 23 announced the 10 most important ITC
events in 2010 selected by local press agencies. And the most sensational news
was that Vietnamese journalists believe that two Vietnamese mobile service
providers have sprung the trap set up by Apple in distributing iPhones.

With 321
scores, the comment “Vietnamese mobile service providers have fallen into the
trap set by the ‘bitten apple’” has been listed among the top 10 ICT events in
2010 selected by the club of ICT journalists.

On March
24, 2010, VinaPhone and Viettel announced the sale prices of iPhones with
service packages. However, the fact that the two Vietnamese mobile service
providers list their in Apple’s iPhone distribution network, according to
journalists, should be seen as a failure for the service providers. The
journalists believe that for the first time in their operation history, the
service providers have to share profit with Apple by subsidizing iPhone prices.

Meanwhile,
Apple has been providing iPhone in dribs and drabs.. Local newspapers have
reported that customers have to queue up for iPhones, which resembles what was
seen in the subsidization period many years ago.

Journalists believe that the unattractiveness of iPhone distribution in Vietnam
was the main reason that explains why MobiFone, also a big mobile service
provider, finally decided against selling iPhones. journalists believe that the
telecom company had predicted the problems and accepted to pay fines to Apple.

The
conclusion by ICT journalists has made VinaFone and Viettel dissatisfied.
VinaPhone has denied the opinion that it has suffered from iPhone distribution,
saying that the distribution of iPhone products has brought many business
opportunities to the company (subscribers, turnover, branding and profit).
VinaPhone has affirmed that the decision to become the official distributor of
Apple in Vietnam was a “right and strategic decision”

VinaPhone
said it is proud of bringing to Vietnam’s market high-tech products which have
high quality, reasonable prices, preferential service packages and good
maintenance services. Besides iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, VinaPhone has the right
to distribute other iPhone series in the future, and it is considering
distributing other well known products of Apple.

VinaPhone
said that the supply shortage is not only occurring in Vietnam, but all over the
world. VinaPhone is negotiating with Apple to import more products in the time
to come. More than 2000 products have been imported over the last week. The
number of imports per month will be increasing in the time to come in accordance
with Apple’s commitments.

Viettel,
also an iPhone official distributor, has also affirmed that the distribution can
bring real profit to the company.

“Before
deciding to become the official distributor, we had to thoroughly consider the
policies set by Apple. No one can say that we have fallen into the trap of Apple
when distributing iPhones,” representative from Viettel said.

The ICT
journalists’ club yesterday selected the 10 most importatn events in 2010. These
include many other events, including the tightening of the promotion campaigns
launched by mobile service providers, the new policies applied in telecom
sector, and the withdrawal of SK Telecom from S-Fone network. Especially, the
affair of FPT purchasing EVN Telecom’s stakes was also cited as one of the most
important events.

Source:
VnMedia