iPhone 4 CDMA not the choice of
Vietnamese players

Hoang Hai,
a hi-tech product trader, said he regretted purchasing 10 iPhone 4s from the US, because the products, which were carried to Vietnam
across the border by travelers, remain unsellable.

Hai said he
once hoped the deal would bring fat profit, because iPhone 4 CDMA have been
selling very well in the US.
However, the hope has not come true: at first, he intended to sell the products
at 12 million dong per product. However, he still cannot sell anything even
though he has slashed the sale price to 10 million dong.

The
noteworthy thing is that while iPhone 4s that run on CDMA technology, still
cannot catch the attention from the public, other iPhone 4 which run on GMS
technology, are selling nonstop, despite high prices at 16 million dong.

Why is CDMA
technology is less favored in Vietnam
remains a question to be answered.

“I made a
wrong move when deciding to trade CDMA based iPhone 4. The problem is that the
iPhone 4 CDMA cannot be unlocked in Vietnam, so that users can use
normal functions like making calls and receiving calls,” he said.

As the
iPhone 4s do not have SIM slots for SIM Gevey, it is just considered an iPod
Touch with good camera and an additional function of GPS (global positioning
system).

In
principle, there are also CDMA technology based networks in Vietnam, including the one by
S-Fone. However, hi-tech product players said that even though the iPhone 4 can
be unlocked to use S-Fone services,  the
weak network of S-Fone, plus dropped calls when using the iPhone 4 both would
make the iPhone 4 useful only for playing games or listening to music.

Even for
GSM-based iPhone 4s, experts also still cannot find effective tools to unlock it
in order to allow users to use original SIM.

iPhone 4
CDMA cannot be used in Vietnam

All the
experts whom VietNamNet contacted to ask about CDMA based iPhone 4 all said
they believe that it is impossible for iPhone 4 CDMA to run on S-Fone network
infrastructure.

They said
that it is even very difficult deal with unlocked iPhones, let alone locked
iPhone 4 CDMA with no SIM slot. These characteristics of iPhone 4 would be a
big barrier for technicians.

It is clear
that iPhone 4 CDMA will not be imported through the official channel and
distributed in Vietnam.
The product has no future in Vietnam,
analysts say.

However,
they think that it would be a good idea if those people, who do not need to
make and receive calls, but need the products as entertainment devices, use
iPhone 4 CDMA instead of iPod Touch.

With
powerful configuration, beautiful screen, the camera with high resolution and
GPS, it would be not a bad idea to spend 10 million dong to buy an iPhone 4
CDMA, if noting that an iPod Touch is worth 6.5 million dong already.

The iPhone
4 has been available in Vietnam
since last June, and has been selling very well.

VÆ°Æ¡ng Long