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Market now awaiting 4G iPhone
The market has made no special response yet to an announcement by Viettel that it will be decreasing the 3G iPhone price. Some traders said that they are awaiting a new 4G iPhone, so they are not really interested in joining the race to sell 3G and 3GS iPhone.
In HCM City, the Apple iPhone market has remained quiet. Thanh An, the manager of a shop specializing in selling high-tech equipment on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, said very few people seek to purchase iPhones these days.
“Sometimes we receive clients who ask to purchase 3GS, while no one asks about 3G. People nowadays are interested in [the] 4G iPhone only,” he said.
“We have received a lot of orders, and we are expecting the day when 4G iPhones are officially marketed in the US. We will import 4G iPhones right after they are marketed to sell on the domestic market,” he added.
Dung, who specializes in selling Apple iPhones online, said that after information leaked that a white 4G iPhone may have appeared in Vietnam, many Vietnamese people attempted to purchase such an iPhone. However, Dung said that the white iPhone is a Chinese product, and that the real product may appear by the end of June.
In Hanoi, after Viettel announced it would be decreasing the price of the iPhone 3G 8GB model and the 3GS 32GB edition, distributors of phones carried by individuals across international borders purchased outside Vietnam have not, it appears, had any effect on the market for iPhones, despite the fact that the smuggled phones retail for a higher price than their official counterparts.
In Vietnam, there are two kinds of markets. The first is the market which sells products carried across borders by individuals who travel abroad and then return to Vietnam. The second one is the market which sells authorized electronics purchased directly from manufacturers. Prices on products sold through official retailers are considerably lower, and such vendors provide their customers with post-sale services and assurances.
At Asia Telecom Centre, the iPhone 3GS is now selling at 17.9 million dong, while the 3G 8GB has run out. An officer of the centre said that the price will not decrease any further, because the price has already fallen as low as it can.
At many unofficial outlets which purchase their products outside the country, the quoted prices of iPhones are also higher than the new prices applied by Viettel. The 3G 8GB iPhone, for example, is selling at 11.8-12.8 million dong, while the 3GS 32GB iPhone goes for 13.5-17 million dong through Viettel.
Some iPhone traders said the market is now awaiting Apple 4G products, meaning they are uninterested in reducing 3G prices.
Dang Thanh Tung from Goc Nhin Moi Centre at No 37 Nguyen Khuyen in Dong Da district in Hanoi has advised people not to purchase 3G iPhones right now, because he believes the products will decrease in price by the end of this month with the anticipated appearance of the iPhone 4G.
vietnamnet, VnExpress
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