Globe iPhone 4 Public Launch

Globe Telecom started handing out the new iPhone 4 to the public at 9am today with hundreds (and going to the thousands) lining/waiting to pick-up their handsets.

They also had a corporate launch last Friday but this one’s for the general public.

Globe arranged for 2 venues as pick-up points for the iPhone 4 release — there’s one in Shangri-la Makati and another one in New World Hotel (beside GreenBelt 3). A total of 450 Globe personnel were deployed to man 150 stations/booths for claiming and activating the handsets.

Globe reps claim this is their biggest product launch ever (bigger than the 1000+ iPhone 3G launch they had 2 years ago). But unlike the iPhone 3G launch, this one is much more organized and more prepared. People were comfortably seated and relaxed; and since it was inside the hotel, the atmosphere is less stressful despite the growing crowd.

The entire process of claiming the iPhone 4 was smooth and quick. There were so many Globe personnel to usher people around and they had catering from the hotel so there were lots of good food and bottomless brewed coffee.

I also claimed my unit from a retention plan and the whole process was done in 30 minutes. I asked the staff and they said it could go up to 90 minutes depending on the type of customer (new, switchers, retention, upgrades, etc) which will include the option of transferring/syncing contacts to the new micro-SIM.

From our estimates (based on the initial rate of activations), there could be somewhere around 1500 – 2000 people claiming their iPhone 4s today (9am to 9pm).

Unfortunately, the Globe rep I asked tells me Apple isn’t automatically extending the free bumper case to the Philippines (you need to claim it from the US as it’s only applicable there).

I also managed to switch my plan to My Fully Loaded 1799 from the old iPhone Plan 1599 to get the 16GB iPhone 4 at reduced rate. The 16GB iPhone 4 costs Php37,499USD 639INR 54,171EUR 609CNY 4,654 (free on Plan 3799 @ 24 months) while the 32GB is Php43,699USD 745INR 63,128EUR 709CNY 5,423 (free on Plan 5000 @ 24 months) on prepaid plan.

Related Stories:

• iPhone 4 Review
• iPhone 4 Corporate Launch
• The Math on Globe’s iPhone 4 Price
• Globe to launch iPhone 4 on September 26

Update: It’s been 11 days since I got the new Globe postpaid micro-SIM and it’s still not activated yet. I have contacted @talk2globe at least 3 times but have not gotten anything done. They might have forgotten about my account already.