I mentioned this to the girls over at Globe the last time we had a thanksgiving dinner. Since Laptops with built-in HSDPA cards are starting to come out, would it not be a good marketing idea to bundle these rigs with SIM cards.
HP is coming out with one model, Compaq 6400, while Lenovo is partnering with Cingular to do the same. Dell signed a deal with Vodafone to offer the same 3G-ready laptops (Dell Latitude D420) and I think Acer has one too.
If them telcos can easily snag new customers by bundling cellphones with postpaid plans even at very expensive plans (Php5k a month and up), it’s also possible to bundle laptops with the same postpaid accounts. Globe tried it last month with a ThinkPad + HSDPA Card + Samsung Z560. I suggested they could do this on a permanent basis.
Telcos selling laptops aside from cellphones? Why not?
I believe Globe already sells a HP laptop as part of its Visiblity bundle?
PLDT has been bundling laptops and PCs with WeRoam, DSL, etc. for some time.
That will be a nice option. I would love it if the mac will have built-in HSDPA cards too! Good thing Globe Visibility works with Macintosh ;)
I would be interested with them since my current work requires a number of our people to be connected always regardless of location (but dependent on signal of course). We’ve been looking into the 3G option for a possible project for the La Mesa forest, but sadly, we don’t get signal in the middle of the forest (which is still part of Quezon City). I’m not sure if this will work at all even, but other parts of our operation will surely benefit on the higher bandwidth.