“Offering
affordable smartphones, which provide a wide range of features, has been a key
pillar of our 'Internet Everywhere' goal. The recent expansion of our 4G data
network, which now covers 92 per cent of our population, has also been critical
to our drive to increase broadband penetration in Jamaica”
Digicel CEO Barry
O'Brien commenting on Digicel reaching 1 million smartphones sold
I
guess that huge fire sale really moved a lot of DL750 smartphones in the dying
moments of the Fourth Quarter of 2014 as chronicled in my blog article
entitled “JA$6,950
DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE
Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.
This
as Telecom Provider Digicel has
declared that they now have achieve 1 million smartphones sold in the last
three (3) months of 2014 as noted in the article “Digicel
Jamaica's smartphone users surpass 1 million”, published Sunday, January
11, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.
This
announcement by Digicel CEO Barry
O'Brien coincides with the partnership between Digicel and the Wikimedia Foundation
to bring Wikipedia
Zero to smartphones users sans a
Data Plan, in a manner similar to Facebook Zero as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Wikimedia
Foundation partners with Digicel for Wikipedia Zero”.
Ok,
good to note, this differs from when Digicel
achieved their millionth Data Activation, for which Digicel feted 22-year-old Kellyon Smith a student of Church Teachers' College in
Mandeville on Tuesday September 2nd 2014 as reported in my blog article
entitled “Digicel
surprises 1 millionth Data Activation Customer - Church Teachers' College
Kellyon Smith as 2 millionth Data Activation is fast Approaching”.
Also,
the two millionth activation is also fast approaching, if it hasn’t already
passed.
Technically
that covers both Blackberries and smartphones as Jamaicans renew their Data
subscriptions every three (3) days to as long as a thirty (30) days, depending
on what Data Plan they use as noted in my blog article
entitled “Digicel's
JA$70 Data Plans vs LIME's JA$50 Data Plans - How to choose 3-Day and 30-Day
Data Plans in Jamaica”.
So
what does Digicel attribute this
achievement? A little known smartphone maker, Alcatel.
Digicel’s secret weapon
in their million man smartphone army – Alcatel One Touch and their hooked
To
put this achievement in perspective, this 1 million strong Army translates as
thus:
1.
20% growth in smartphones in the Fourth
Quarter of 2014
2.
45% of Digicel's Subscriber base is
smartphones
Most
of these smartphones are a part of the “DLXXX” series, starting with the DL600
which was launched back on Friday October 18th 2013 as stated in my blog article
entitled “Digicel
officially launches DL600 smartphones on Friday October 18th 2013 and JA$100
2-Day Data Plans - Ours is the Fury as Digicel’s DL600 secures their Throne in
this Game of Phones against LIME”.
The
DL700 followed soon thereafter on Friday December 11th 2013 as
stated in my blog
article entitled “Digicel
has launched the DL700, an upgrade to the DL600 on Friday December 6th 2013 -
The Alcatel One Touch Pop C3 is Digicel’s latest Unicorn that may be harder to
catch”, starting the trend of Digicel
using Alcatel One Touch Series as their OEM (Original Equiptment Manufacturer)
for their “DLXXX” line of smartphones.
Telecom
Provider Digicel eventually
reached the DL750 which was launched on Friday September 19th 2014
as chronicled in my blog article
entitled “JA$13,688
Digicel DL750 Launched – Alcatel One Touch Pop C3 with Free TV App, DL600
issues in X-Men Origins First Class Days of Future Past”.
However,
its lifespan was short-lived, mainly because the upgrade wasn't really worth
the price.
Enter
the DL800 and DL900 launched Tuesday December 2nd 2014 and Wednesday
December 3rd 2014 respectively as chronicled in my blog article
entitled “JA$6,950
DL750 and JA$8,250 DL800 on Sale at Digicel – Alcatel One Touch Pop C1 as ZTE
Force Awakens and Alcatel’s Empire Strikes Back”.
Dual SIM smartphonesc
cometh – MNP and LNP means smartphone gamechanger
Now
that 2015, the Year of the Sheep, has started off with Digicel adopting ZTE as another OEM,
this time for the DL800 as stated in my Geezam
blog article entitled “Digicel
launches DL800 aka ZTE Kis 3 Max second after Digicel DL900 on Christmas 2014”,
we may see yet another firesale by May 2015.
This
thanks to the coming of MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and LNP (Landline
Number Portability) by Sunday May 31st 2015 as stated in my blog article
entitled “Minister
Paulwell affirms MNP, LNP Coming May 31st 2015 - Why NPA TPPR, IXP Deadline and
VoIP Registration herald MNP, LNP for NANP Number Ranges and Competition”.
Customers
will be switching, actually porting, from one Mobile or Fixed Line Network to
another. To counter this, the DL900, which is actually the Alcatel Pop C7,
comes with an extra SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) slot based on my
inspection of the model as recorded in my Geezam
blog article entitled “Digicel
Launches DL900 aka Alcatel Pop C7 as Digicel DL750 on Sale for Christmas 2014”.
Digicel, expecting many to switch to
Telecom Provider LIME and their cheaper
Huawei Y330 smartphone which was on sale in December 2014 as stated in my blog article
entitled “JA$2999+GCT
Huawei Ascend Y330 Sale at @limejamaica - Digicel DL750, DL800 Sale makes
JA$6,907.92+GCT per month Samsung Galaxy Note 4 a Steal”, has decided to
meet customers half-way.
The
logic is clear: since the trend of Dual-SIM is inevitable and MNP/LNP is
approaching, one simple way to keep customers on Digicel's Network is to offer
Smartphones that can support multiple SIM Cards as argued since 2013 as per my Geezam blog article entitled “Trend
towards Dual-SIM smartphones Developing in Jamaica as MNP approaches”.
That
way, if they decide to switch, they can use the one phone to hold two (2) Digicel SIM Cards.
Most
likely too, the second SIM slot is for another Digicel SIM i.e. it's locked to Digicel’s Network. Digicel probably reasons that the
customers are less like to unlock the DL900, as the cost to unlock is more than
the cost of the phone itself.
This
strategy will be put to the test come May 2015, when MNP goes live as Digicel’s million man smartphone Army
marches forth.
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