A new mobile phone launched last week with an interesting proposition — two SIMs running on the same phone at the same time. While this idea is not actually new in the Philippines, Verzio wants to penetrate a the aggressive mobile market in the country.
Funny thing happened when I was heading for the press launch last week — got stuck in traffic due to a downpour and when I got the only remaining parking spot near the place, the security guard turned me away (he says it was reserved for another resto). So I headed back home. *heh*
Anyway, dual-sims have been around for ages. Enterprising mobile vendors in GreenHills have been selling them for years while others hack existing (esp. Nokia models) phones to be able to support two SIM slots. In fact, there have been mobile units which offer triple and even quad SIM (yup, 4 SIM cards in one phone!) from China spotted at VirraMall.
What Verzio is trying to do is addressing the growing market of dual-SIM culture in the Philippines. One model, the Duplii, is even 3G capable. Because of the eat-all-you-can promos being offered by Smart, Globe and Sun, consumers are encouraged enticed to carry an extra SIM card or sometimes even have two phones altogether.
So, it’s only economically sound to just get a single phone to hold your 2 SIM cards right? Well for most people, maybe yes. However, I can also see several reason why people have 2 numbers:
- One is a public number and one is a private number. (me!)
- Others have a personal number and another office number. (24/7 tech support, people working for telcos or related industries)
- Some have a dedicated number just for their special someone. Or, the other secret special someone (aha!).
- Hard core SMS users who only have Php15 a day budget for texting. (Text-chatters popularized by Sun Cellular’s All-Day All-Night Promo)
- And those who don’t actually need two numbers but are more gravitated to having two phone units because of specific features. (A QWERTY or Smart phone and a regular slim phone.)
The Verzio Duplii retails for P14,990 (US$ 350) while the Verzio Twinn, P11,990 (US$ 280). As for me, the benefit of having two phones is that I can turn off the other (public) one when I don’t want to be disturbed. *guilty*
It will be interesting to learn how much percentage of the market segment can Verzio attract — the selling point being it’s a cheap dual-SIM capable phone. So, let’s take a quick poll from our readers here who have 2 mobile numbers. Will you go for a Verzio or stick with your 2 mobile phones.
just bought this phone recently. Very good phone. i like the feature which have security code for text messages and your private files wherin no one can see your personal stuffs esp. your wife, i recommend to guys who have CHICKS SHOULD BUY THIS PHONE which will protect you from being caught by your wife. i guarranteed 100% safe to use, no matter what you put in your cp, it will be safe with a security code. This is the first time i have seen this features in a cp.REALLY GREAT.