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Smart spent a bazillion for the iPhone 4S launch

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief December 17, 2011 · 2 min read

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It’s no secret that Smart was so excited to have the iPhone 4S on their stable so they had a huge welcome party during the Camp Out event at the Rockwell, Powerplant at midnight of December 15, 2011.

On the eve of the big night, they closed up the entire Powerplant Mall to make way for people to camp out and get their iPhone 4S. It’s probably the biggest tech event I’ve ever seen this year.

They got free buffet food from Burgoo, Sumo Sam and Cibo, overflowing coffee from Starbucks and Coffee Bean, drinks from Booze Booze Booze, free movies all night (Mission Impossible), free games at the arcade and a concert. It was a smart way to keep people who were waiting for the release of the iPhone 4S be entertained, comfortable and relaxed.

There was also a huge raffle to all those who registered with a ton of Apple products to be given away as well as a brand new Subaru Imprezza STI.

At the strike of midnight, the first 10 people who lined up also got a surprise gift from Smart — first 3 folks for a 27″ iMac, second 3 subscribers got a Macbook Air, while the rest got a PS3 and XBox 360. MVP was also there to greet everyone and take some interviews. They also flew in international DJs to fill the entire mall will cool music.

The party lasted until like 4AM in the morning of Friday (we were interviewing the waiters & servers and they told us they were transferred from other branches to man the Powerplant branch for the whole event).

Smart managed to get the attention of everyone with their iPhone 4S launch. I’ve never seen much support for a product launch ever. There was even a 4 full page ads on the Manila Bulletin the following day (with front page spread). Smart must have spent over Php20 million to pull this off (that’s just my guess).

Disclosure: Smart gave members of the media and VIP guests an iPhone 4S each. I also received and accepted the same iPhone 4S (worth Php33,200).

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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50 Comments

Marc Louie · 14 years ago

Globe din ako kasi most of my friends are Globe.. Pero super ok yung plan ng SMART.

Tapos comparing speed test ng DL speed for Globe and SMART for iP4S, yung SMART umaabot 7.2Mbps which is really fast compared to Globe

jayb · 14 years ago

still Globe. . :D

jonaflormicfren · 14 years ago

Is this action enough to draw crowd and subscribers that will like iPhone 4S with Smart.

emil · 14 years ago

not really. globe padin attention ng mga tao.

angry birds · 14 years ago

ah globe pa rin attention ng mga tao, kaya pala pinaguusapan na mas mura sa smart yung IP4S :)

bibbo · 14 years ago

Overheard na wala daw chrismas party mga employees ng smart. O well ganon talaga sana lang bigyan na lang sila tigisa ni mvp

ocommon · 14 years ago

kung sana binaba na lang nila ang price ng iPhone 4s, eh di mas marami sanang nakinabang kaysa sa magarbong party na yan tsk..tsk..

Tmcr7 · 14 years ago

Bro, mas mababa presyo ng prepaid iphones ng smart kesa sa globe at sa greenhills. Mas sulit din yung plan 2,500 nila kesa sa globe.

TJ · 14 years ago

For Globe’s event, it was a great launch event, but by no means comparable to Smart’s. Globe launched theirs at the Ayala Museum. There were int’l DJs too, but no giveaways. I mean, Smart rented out a mall and gave out tons of gadgets and a car for Pete’s sake.

For what it’s worth though, #globeiphone4s trended. Launch-wise, Smart won hands down.

Andre · 14 years ago

was the event open to everyone?

and i havent read anything on how Globe’s event compared at all?

kobe67 · 14 years ago

yeah, i think it is a windows machine and its for their transactions.. we all know that many users use windows machine for their businesses (database).

jericho · 14 years ago

3rd pic – are those windows PCs on their front desk?

Les · 14 years ago

it’s not an opening of an apple store idiot!

les · 14 years ago

im a faggot

herbert · 14 years ago

they gave away apple products but look at their computers. xp.

Les · 14 years ago

Why? Are you just jealous you didn’t get an Imac? loser.

shakey · 14 years ago

Wow! Yan ang launch! :D

Tsaka they can earn bazillions daily kaya wala sa kanila yang ginastos nila.

CarloBlogg Online3.0 · 14 years ago

Wow! Smart really gave their iphone 4s launch full attention- just imagine the magnitude of this whole event. Grabe free movies, arcade, and a concert? tapos may giveaways pang macs? That’s what you call an Event haha :))

Rhynax · 14 years ago

This news makes me wanna go back to smart but I can only do so after 2 years. Hay. Globe sucks. :(

Mike · 14 years ago

As if they would themselves to waste money on those events. They are also thinking of profit too by God knows what features or charges they’ll give you in the near future.