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Smart spent a bazillion for the iPhone 4S launch

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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Avatar for Abe Olandres

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 considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

25 Responses

  1. Avatar for Marc Louie Marc Louie says:

    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

  2. Avatar for jayb jayb says:

    still Globe. . :D

  3. Avatar for jonaflormicfren jonaflormicfren says:

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

  4. Avatar for bibbo bibbo says:

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

  5. Avatar for ocommon ocommon says:

    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..

    • Avatar for Tmcr7 Tmcr7 says:

      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.

  6. Avatar for TJ TJ says:

    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.

  7. Avatar for Andre Andre says:

    was the event open to everyone?

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

  8. Avatar for kobe67 kobe67 says:

    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).

  9. Avatar for jericho jericho says:

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

  10. Avatar for herbert herbert says:

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

  11. Avatar for shakey shakey says:

    Wow! Yan ang launch! :D

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

  12. Avatar for CarloBlogg Online3.0 CarloBlogg Online3.0 says:

    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 :))

  13. Avatar for Rhynax Rhynax says:

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

    • Avatar for Mike Mike says:

      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.

  14. Avatar for mattscradle mattscradle says:

    Ok talaga itong move ng smart yung prepaid pricing din nila ng 4S halos hindi nagkakalayo sa price ng iphone (no contract) sa SG.

  15. Avatar for Jesus Jesus says:

    Nice! Now Globe has a competitor for the iPhone! Tama ng overpricing!

  16. Avatar for Dexter | Tech At Han Dexter | Tech At Han says:

    I like the disclosure part :

    Disclosure: Smart gave members of the media and VIP guests an iPhone 4S each. :)

  17. Avatar for jake jake says:

    How about the turn-over? Did they (Smart) sell enough iphones to cover the costs incurred?

  18. Avatar for Gian Gian says:

    How about the Globe launch party?

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