Du and Etisalat reveal iPhone 4 plans for UAE

Finally the wait is over for customers interested in iPhone 4 in UAE. Both telecos, du and Etisalat, have revealed their iPhone 4 offering before the sales start this coming Saturday September 25.

Before today, only Etisalat had publicly stated that they would start selling iPhone 4 on Saturday. Today du also introduced their offering and said that they will also start selling iPhone 4 September 25.

Getting the full picture of all the options is not an easy task but here is our understanding of what the two companies offer as of right now.

Etisalat offers low upfront price with contract

Etisalat was first out today with a press release detailing their iPhone 4 offering, giving customers a number of options for post-paid plans on a one-year contract with different combinations of included voice minutes, SMS text messages and data.

For example, opting for plan 3 for the 16GB iPhone 4, a customer would pay AED 5,388 over the first year. In contrast, they could pay AED 3,237 over the same period if they go for plan 1. There is obviously a difference in included minutes, SMS and data between the two packages but that is also a highly significant cost over the span of the one-year contract, 60 percent more for plan 3 in fact.

For the 32GB model the percentage difference is slightly lower. The higher capacity iPhone 4 cost AED 3,587 on plan 1 and AED 5,378 on plan 3 over the first year.

It should be noted that what Etisalat calls “Unlimited data” is subject to a fair usage policy of 2GB. This is the same amount of data that Etisalat included in their iPhone 3GS plans. Etisalat has however offered “unlimited” data only plans with a fair use limit of 10GB.

Etisalat also said in their press release that current customers with iPhone 3G and 3GS postpaid contracts will “soon” be offered a “tailor-made option” for how they can upgrade to an iPhone 4 plan. They also said that they’re only announcing post-paid plans for now with details of pre-paid options coming “soon.”

Get more data with du

The other telecommunications company in the U.A.E., du, also revealed their iPhone 4 plans today. Starting from September, customers will be able to get Apple’s latest smartphone for AED 2,449 for the 16GB model and AED 2,849 for the 32GB model. As they did with the 3GS plans last year, du has gone a different route than Etisalat, selling the smartphone at a set price regardless of plan.

In terms of plans, du offers a range of options for business as well as individual customers, including a pre-paid option.

If you’re a business customer, du offers iPhone 4 16GB for AED 699 and the 32GB model for AED 999 upfront cost and a range of options of monthly payments. The plans range from AED 300 to AED 600 per month with national voice minutes, international minutes, as well as SMS ranging from 125 to 500. All business plans come with unlimited national data.

For individual customers the options are Elite Super 100 and Standard Elite detailed in the table below.

Du’s Regular and Silver/Bronze/Gold Elite plans are slightly different as they offer customers a way to pay more per month and get a more special number the more they pay. A monthly commitment is the minimum a customer pays to be on a certain level. Each level comes with a certain credit that is automatically applied each monthly bill and a certain amount of data. In terms of data, du has kept the “unlimited” data option, which has a 10GB fair use policy attached.

Du did also reveal their Pay as you Go offering for iPhone. With a monthly spend of AED 100 customers can choose between 80 minutes international calls, 400 minutes national calls or 800 national SMS per month.

Existing du customers may be disappointed in knowing that there is no trade-in program offered. Du revealed on their Facebook page that “ We don’t have a trade-in program for the iPhone. You will need to buy the new iPhone 4 to avail of the free data offer.”

Demand uncertain

It’s unclear what the demand is in the U.A.E. for iPhone 4 with the official launch just a day away. Mere weeks after it was introduced by Apple in June it was available locally on the gray market. Prices were initially very high but have gradually come down. The pricing offered by both du and Etisalat now represent very price-competitive range of plans for customers who will also get the reassurance of local warranty and service.

Today Etisalat said on Twitter that their registrations for iPhone 4 were full but that there would be phones available in their stores come Saturday even for customers who have not registered. Du did not accept any reservations or pre-orders and just referred interested customers to go to stores on Saturday.

Although neither press release mentioned this it’s safe to assume that owners who already have an iPhone 4 will not be able to get on these plans and will have to stick to the options available for all customers. This was the case previously with all iPhone plans from both operators.

Etisalat was the first telecommunications company in U.A.E. to offer iPhone. They introduced iPhone 3G in February 2009. Both du and Etisalat started selling iPhone 3GS in October 2009.

The launch of iPhone 4 in U.A.E. has been highly anticipated ever since Apple introduced their latest smartphone in June and said it would roll out to 88 countries by September.

Du as well as Etisalat has been mum on the subject of when they would actually start selling iPhone 4 other than stating it would be in September.

As no communication on the matter has been forthcoming from neither telcos nor Apple, speculation has been that supplies of iPhone 4 are very limited and that’s the main reason why the telcos are not doing any big launch now.

When du introduced iPhone 3GS in October 2009 they started with a campaign on Twitter, which encouraged customers to pre-order online and have a chance to win an iPhone.