VietNamNet Bridge – The iPhone 4 market has become scorching hot in Vietnam. Mobile phone service providers do not have enough of them to sell. The prices have increased several times.

A photo has been sent among Internet users these days which has received many amusing comments. The picture shows a Viettel’s employee who is talking to clients in the office - wearing a motorcycle? helmet.

“Perhaps he is afraid that someone would throw a brick in his head, because customers are angry that they cannot buy an iPhone 4,” one comment reads.

The author of the picture, a member of a telecom forum, took it when hewent to a Viettel’s shop to purchase an iPhone 4. Hewas told that the shop had ran out of them.

Of course, the Viettel employee was not protecting himself from a potential blow on his head when he was at the offie. This is just a funny comment. A source from Viettel, a big mobile phone service provider and one of the distributors of iPhone 4, said that the employee was wearing his helmet because he had just came into the office and being in a rushto serve clients he forgot to take it off.

However, a leader of the telecom company admitted that he understood why such a comment was made. The comment reflects the true current situation. Customers now cannot buy iPhone 4 from mobile service providers.

Many funny stories have been cited to illustrate the difficulties in purchasing iPhone 4. On the day when VinaPhone and Viettel began selling iPhone 4, a female employee of a big information technology firm, who was expected to give birth only a few days later, was still seen queuing to purchase a phone. When asked, the woman explained that she was determined to purchase an iPhone 4 from the service provider, because the sale prices are several million dong lower than the prices at private shops, while the quality is guaranteed. (Private shops are distributing the products which have been carried to Vietnam across the border by foreign travelers or the Vietnamese who return from foreign countries).

Meanwhile, a client, who registered to purchase an iPhone 4 online, came to the shop to make the payment and pick up her new phone, was told that she had to pay more than the previously announced price, because the seller has raised the prices. When the client was still thinking whether to buy the product, the saleswoman suggested that the she would purchase the registered product instead of the client.

The client later realised that if the saleswoman bought the product, she would then sell it to other people at a higher price, because the supply is very short.

A lmanager of VinaPhone said that the limited supply caused many tragicomic situations . “Only if we had been able to import tens thousands of those phones, there would be enough supply,” he said.

He said that he received a lot of requests from friends and relatives to help them get an iPhone 4. One time, he received a call from a person who threw insults at him because VinaPhone did not have enough phones to sell.

Nguyen Khac Hung, who lives in Hai Ba Trung district in Hanoi, said that mobile service providers are facing violent criticism from clients, who cannot understand why other people can purchase products, and they cannot.

Several days ago, VinaPhone unexpectedly raised the sale prices of iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 by 500,000-800,000. The price of iPhone 3GS 8GB has increased by 500,000 dong, while the prices of iPhone 4 16GB and 32GB have increased by 600,000 and 800,000 dong.

The new prices have been applied since November 23. This is for the third time, since iPhone 4 appeared on Vietnam market, that VinaPhone adjusts the sale prices. Explaining the decision, VinaPhone said that the dollar price have been increasing sharply, which has forced the service provider to pay higher for the imports. Meanwhile, it is very difficult to buy dollars from banks at quoted prices, making people turn to the black market

The first price adjustment was made on October 13, when the price of iPhone 4 with prepaid package increased by 200,000-500,000 dong. The second adjustment on October 25 applied to the products with post-paid packages.

A source from Viettel said it has not raised the sale prices, but it is still keeping a close watch over the current exchange rate performance in order to make suitable decisions.

Source: VnExpress