iPhone 4S said to be most in-demand iPhone yet

Demand for the newest iPhone has reached record levels, increasing the chances that it may be the best-selling Apple product in the Philippines to date.

Ten days before the iPhone 4S hits the Philippine market, Ayala-led Globe Telecom said “Apple mania” had swept the country once again, with the number of pre-orders for the newest device having surpassed its predecessors.

This comes despite the lapse of Globe’s exclusivity deal with Apple over the iPhone in the Philippines. The company declined to reveal exact figures due to secrecy agreements signed with Silicon Valley-based Apple, but an official on Tuesday said orders were now in the “thousands.”

“Online pre-orders for iPhone 4S on Globe Telecom’s website hit fever pitch, with thousands signing up for the latest iPhone model in the first 36 hours of online pre-orders, outpacing the volume of orders when Globe launched the iPhone 4 last year,” Globe consumer business senior advisor Peter Bithos said.

Globe’s pre-order online site went live late last week, the same day rival Smart Communications put up its own registration site. Smart, the mobile phone subsidiary of market leader Philippine Long Distance Telephone Cop. (PLDT), will be offering the iPhone for the first time, giving current Globe iPhone users the option to switch to the bigger network.

“Globe is proud to be one of the first telecommunications companies in Asia to carry iPhone from the very start,” Bithos said.

“We know iPhone from inside out, we’ve had years to study the habits and patterns of our customers who use iPhone and we have great offers that combine mobile browsing with SMS and calls that really showcase the power of iPhone 4S,” he added.

The Philippines is included in the third batch of countries where the iPhone will officially be sold, although units have already hit the grey market.

Other countries getting the iPhone on December 16 are Brazil, Russia, Chile, Malaysia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey and Taiwan. By the end of 2011, iPhone 4S will be carried by 100 carriers in 70 countries worldwide.

Bithos said iPhone fans could expect an improvement in their user experience following Globe’s recent roll-out of its high-speed packet access-plus (HSPA+) mobile network, which started in April 2011. He said this would result in faster connection speeds and more reliable services.

Globe recently announced an aggressive $790-million network modernization and transformation program that would have the company’s base stations deployed nationwide to be HSPA+ and 3G-enabled in the next two years.