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Solid Group launches Dual Active SIM phone

THE ANNOUNCEMENT came a few weeks ago in the form of splashy print ads in several dailies. The arrival of the country's first Dual Active SIM (DAS) phone was met with much interest but mostly from certain mobile phone users.

"It's really targeted at those who carry two phones," said David Lim, President of Solid Group, Inc. The company is also responsible for bringing in brands like Sony and Samsung. It also owns MyDestiny cable and high-speed Internet.

Kevin Tan, the company's vice-president for marketing told BusinessWorld during the launch that a lot of Filipinos lug around two phones not because they have secret lives but because they want to separate their professional and private lives by using phones dedicated to business contacts or to family and friends.

"There are also others who prefer the convenience of a postpaid line but also want to be able to send unlimited 'text' messages using a prepaid line. They are also our target market," Mr. Tan said.

The company introduced three handsets under the MyPhone brand — the T11, T22 and T33 — but their star product is the second because it is the one that can support two SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) cards.

Other features of the T22 that is priced under P10,000 include a 2.4-inch LCD touch screen, stereo quality sound, a two-megapixel camera and GPRS.The company plans to bring in more designs in time for the holiday season. Mr. Tan said that they will be launching several entry level phones as well as a series of slide phones.

"According to the mobile phone dealers we've talked to, the bulk of their sales comes from handsets priced under P8,000." Aside from the Philippines, Solid Group, Inc. exports the China-made handsets to Europe and the US .

- BusinessWorld: October 9, 2007 (Raoul J. Chee Kee)