The same study also revealed that the country ranks eighth in terms of Twitter use.
As the texting, and now the social networking capital of the world, it comes as no surprise that the Netphone, a handset exclusively offered by wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart), continues to generate buzz among Filipinos since its launch over a month ago. Sales of the Netphone is brisk in its target segment, with more than 50% of Smart’s initial stock of Netphones already sold as of end-September 2011— prompting Smart to place additional orders to meet the increasing popularity and demand for the handset.
The Netphone is unlike any other smartphone in the market today thanks to SmartNet—a platform developed by Smart which includes a suite of applications that allows Netphone users to chat, check their Facebook and Twitter social stream without switching applications, post online updates, and much more for free.
“With the Philippines having an online population of 30M, Filipinos are without a doubt socially active online. However, most of these Filipinos only have access to social networking from their homes and Internet cafés. That’s why we came up with the Netphone, because we believe that social has to be mobile,”said Gio Bacareza, Smart Broadband Internet and Data Services Head.
What makes the Netphone even more appealing is that it was designed to cater specifically to Filipinos’ need for mobile connectivity. The Netphone features “Safe Browse” which, when activated prevents other applications outside SmartNet from accessing the Internet. With no applications accessing the web in the background users no longer have to worry about incurring extra data charges.
As a Smartphone
By itself, the Netphone 701 is already an excellent mobile phone: it runs on Android version 2.2 “FroYo”, allowing users access to over 300,000 applications for every need.
Physically, the Netphone 701 is also sleek in design. Measuring no more than 12.2mm thick, the phone features a 3.5-inch display and a 3.2 MP camera with autofocus.
With all these features the Netphone hype is expected to continue among Filipinos. The text messaging and social networking capital of the world has found the phone that is perfectly fitting for the country’s description.
The Netphone is available for only P9,900 on prepaid, or for free with a Smart Data Lite Plan 800 or All-in Plan 1200. For more information, visit http://www.smart.com.ph/netphone.
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