Etisalat mobile phone to be launched in the UAE

UAE Telecom Company Etisalat has announced that it will launch a mobile phone under its own brand name, in the UAE market.The company has not revealed the name of the manufacturer, though.

Etisalat has said that the Etisalat phone, that will be launched in the third week of October 2009, will be available at a price of AED300 ($ 82).

Photo:iPhone launched in the UAE via Etisalat

“We should launch this phone within a week and it will be branded an Etisalat phone,” Omar Al Muzakki, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, Etisalat, was quoted by Emirates Business, as saying.

Muzzaki further added that this was the first time since 1996 – when the company had stopped selling its own handsets that were customised for Etisalat – that the company was returning to that strategy.

Emirates Business quoted Muzakki as saying that oversupply of handsets and a lack of consumer confidence in many products had pushed Etisalat towards customisation of devices.

“Our priority is to satisfy our customers in terms of the trust they need from Etisalat. The UAE market is open and there are millions of handsets. But when you introduce a handset branded Etisalat the customer will feel confident in its after sales and the price. This is why our first offering is in a low-price bracket,” Muzzaki said.

The Etisalat mobile phone will come with a customizable user interface along with broadband applications,and services from Weyak, Etisalat’s interactive portal.

On October 8, 2009, Etisalat, with HTC Taiwan, had launched the Android phone, HTC Magic, in the UAE. The HTC Magic is the first Android phone to be launched in the Emirates.