Exclusivity, schmexclusivity, eh? Less than 24 hours after both Maxis and HTC Malaysia announced an agreement for an exclusive partnership where Maxis will be the only local telco to offer HTC devices with its postpaid plans starting with the flagship HTC One M8, U Mobile announced their own postpaid bundle for the same device – and with an arguably more attractive offer.
Last night, DiGi jumped into the bandwagon as well, teasing the One M8 with a “Stay Tuned” message on its Facebook page.
So much for exclusivity, then. Two out of Maxis’ three main rivals in the telecommunications industry have now both announced or intends to announce postpaid bundles for the HTC One M8, despite both Maxis and HTC sending out press releases to celebrate the occasion. So far, Celcom has not yet made any references to the HTC One M8 on both its website and Facebook page – but with the other two telcos openly mocking the agreement, what’s stopping Celcom from doing the same?
The centre of the tug-of-war between Malaysian telcos – the HTC One M8
It may well be that both U Mobile and DiGi have found a loophole within the fine print in Maxis and HTC’s agreement that emboldened both companies to offer the One M8. But here’s where it gets interesting. U Mobile has just removed the listing for the HTC One M8 on its website. There was no official statement, no announcements on its social pages…nothing.
[Update @ 12:07pm] The plot thickens. The HTC One M8 is back on U Mobile’s website, offering the same no-upfront-payment bundle as advertised yesterday.
And, given DiGi’s history of trolling, the teaser on its Facebook page could just be that – a tease.
We’ve approached Maxis and U Mobile for comments on the matter, and will update the post when we receive them.
