Posts Tagged ‘hotlink’

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Love Meter And Mobile Jukebox

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

With a title like that, you’d think this was a post about something that was “NSFW” (not safe for work).  But I assure you it is not.  They are two new services from Maxis, for its postpaid and prepaid Hotlink customers.  Maxis says that these two services are “new” and “innovative”.  Check out the press release below for details.

MOBILE JUKEBOX AND LOVE METER, FIRST-IN-MALAYSIA INNOVATIONS FROM MAXIS AND HOTLINK

Maxis and Hotlink are giving Malaysians, even more engaging and original, new mobile services

Kuala Lumpur, 10 March 2010 – Malaysia’s leading communications provider, Maxis Berhad (‘Maxis’) is pleased to announce new firsts in valued-added mobile services, available to all customers of Maxis and Hotlink, on the full range of mobile devices that they carry. The creative new services, Mobile Jukebox and Love Meter, add to Maxis and Hotlink’s extensive range of subscription options, to further the variety of ways in which customers can connect and be enriched.

Mobile Jukebox

For only RM2 a month, the Mobile Jukebox allows you to access anywhere, anytime and listen to your favourite music from a constantly updated and expanded list of thousands of songs, at the preferential call rate of RM0.10 per minute. You’ll enjoy the best titles in your choice of Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese) and Tamil from the leading musicians of today in all key genres.

With Mobile Jukebox you won’t have to purchase a music/MP3 player or download particular software – likewise you won’t need to purchase and download music titles track by track. Instead, enjoy instant music on-the-go, in all major Malaysian languages, with just three keys needed to navigate between channels and songs and to add favourites to your own mobile music album or to replay a favourite.

Subscription to Mobile Jukebox is by dialing *100# followed by selection of ‘Mobile Jukebox’ and ‘Subscribe’.

You’ll then be offered a choice of languages, which when selected will bring up a choice of channels – thanks to the mobile music service’s repeat user intelligence feature, channels which you listen to most often will be tracked, and will be accessible first and within five seconds.

Love Meter

For only RM3 a month, Love Meter gives you an instant measure, for an unlimited number of calls, of how much interest is being experienced by the person to whom you initiated a call. During the call itself, you’ll be alerted to how engaged your friend or romantic interest is in the conversation with you, enabling you to respond more sensitively in return. Then right after your call, you’ll receive an SMS or MMS as preferred, confirming the Love Meter’s assessment in percentage terms. You’ll also receive a report of Very Low to Very High, in the specific areas of Anticipation, Concentration and Embarrassment, to help you understand the feelings of your call partner.

Customers who wish to subscribe, can simply dial *100#, select ‘Love Meter’, click on ‘Subscribe’ then select to receive the Love Meter’s report in either SMS or MMS. Then all it takes to activate the Love Meter at will, is to dial *143 followed by the call recipient’s number, reaching across Maxis and other service providers’ networks.

In a launch contest which ran from 18 January till Valentine’s Day on 14 February, Madam Soh Lee Beng from Segamat, Johor, won the grand prize of a pair of Tissot, his and her watches worth over RM2000, for accumulating the highest Love Meter scores across the month. She did this with the help of her 21-year-old son, who used Madam Soh’s phone to call his girlfriend and friends, liberally enjoying Love Meter’s features with the indulgence of family.

***

Said T. Kugan, Maxis’ Head of Products and Infotainment of the new services: “Mobile Jukebox and Love Meter were designed together with our leading application developers, to enrich the options and experiences which are possible with feature-rich mobile services.”

“Mobile Jukebox extends our commitment to mobile entertainment, and to making it easier to enjoy more content on an affordable basis, with fewer barriers and more personal choice. Love Meter taps into an essential aspect of communications with fun and ease, helping people to listen to each other better when in conversation. We hope that both these new and original services will delight our mobile communities.”

For more information, please visit www.maxis.com.my

Anyone of you out there using this yet?  Any feedback?

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Pay RM 2,464, Get Blackberry Bold 9700 + 1 Year Premium BIS Service

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Hotlink, Maxis’ prepaid label, is having a promotion at the moment – pay RM 2,464, and get the new top-of-the-line, universally acclaimed Blackberry Bold 9700 smartphone, with 1 year subscription to the Hotlink prepaid Blackberry Internet Service (BIS).  Actually, with this deal, it’s not prepaid anymore, it’s more like contractual postpaid, I think.  But that’s beside the point.

Is it worth it?  Let’s do the math:

The retail price of the 9700 is RM 2,099 according to Maxis, although Celcom says it is RM 1,988.  But let’s take Maxis’ word for it.  A month of premium BIS service on Hotlink costs RM 98, so a year of service would cost RM 1,176.  Subtract this from RM 2,464, and you get RM 1,288, which is what you pay for the phone.

What are your alternatives?  It’s this – get the Celcom version at RM 1,988, and subscribe to the cheapest postpaid BIS service in town at the moment – which is DiGi’s offering called the DG Smart Plan for Blackberry – at RM 58 per month (RM 53 if you opt for direct debit).  So, the math comes out as this – RM 1,988 + (RM 53 x 12) = RM 2,624, which is still RM 160 more expensive than the current Hotlink offer.

Conclusion – if you really want a 9700, go for the Hotlink package!  But remember:

  1. you’re tied into the Hotlink network for one full year, so if the service sucks (and I have no proof that Maxis’ BIS service is any worse or better than either Celcom’s or DiGi’s, so no worries here);
  2. the fair usage policy for Hotlink is 1.5GB monthly, while DiGi’s offering is 3GB, double that; and after 1.5GB, you are charged pay-as-you-use on Hotlink, so be very careful not to stream too much adult-entertainment movies to your Blackberry;
  3. you need to fork out RM 2,464 up front compared to RM 1,988 up front and paying RM 53 monthly (negligible difference, if you ask me; go for an credit card easy payment scheme if money is tight – but hey, if money is tight, you shouldn’t be splurging on a 9700 in the first place!).

Click here for details of the Hotlink package.  As usual, I’m sure you’ll tell me in the comments if I have grossly miscalculated, which is very possible, since I was never any good at using a calculator.

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Maxis Offering Prepaid No Commitment iPhone3GS Again?

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

maxis-logoAn eagle eyed reader,  min402, spotted an announcement, this evening, on Maxis’ homepage that a new batch of iPhone3GS 32GB has arrived.  And on further browsing, it seems that the restriction on prepaid plans has been lifted.  Previously, there was a line that said “Outright purchase not available until further notice”, but the page now no longer says this.  I am guessing that both the 16GB and 32GB iPhone3GS’ are now available for purchase again – so if you’ve always wanted one, better walk into a Maxis Centre to enquire!  Although it is only the 32GB model whose stocks have arrived, it seems that both models of the iPhone3GS are now available for purchase on a prepaid basis.

maxis iphone3gs 32gb fresh stock

maxis iphone3gs prepaid available again

If anyone does walk into a Maxis Centre to enquire, please do update us on the results!  I am sure there are a lot of other interested readers out there who would like to know.

This has led me to question whether Maxis’ exclusivity is coming to an end.  Or was there no exclusivity in the first place, and we are close to seeing the other celcos such as Celcom, DiGi and U-Mobile offering the iPhone in the near future, as has happened in Singapore lately, where a price war has sparked better deals for consumers?  Will we see a similar situation in Malaysia?  Never, I hear you say?  Have your say in the comments!

Thanks, min402!  And also thanks to Jack Lee, who brought up a funny story regarding the iPhone3GS promotion, which presumably has something to do with the arrival of this new batch of stocks as well.

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Maxis Hotlink Still Struggling To Launch Budget Blackberry Internet Services

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

hotlink logoA couple of months after all the excitement with Malaysia’s two largest celcos offering the industry’s first prepaid Blackberry, the Curve 8520, Maxis is still attempting to launch its “budget” prepaid Blackberry Internet Services.  I have written many times in the past on this blog about the tardiness; in fact, the goalpost for the launch of this service has moved so many times than I care to remember.  So, it came as no surprise when I checked the site again, this evening, and discovered that the budget services – the “Social” and “Messaging” packages are still not launched.  Sigh.

Also, industry sources have it that the Blackberry team at Maxis were given a tongue lashing by their superiors for not anticipating what DiGi is now offering – RM 58 for unlimited Blackberry Internet Services, capped at 3GB bandwidth per month, which I have mentioned time and again that one would be stupid not to sign up for.

I’m still waiting to see some market leadership from Maxis in the consumer Blackberry Internet Services area, especially in prepaid.  But I won’t hold my breath because I know how things work in Malaysia!

mia maxis hotlink budget prepaid bis packages

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Maxis Prepaid Blackberry Curve 8520 Big Year End Sale: Good Deal?

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

hotlink logoIf you’ve been interested to get a Blackberry Curve but held off until now because you wanted to see what was available from both Maxis and Celcom in terms of their offerings for a prepaid version of the entry level Blackberry, here’s Maxis’ latest offer, which I initially wrote about here.  It looks like competition in this area is rather fierce, although there are only two celcos involved in offering it.

maxis hotlink prepaid blackberry curve 8520 year end offer

So, the latest Maxis offer is this: pay RM 488 up front for a Blackberry Curve 8520 on a prepaid basis.  You are also required to pay RM 98 x 6 months in advance, for the prepaid monthly premium BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) charges.  Total commitment up front = RM 488 + (RM 98 x 6) = RM 1,076.  After the 6 months is up, you are free to choose from any of the 4 prepaid BIS packages offered by Maxis, or move over to Celcom who also offer prepaid BIS plans.  Or, sign up with DiGi on a postpaid corporate BES (Blackberry Enterprise Services) plan.  Your choice.

Contrast this to Celcom’s offer: RM 998 for the Curve 9520, plus a RM 50 compulsory top up for the prepaid XPax account.  6 months of Celcom’s premium service at RM 2.50 daily will cost (RM 2.5 x 30 days) x 6 months = RM 450.  Grand total = RM 998 + RM 450 = RM 1,448.  Significantly more expensive than Maxis’ offer.

Here are more reasons why the Maxis package is better:

  1. The RM 98 monthly charges includes WAP browsing, Celcom’s RM 2.50 daily package does not.  Browsing accidentally using WAP on your Curve 8520 on Celcom’s network will reduce your credit very quickly, as many unsuspecting users have discovered.
  2. The Maxis package includes a free RM 100 designer skin; Celcom’s offer only includes a cheap rubber/silicon protective case.

So, getting the Maxis package as it stands now is highly recommended.  It’ll save you a lot of money compared to the Celcom offer.  Ah, don’t we just love competition?  It’s unfortunate that I committed too early to the Celcom offer; this will teach me to exercise more patience!

So, what do you think?  Have you bought one?  Itching to try a Blackberry after hearing so many good things about it?  No better time to try, I say!

Here is the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for the RM 488 offer from Maxis:

FAQ ON PREPAID BLACKBERRY CURVE 8520 DEVICE (UPFRONT PAYMENT PROMOTION: 6 NOV UNTIL 31 DEC 2009 ONLY)

  1. When and how can I enjoy this promotion?

    This promotion is open to ALL Hotlink customers. Hotlink customers need to only visit any Maxis centre nationwide and sign up for the Blackberry Curve 8520 up front payment plan. This promotion is only valid from 6 Nov 2009 until 31 Dec 2009.

  2. What does the Prepaid Blackberry Curve 8520 up front payment promotion entails?

    This plan offers Hotlink customers an option to purchase the Blackberry Curve 8520 at only RM488 (versus retail price of RM1199) as long as the customer signs up for the BIS Premium package at RM98/month for 6 months in advance. This means customers have to pay RM488 + (RM98 x 6) = RM1076 in order to enjoy this promotion.

  3. Is there a contract that I have to sign up to enjoy this promotion?

    No, there is no contract that the customer is bounded to as this is an up front payment plan. If a customer decides to terminate his/her BIS plan earlier than the 6 months period that he/she has prepaid for, the customer is NOT entitled to any refund of the BIS subscription fee.

  4. What happens after the 6 months prepayment period?

    The customer’s BIS Premium plan will cease after the 6 months prepayment period and the customer MUST sign up for any of the available BIS plan at that point in time in order to continue enjoying BlackBerry services on his device. The customer can take up either BIS Messaging, BIS Social, BIS Weekly Premium or BIS Premium by typing *100#.

  5. Am I obligated to continue subscribing to the BIS services after the 6 months prepayment period?

    No, the customer is NOT obligated to continue subscribing to any BIS plan after the 6 months period.

  6. What happens if my prepaid account becomes inactive during the 6 months prepayment period?

    The customer will not be able to enjoy his/her Blackberry service. He/she needs to ensure that his Prepaid account is active during the 6 months prepayment period in order to enjoy BlackBerry services on his device.

  7. Can I buy more than 1 of this promotion plan?

    Yes the customer can as long as each plan is tied to a different Prepaid mobile number.

  8. I have purchased the Blackberry Curve 8520 under the 12 months Hotlink contract plan. Can I move to this plan?

    No, the customer cannot as he/she is bounded by the contract on the previous plan. He/she can take up this plan under a different Prepaid mobile number.

  9. Why is this plan cheaper than the 12 months Hotlink contract plan that was offered earlier?

Both the plans are different as they are catered to different types of customers. The earlier plan is a 12 months contract where the customer is not required to prepay his/her BIS plan upfront and he/she is given a choice to choose between the BIS Messaging, BIS Social or BIS Premium plan. This new plan is an up front payment plan where the customer needs to sign up for BIS Premium at RM98/month for 6 months in advance.

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