Globe taps retailers for Blackberry promos

GLOBE Telecom has activated some of its biggest partner-retailers across the country to offer its newest promos to BlackBerry users on prepaid.

On the back of increasing demand for BlackBerry smartphones among prepaid subscribers and affordable BlackBerry-specific data plans in the Philippines, Globe partnered with Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry smartphones, to introduce exclusive promos for prepaid subscribers available in authorized retail outlets nationwide.

For every purchase of a BlackBerry smartphone in any participating retail outlet, prepaid subscribers who avail of a one month subscription to BlackBerry Chat at P99 will get additional two months free. BlackBerry Chat allows subscribers to have unlimited access to BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger ™ ) , photo sharing and group chats anytime, anywhere.

On the other hand, Globe prepaid subscribers who avail of a one month BlackBerry Social subscription at P299 will get an extra month for free. BlackBerry Social gives subscribers unlimited access to Facebook, Twitter, BBM and instant messaging applications.

The new promos are keeping pace with the increasing use of social networking sites amongst Filipinos, with the Philippines ranked as the eighth largest Facebook user base and tenth most penetrated Twitter nation in the world, and the explosion of mobile data services which gives mobile phone users access to the Internet on their devices.

Hastings Singh, managing director, South Asia at RIM said, “We are excited to partner with Globe to introduce these new attractive offers on all BlackBerry models for prepaid customers in the Philippines. We strive to offer choices to our customers so that they can choose the smartphone and a data plan that best suit their lifestyle. We believe customers will be delighted with these offers.”

“With our complete line-up of affordable data plans for BlackBerry users, we are taking the offers a notch higher by giving away free month or months subscription of BlackBerry Chat or BlackBerry Social, giving our subscribers more time to grow their BBM circles or social networks without having to worry about costs,” said Jenny Granada-Echevarria, head of Globe Mobile Data Services.

SHARES DECLINE FROM EURO STOCKS’ MELTDOWN

STOCKS fell on the second to the last day of the week as most of the European stocks keep on declining. The local stocks index ended in red in the Thursday session, closing with a 0.90- percent decline, or 47.15 points to 5,219.51. “Our investment thesis remains as it was and has been at the beginning of the year— the domestic economy is expected to weather the challenges posed by the weakness in the global economy and the lingering threat of a European meltdown. In this context, we continue to be bullish on the profit potential of equities,” said Jun Calaycay of Accord Capital Equities.

MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR

PRICES OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IMPROVE IN NCR

PRICES of wholesale construction materials in Metro Manila improved to 2.2 percent in July as compared to the recorded 2.4 percent in June, data from the National Statistics Office ( NSO) showed on Thursday. The NSO attributed the decrease to the annual rate of fuels and lubricants index which further dropped by - 2.1 percent from - 1.9 percent. In addition, slower annual growth were seen in the indices of seven commodity groups led by sand and gravel, 7.6 percent; concrete products, 2.5 percent; and plywood, 3.4 percent, while annual upticks were higher in the indices of cement, hardware, lumber, reinforcing steel, glass and glass products, PVC pipes and asphalt.

MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

CIRTEK HOLDINGS CONCLUDES IH WITH $1.8-M NET INCOME

AFTER its demands were affected by sluggish US economy and growth slowdown in China, Chipmaker Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. managed to conclude the first half of the year with a 4- percent increase in its net income to $ 1.8 million. The firm said that its consolidated sales for the first half of 2012 amounted to $ 19.3 million, an increase of 5 percent compared last year.

MADELAINE B. MIRAFLOR