Maxis has started teasing its FastTap NFC service for the iPhone which allows Touch N Go payments with your mobile. The current iPhone 4S doesn’t come with NFC capability but the teaser image suggests that this is made possible with a NFC reader/adapter case from iCarte. Even the Maxis FastTap App is already available for download on iTunes. It is also suggested that Maxis is partnering with CIMB as their payment partner alongside TouchnGo.

Last week, Maxis has mentioned that it will be expanding NFC functionality and this is probably the first wave. With more NFC supported devices in the market, we hope that Maxis will expand FastTap device support beyond the iPhone 4/4S. No dates were mentioned but we expect Maxis to reveal more details soon.

To learn more about Maxis FastTap, head over to here.

	iPhone, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Players on the Field
	CIMB, CIMB Clicks, CIMB NFC, iPhone, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4S Malaysia, Malaysia Mobile Payment, Malaysia NFC, Maxis FastTap, Maxis NFC, Maybankard Mobile, Mobile Payment, Touch n Go Mobile, Visa Wave Mobile

One of the most popular Android smartphones in the world has just gotten more affordable. With a recent revision in RRP pricing, the Samsung Galaxy S II now retails for RM1,699 — RM400 less than when it was initially launched here in June last year at the price of RM2,099. As a result of the pricing revision, operators are dropping their subsidised pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S II as well.

The Samsung Galaxy S II is now available with contract from DiGi for as low as RM1,699 on the DiGi Smart Plan 88. The Smart Plan 88 is a new addition to DiGi’s Smart Plan range where previously it was only offered selectively during promotion periods and specific product launches.

In addition to the Samsung Galaxy S II, DiGi is also offering the Smart Plan 88 with other devices Including the Galaxy W, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Tab 7.7 and Nokia Lumia 800.

If yellow is not your colour, Maxis has also revised the pricing for the for the Galaxy S II which is now available for as low as RM999 with 24 months contract with any postpaid plan on top of a required 3GB data bundle.

Head on over to DiGi’s official website for more details on the latest DiGi plans for the Samsung Galaxy S II.

For details on the Maxis plans, click here.

	DiGi, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Players on the Field, Samsung
	DiGi, DiGi Samsung Galaxy S II, DiGi Smart Plan, Maxis, Maxis Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy S 2, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Galaxy S II DiGi, Samsung Galaxy S II Malaysia price, Samsung Galaxy S II Maxis, Samsung Galaxy SII price Malaysia, SGS2

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If you’re planning to get an iPhone 4S, Maxis now offers additional plans for bundle. Now you can get the iPhone 4S on the recently announced Value Plus Internet plan and Internet Value Plans which comes with affordable monthly subscription fees as low as RM30/month (for supplementary Value Plus Internet plan).

For the light users, there’s the Value Plus Internet 30 (For supplementary) and Value Plus Internet 50 which comes with 250MB of data and bundled calls and SMS. For the slightly heavier data user, you have the Internet Value 50 & 75 which offers 1.5GB and 3.5GB respectively. Being a lighter commitment plan, the subsidy is quite minimal as compared to the standard iValue plans for the iPhone 4S.

For more information, head over to Maxis.

	iPhone, iPhone OS, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Players on the Field
	Internet Value Plan, iPhone, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4S Malaysia, iPhone 4S Malaysia price, iPhone 4S Maxis, iPhone 4S Price, Maxis, Maxis iPhone 4S, Value Plus Internet

At a bloggers meet held today, Maxis announced that it will supporting NFC-related services in a big way. With more supported devices such as the Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Xperia S and HTC One X coming into the market, now looks to be the right time for an operator to come in to tap — pun intended — into the capabilities of NFC.

Currently in Malaysia, NFC usage is limited to transferring contacts and URL links but with a proactive operator like Maxis working with with partners like Touch n Go and banks, the potential for NFC to offer so much more can be realised.

At a blogger meet organised by Maxis, Mark Dioguardi, the joint-COO at Maxis, said that the operator is looking to offer NFC-based payment services sometime in second quarter of this year. Digouardi mentioned that the Maxis is currently working with Touch N Go and a “big bank” to make the service available to its subscribers.

Back in 2009, Maxis pioneered NFC-based payment services called FastTap. The service which integrated Touch N Go and Maybank Visa Wave services received lukewarm response due to the very limited selection of NFC-capable devices at the time. Because of this, users who wanted to use the service had to purchase a dedicated phone — in this case, the Nokia 6212 Classic — to be able to make payments using NFC. This presents a step cost of entry for users and make the service unattractive to subscribers.

Now that more and more devices are being offered with NFC built-in, there is a massive potential for the technology to be widely adopted in Malaysia. The soon to be launched NFC-based service from Maxis will allow users to use supported smartphones much like a Touch N Go card to make payments for public transportation, tolls and even for fast food. The service can be further enhanced with in-billing reloads or even by linking to the users credit card allowing for a seamless payment experience just by using your smartphone.

We’re really excited about this and its great to see that an operator is making such a bold step to offer this service to users. We’ll keep a close eye on developments and will let you know once we have more details of the upcoming service.

	Maxis, Mobile Apps, Mobile Devices, Players on the Field
	Malaysia Mobile Payment, Malaysia NFC, Maxis FastTap, Maxis NFC, Maybankard Mobile, Mobile Payment, Touch n Go Mobile, Visa Wave Mobile

At a blogger meet organised by Maxis today, Head of Product, Device & Innovation, T. Kugan has revealed that the operator will be offering the Samsung Galaxy Beam and the soon to be launched Sony Xperia S.

The Galaxy Beam was introduced at MWC 2012 recently and it comes with a built-in 15 lumens pico projector that’s capable of displaying HD image and videos up to 50″ on the wall. You can read more about the Galaxy Beam here.

For the Xperia S, this means all 4 telcos including Celcom, DiGi & U Mobile will be offering the device in Malaysia.

In terms of availability, Maxis is expected to offer plans for the Xperia S probably this Friday or the week after. As for the Galaxy Beam, Kugan didn’t specifically indicate when the device will be offered but we expect it to be available at least a month from now.

	Android, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Players on the Field, Samsung, Sony
	Maxis, Samsung Galaxy Beam, Samsung Galaxy Beam Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Beam Maxis, Sony, Sony Xperia NXT, Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia S Malaysia, Sony Xperia S Maxis, Sony Xperia S Price

Hotlink, Maxis’s prepaid brand today has revealed its new Bagus Plan that offers competitive rates. To get started, they are offering the starter pack at RM5 which doesn’t come with pre-loaded talk time and credit.

What’s new is its Bagus 5 Pass which offers lowered rates upon activation. For just RM5, you get to enjoy as low as 12 sen/min for Maxis to Maxis calls and 18 sen/min to call other networks. For SMS, Bagus 5 Pass charges 1 sen/SMS to Maxis and 10 sen/SMS to other networks. As limited time promo, the Bagus 5 Pass comes with free 10MB of data.

Upon activation of this Bagus 5 Pass, the RM5 is not burnt but instead transferred to a “Bagus 5 account” which is utilised for actual talk time at reduced rates. After finishing this credit, you will be charged the normal rate. You can only activate one Bagus 5 Pass per day and it is valid for up to a maximum of 3 days. To activate, just dial *100#, select Hotlink specials and select Bagus Pass.

For Hotlink users from other plans, you can change over to Bagus Plan by dialling *108*21#. RM1 fee will be charged for upgrading.

Read the rest of this entry »

	Hotlink, Maxis, Players on the Field
	Bagus 5 Pass, Bagus Balance, Hotlink, Hotlink Bagus, Hotlink Bagus Plan, Maxis, Maxis Prepaid, Prepaid Roaming

Maxis finally introduces some smart phone bundling with its lower commitment Value Plus Internet plans. With this offer, you can get a Samsung Galaxy Y from RM99, a HTC Explorer from RM199, a HTC ChaCha from RM299 or a Nokia Lumia 710 from RM499.

Usually a phone bundling from Maxis requires a normal postpaid plan such as Value First/Value Plus with bolt-on data. With this offering, your monthly commitment starts as low as RM50/month for Value Plus Internet which comes with data, calls and SMS. Of course, these plans are more suited for those with light usage and those with heavier usage should consider the standard bundling with bigger internet quotas.

For more information, head over to the Maxis Value Plus Internet promo page.

	HTC, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Nokia, Players on the Field, Samsung
	HTC Chacha, HTC Explorer, Maxis, Maxis Value Plus Internet, Nokia Lumia 710, Samsung Galaxy Y

UPDATE: Maxis Internet Value Plans is strictly for NEW subscribers only. Existing Maxis customers are not eligible to switch even if you’re bounded to any contract. This was also mentioned in their FAQ.

We do not comprehend the reason behind such restriction on existing customers. However if you’re an existing Maxis subscriber, you still can get this plan by porting out to another telco and then port back to Maxis in order to subscribe to Internet Value Plans. Thanks to Nicholas for highlighting at the comments!

UPDATE 2 (6th March 2012): Maxis has revised its Internet Value Plans to allow existing postpaid users to switch over. The updated FAQ reads as below:

Change of rate-plan from other existing postpaid plans are allowed but only applicable to customers who are on a basic line without supplementary lines (Friends & Family benefits are not applicable under this rate plan).

For those that uses data more than making calls and SMS, Maxis now introduces new Value Internet Plans. This is a mobile internet focused plan that offers more data than its earlier introduced Value Plus Internet plans.

There are 2 main options to choose from – Internet Value 50 & 75 which comes with 1.5GB and 3.5GB respectively. Calls and SMS are not included and they are charged based on pay per use basis. Calls within Maxis network are charged at 12sen/min while calls to others are at 20sen/min. For SMS, it is 5sen/SMS within Maxis and 15sen/SMS to other networks. Any additional data usage exceeding your quota is charged at 30sen/MB. If you do exceed, you also have an option to buy additional quota at lower rates.

In addition for greater savings, Maxis is offering a 12 months contract Value Internet 48 plan where you can the same rates and data quota of Internet Value 50 at only RM48/month. Apart from the RM2/month savings, they are offering additional 500MB quota for this plan at just RM5 for 2 weeks which is about RM10/GB.

Depending on your usage and if you hardly make calls and sms with your smart phone, this would be a plan worth considering with its competitive pricing. For those that doesn’t use as much data with a balance mix of phone calls, there’s the Maxis Value Plus Internet which comes with data, calls and SMS.

For more information, head over to Maxis Mobile Internet page.

	Maxis, Players on the Field
	Internet Value 48, Internet Value 50, Internet Value 75, Internet Value Plans, Maxis, Maxis Internet Value Plans, Maxis Postpaid Plan, Maxis Value Plus, Maxis Value Plus Internet, Postpaid, Value Plus Internet

UPDATE: HTC One X, One S and One V specification and features compared.

We’re pretty sure that many of you are looking forward to the launch of the HTC One series here in Malaysia. We’re pretty stoked about the three devices as well. HTC look like they’ve gotten their act together and will be bringing a lot of awesome for this year, and that’s always a good thing for all of us gadget junkies.

At the launch, HTC says the One series will begin shipping globally in April. In addition, the devices are expected to be available through more than 140 mobile operators and distributors globally. Are Malaysian telcos included in this list of 140 operators?

Why yes, tipster @TheGadgetGuy18 pointed us to the press release page for the HTC One series and found some interesting nuggets of information — DiGi and Maxis are listed in the 140 mobile operators that will be getting the newly announced HTC devices.

We’ve spoken to a few people in the know and you can definitely expect the One X, S and V to be available here by April. In terms of pricing, we don’t have any information on that yet but the top of the line One X with the quad-core Tegra 3 should not go beyond the RM2.3k mark.

Super duper thanks to @TheGadgetGuy18 for the tip.

We have awesome readers. True Story.

[source]

	DiGi, HTC, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Players on the Field
	HTC, HTC One, HTC One Malaysia, HTC One S, HTC One S DiGi, HTC One S Malaysia, HTC One S Maxis, HTC One series, HTC One series Malaysia, HTC One V, HTC One V DiGi, HTC One V Malaysia, HTC One V Maxis, HTC One X, HTC One X DiGi, HTC One X Malaysia, HTC One X Maxis, Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress 2012, MWC, MWC 2012

U Mobile has also joined the 5.3″ tablet bandwagon by offering the Samsung Galaxy Note on contract from as low as RM1,549. This is the 4th telco in Malaysia shortly after Maxis started offering theirs last week. This gives you an alternative for getting the Galaxy Note on contract with lower monthly commitment on their U28, U58 and U88 postpaid plans.

The RM1,549 contract price is offered on U88 plan (RM88/month) which comes with 3GB of data with bundled calls and SMS. For those that want to commit slightly less, on U58 (RM58/month) it is offered at RM1749. If you want the cheapest plan, there’s U28 (RM28/month) where the Galaxy Note is going for RM1,949. The contract plans are tied to 24 months duration.

There’s no upfront payment for U28 but 1 month advance subscription is required for U58 while U88 requires 3 months advance subscription fee. For ease of ownership, U Mobile is also offering Easy Payment Plan where you can pay the device over 12 months installments.

For more information, head over to U Mobile’s Phone deals.

Big thanks to Tessiemah for the alert!

	Android, Maxis, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Players on the Field, Samsung
	Android, Samsung, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy Note Malaysia, Samsung Galaxy Note Price, Samsung Galaxy Note U Mobile, U Mobile