First National Bank's (FNB's) discounted device deal got a little more enticing yesterday, as the bank announced a drop in the monthly instalment for the popular iPad 2.
FNB offers its customers discounted rates on, among others, Apple's iconic tablet, as part of its discounted devices promotion, aimed at advancing electronic banking.
The monthly payment for the Apple iPad 2 16GB WiFi has dropped by 20%, to R165 per month, while the iPad 2 16GB WiFi and 3G price is now R219, down 17% from the previous monthly fee. Both devices are payable over a 24-month period with zero interest, with the fee coming off along with customers' monthly bank charges.
The price plummet follows an announcement on Friday by the local distributor for Apple products, Core Group, that the price of iPad 2 tablets would drop by R1 000 to R1 400 - a move that in turn comes as the third-generation of the tablet is on the horizon, with Apple announcing the new 4G LTE iPad last week.
Soaring sales
FNB's discounted device offer, launched in October last year, has taken off appreciably, with the bank having sold over 50 000 tablets and smartphones to its customers to date. The bank offers selected tablets and smartphones to gold and platinum cheque account customers, at a reduced rate of up to 35%.
Apple's iPad 2 has proven to be by far the most sought-after device on offer, according to product owner at FNB Core Banking Solutions, Kartik Mistry. Other devices, namely BlackBerry, Samsung and HTC, make up an incidental portion of overall sales.
Irlon Terblanche, head of products, debit cards and analytics at FNB's Core Banking Solutions, says the bank aims to enable electronic banking via mobile banking technology at “the lowest possible cost”.
Terblanche says the popular promotion is a mutually-beneficial solution. “It is a winning solution for our customers [as] they acquire one of the latest top-end mobile devices at a reduced rate with 24 months to pay [and] at the same time, we are able to attract customers to FNB's low-cost banking.”
Head of products and markets for FNB Connect, Farren Roper, says increased smartphone and tablet access is essential. “[it is] one of the critical success factors in driving application adoption and usage. We have to date achieved over 120 000 active clients on the FNB Banking App in eight months, [with] over R2 billion in transactional value.”
FNB says it eagerly awaits confirmation on the local availability of Apple's new iPad.
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