yes, at first glance, it would seem that Freeway is a far superior product to Triangle, and if the later wasn't offering the data rewards as an add on, then the two wouldn't even be comparable. But I am glad they are offering them, as a Google product in bed with the two largest Philippine telcos will at least bring data rewards to the attention of the market there. Yes, we will not have first mover advantage, but sometimes this is not always key.
The Philippines, like all developing nations, is ripe for such products and the best will will win out eventually all things being equal (not sure how equal the world is when you are competing with Google). Regardless, Freeway's cross carrier ability will bring a great advantage as there are many telcos and a large market. We saw from research last year that it has a rapid smart phone uptake, and a poor ratio of salary to data costs.
We don't know where exactly Syntonic is going next in Asia, but my picks are the Phillipines and Japan. We'll be able to track to some degree how well Triangle goes, and I happen to have many friends from there, so I might spread the word to ask if their family can trial it.
Better though if we were tracking our own product
SYT Price at posting:
3.4¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held