Agreed. Unless everyone understands price parity, inflation and spending power competently, lets not raise this kind of topic again. Cause only in these tools can help convert everything from everywhere to a baseline comparison (at least to a point where it can be compared 1:1, although not accurate).

Price politics? Dangerous idea.

hmm..
i do understand about cost of living.. about how the same value of salary based in US compared to Malaysia.. an example, the lowest salary for a tech guy in Malaysia is (maybe) RM1500 while in US, a tech guy would get USD1500 too.. but, if u convert it, of course the US tech guys earns more if he bring the salary to Malaysia..

but, what i tried to explain to those people (Malaysians) who think they can get the iPhones in US for just USD199 (which they think they could just give US Apple Store USD 199 (RM 696.5) to get an iPhone), is just plain stupid.. that USD 199 is minus the telephone plan which a US citizen has to pay some amount of money for two years contract.. it seems that some people could not think further (that's why i said 'short sighted') that the price (USD199) that Apple US announced was minus the telephone plan..

if someone in Malaysia do (stupid enough) thinks in US is much cheaper, i would be happy to sponsored RM 6965.00 to get me 10 iPhones in US and bring it back here in Malaysia for me to 'belanja' my whole family an iPhone each..

refer to this post (thanks to stringfellow).. http://www.italkiphone.com/showthread.php?t=54
he do mentioned something about buying the phone in US without any contract.. so, do take some consideration of the price..
16GB iphone = USD 599
which equals to RM2096.50 without tax and such (travelling cost)..
so, what u get here in Malaysia, is somehow the same as what u get there.. in a Malaysian point of view..

if u compare again about cost of living, i think u have as u should know that fish and chips costs u RM100 which cost the native there only USD25+, u should understand why Malaysian should not ever whines about the phone price.. same goes to other stuffs.. that's why the government do encourage Malaysians to buy 'Barangan Buatan Malaysia'..

an example again, if i were a tech guy in US, i know that i can happily buy an iPhone there without too much fusses.. it will only cost me less than 20% of my salary.. but, back in reality, I lived in Malaysia.. a third world country.. i do earn 3-4 times more than the basic tech guy in Malaysia earns, and i still think the price of an iPhone in Malaysia is quite fair.. unless, Maxis announced that the iPhone 3G S price would be RM3000+..

This post has been edited by akeys: Jun 12 2009, 12:34 PM

have anyone go thru this website?

http://www.iworld.com.my/

Oh, RM3999

i'll just have to settle for the 3G then, lol

This post has been edited by Jicco: Jun 12 2009, 12:58 PM

Thanks for the link! Might pre-order mine one from there.

that's like a whole RM1k more expensive than the iPhone 3G back when it was still new. No way I can afford that. Guess I'll have to settle with the 3G and continue being jealous of 3Gs owners. lol

I think comparisons should always be made dollar to dollar, not after exchange rates. For example, an American earning USD$3000 VS Malaysian RM3000, obviously the American would have more to spend because they have higher buying power. Cars are cheap, phones are cheap too. Even food, clothing, etc are cheaper and they can buy more with USD$1000 compared to RM1000.

Personally, RM2500-RM3000 for a phone is just too expensive and not worth the price but this is Malaysia It's wise to think twice before spending on such expensive gadget.

yeah.. i do agree that comparison should be made USD to USD..
but let me remind u.. those who whines about the price is Malaysians.. those who live and work in US are not complaining about the price.. i do understand that..

the products there are much cheaper.. i do agree on that too.. u can buy a second hand car for just USD 300 which could still run.. most of the products there are made by their own local company.. even though manufactured or assembled in other countries such as China and Taiwan.. but still, the right to sell and distribute are direct from the branding companies..

just like an example of a Coach bag which i bought my wife last year in US.. bought it at less than USD500, but at KLCC, it was sold for RM3000+.. so, u should know that as obviously, they did their currency rate exchange, plus the taxes, plus the shipping to Malaysia..

i think one should understand that the product were talking about here is the Apple iPhone.. produced by a US company, which was assembled in China.. a US product.. so, u just have to bear with the fact that their product would cost us (Malaysians) 3.51 (today's rate) times from their selling price is US.. and do not forget the cost of getting the item such as taxes, shipping and such..

i used to think that i can get an iPhone (the 1st gen) for USD 699, which equals to RM 2236.80 (currency rate at that time was 3.2) which was much cheaper than the Dopod D810 (bought at RM2799) that i got a few months before the 1st gen iPhone launched.. i contacted everyone i know who lives in US to get it and asked them to ship a few units for me.. but then, the truth hits me.. there are no such thing as cheap US products.. there was the telephone plan.. some of Malaysians calls it 'hidden charges' (even though it's not hidden as it's already stated that one must pay something to get the item for that cheap price).. so, i wait.. until it's legal in Malaysia..

as for those so-called 'hidden charges', look at Celcom current offer of Blackberry Storm.. it says that u can get a Blackberry Storm for only RM1699.. that so cheap..!! if i'm a short sighted person la.. but the truth is, u have to pay the price of the phone (RM1699), and u are bound to the contract of RM148 per month for 1 year (if i'm not mistaken.. correct me if i'm wrong on this info).. so, u cannot just look at the price of the phone only.. u have to consider how much are u paying in total.. if u do think that u can just take the phone for RM1699 (Storm case) and go away and end the contract after u got the phone, u're dead wrong.. u still have to pay the penalty fee.. if u're stubborn enough and still dont want to pay, u can just wait for a court order that will be posted to u in a few months.. heh..

anyway, if u want to be a tech savvy person with a mindset of everybody will look at u when u flashed your iPhone, Macbook Pro, etc in public, u should know why the people look at u in the first place.. they dont envy the gadgets.. they envy the person who pays for those gadgets.. in my case, i dont do flash.. i need an iPhone 3G S, Mac machines to develop maybe an application or two to make more money for me.. not just for calling, texting and mailing people with my RM2000+ gadgets..

This post has been edited by akeys: Jun 12 2009, 02:32 PM

when's the new 3GS coming out? how much will the estimated price be?

The guys had discuss that on the above posts yet you still be asking about the price? Still USD199 in United States but the rest of the country may vary, Malaysia in July so wait for Maxis to make announcement. You obviously doesn't care to read about anything on anything before you make a purchase, do a little research and it might help in your purchase and future guides.

since 3gs will be release, i wonder how bout the previous model will b happen. is the price will be reduce like "kaw kaw"? cz i heard many people say that.im an owner of 2g iphone. n im proud of it before. but when people say that the price will be drop and previous iphone will be like useless machine, it makes me sad cz i just bought the iphone a month ago and im afraid the price wil drop sooo bad like i cnt imagine how it is.

as u cn see, we can get the price for 3g nowadays 2k and for maxis plan around 2.7k. so i wonder when 3gs wil be release, will the price drop like so bad or not?

eventho i3gs will b released, im still happy with my i2g since the first day i purchase cz this hp has been my dream like ages! (eventho it is not the latest version. )



This post has been edited by snowieluv: Jun 16 2009, 04:21 PM

well..d signs were everywhere dat a new iphone was gnna be released. but i doubt d price of 3g will drop dramatically. mayb a slight cut by d hundreds...

well i bought a iphone 2g 8gb 1year 6 months back. Its a US AT&T set. Still using it, bought the iphone 3g 8GB from maxis also (gf curi n now its in her handbag)

well im still using the iphone 2g, its serving me very well. I dun complaint no 3g because i know what is 3g in n out.

Day before yesterday i poisoned a fren, he wanted to get the iphone 2g, went to lowyat, manage to find a shop selling off at RM1600. Grabbed it. Condition was mint.

1 year 6 months back i bought brand new AT&T set at RM1950, he is buying it now at RM1600 2nd hand.

What im trying to say here is that Iphone is the only phone that i have owned that actually still fetch a very good value after 1 year, not like many other phones out there.

So its really worth buying an Iphone even tough the price seems expensive.

I have a friend who bought an iphone 3g a while back. His justification for buying what others may consider an overly ostentatious product, is simply "I can and I want it".

I like his reasoning. He wants the iphone regardless of its price. He likes, no, simple adores it. He's not rich, a guy with an average monthly salary, but he does have a little leeway in his spendings. He saved up and actually bought one.

Others thought that he could've spent the money on new clothes, shoes, a better notebook etc. Right now, he's a happy owner of the Iphone 3G, not because his job demands that he has one, nor is it he is in need of such a gadget, but simple because he wants it and he knows how to fully utilize it.

I'd say that's justification. Nothing's more satisfying than earning something you've worked for, regardless of the price tag, be it cheap or expensive. Because everyone needs their daily poison once in a while.

does any country sell iphone seperately without contract but follow the apple $199 price ?

NONE, if they were to sell it without contract they will sell it with high price. because iphone it self is a high product and its an expensive phone to be conclude. thats why its price is high..

do check iphone purchase guide if you want to know which country sell it without the contract.

if we do follow the american $199 pricing model, you will end up paying more.

is AT&T set works well in msia? anybody using it?

does AT&T sets works well in msia? any prob? anyone using it? i need some serious opinion on this..

i'm using first gen from Atnt for almost 3 years, so far no problem. I can say that for calling and texting, there isn't any significant performance drop.

This post has been edited by irwan6179: Jun 17 2009, 08:23 PM

Why you say almost 3 years? iPhone only 2 years since Apple announced the iPhone 1st Gen on January 9, 2007 at MacWorld.
are you try to cheating...