hmm.. for such questions, of iphone in US is much cheaper, i think i can help u guys to answer..

here's a simple calculation.. referring to AT&T plan.. and i took the lowest and cheapest plan for comparison with Maxis cheapest plan..
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-ser..._requestid=1565

iPhone price = USD 199
Data Plan for iPhone = USD 30 per month
Voice Calls (450 minutes) = USD 39.99 per month

occay.. so basically, u have to pay USD 199 + ((30+39.99)x24 months).. every contract are bound to two (2) years contract..
so, 199+1679.76 = USD 1878.76 which is RM 6575.66 (based on exchange rate of 3.5)..

Maxis..
iPhone price = RM 2290 (16Gb version)
Monthly commitment = 100 x 12 months (which includes 500MB data, 333 minutes talk time, but minus the text which rates at 10 cent per SMS)
so, RM 2290 + 1200 = RM3490 for 12 months..

to be fair, i'll try to sum it up with Maxis 2 years plan.. if someone rich enough and want to take the 2 years plan..
iPhone price = RM 1890
monthly commitment = RM 100 x 24 months
so, u'll be paying RM 4290 for the two years contract..

u might be asking, what about SMS..?? AT&T charges USD 0.20 for each SMS which equivalent to RM 0.70 per SMS.. they DO however, have the USD 5 per month for 200 SMS..
Maxis..?? RM 0.10 per SMS..

do i work for Maxis..? nope.. just a Maxis user for more than 10 years..

btw, my calculation may not be perfect.. as AT&T plan are for the iPhone 3G S against Maxis iPhone 3G.. and Maxis plans are referring to the 333 minutes..

so, are u still saying iPhones are much cheaper in US..??

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oh.. i forgot about unlimited data plan for Maxis..
if u do take the unlimited data plan with Maxis, which you have to pay RM 99 per month, u will be paying RM 4678 for one (1) year contract and RM 6666 for two (2) years contract..
well, in that case, the price different are not that big.. better go for the 1 year contract.. but u have to fork out RM2290 la.. hehe..

This post has been edited by akeys: Jun 11 2009, 03:20 PM

hmm.. exchange rate and cost of living do matters.. just like Indonesians and Bangladeshis who dreams on working in Malaysia, and transfers their salary back home to be rich..
while Malaysians dreams on working in US..

but well, 'hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri'.. err, actually, i've never get what that phrase means as obviously, 'hujan emas' is better and who wants 'hujan batu'..? but still, from what i've been taught, it's better to live in your birth country rather than migrating..

still loves Malaysia minus the corruptions, monopolies, n such.. and i don't think i'll migrate..
____________________________________

btw, my calculations and answers are for those short sighted thinkers who always think that they can buy an iPhone for a mere USD 199 (RM 696.5) in US and bring it back to Malaysia, instead of buying "an expensive unit" from Maxis Malaysia..

This post has been edited by akeys: Jun 11 2009, 03:42 PM

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

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

hmm..
i've found something interesting about upgrading from iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS in US..
taken from Apple website, about the AT&T plan..



so, if Maxis DO offers upgrades for iPhone 3GS from iPhone 3G, i'm sure they (Maxis) will do the same.. if they offer the upgrade la.. isk..

so, my predictions is (with 1 year new contract on top of the existing contract), RM1500+ (8GB), RM2000+ (16GB), and RM2500+ (32GB).. these price are bound to contract..
u have to renew the contract from the date of upgrading to a new period.. and the price are referring to iValue 1 plan (RM100 per month for 1 year)..

for the no contract price, my prediction is RM2500+ (8GB), RM2900+ (16GB), RM3300+ (32GB).. hmm..

well, that's my prediction only.. hope nobody's offended this time..

This post has been edited by akeys: Jun 18 2009, 12:48 AM

yerp.. true on the dot.. btw, saves up = u'll upgrade..?? good for u..

but, by looking at Maxis history since all the rumors of Maxis will bring iPhone to Malaysia (i think since June last year), they are not reliable enough on announcing the launch/arrival date of iPhone 3GS here..

on another thing, i don't think we should be mad at Maxis, they're resellers, it's Apple that should take the blame, but, as we (users) should know, Apple do makes surprises every year.. for the early adopters (including myself), i should be blaming myself for my impatience of early adopting.. why i can't just wait 'til WWDC..?? heh..

i believe it's true that what's ur contact have said.. from WWDC'09 itself, they've announced that iPhone will be arriving at the end of July.. hopefully..