Actually I'm pretty sure those who were frustrated enough with maxis and have the options to take their business elsewhere have already done so. After all, we are the paying customers. There are probably those that can't port out for whatever reason and those are the ones most frustrated with maxis, and I'm pretty sure maxis is aware of this and therefore they don't quite give a damn. Unfortunately I am one of those, ha ha..

Anyways, like you said, if it's true that they will only have stocks by February for the general public, most people would have already gotten the phone elsewhere, ported out, or have just changed their minds. Probably no big loss to Apple or to maxis considering how much money they are already making with demand still outweighing supply by much.

Given how much negative feedback there is about iOS 8 at the moment, it's probably good to give Apple time to iron out the bugs so it's not entirely a lose-lose situation for consumers' either. Also, Android flagships like the Note 4 and Z3 would cost so much lesser by February - I'm an Apple fan by far, but I recognize great phones when I see them!

Oh, and by the way, the forumer you quoted has been going around baiting everyone (especially those who were frustrated with the pre-order process) about how he received his phone on the first day of the launch. I've noticed this even in the earlier versions of this discussion thread. Best ignored where possible