Off-topic, but making handphone users pay for incoming calls is good regulatory policy - it results in lower charges for everyone.

You can't have true competition unless customers are paying all the fees associated with calls to/from their own phones. Otherwise you end up with the case like Malaysia, where when I (a Digi customer) call you (a Maxis customer), you don't pay anything to Maxis for the call. Instead, I have to pay Maxis (Digi passes the charge on). There is no incentive for Maxis to reduce that charge because I am not a Maxis customer; there is no danger that I will leave them.

This is why the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China are using the system where the receiver pays for the call. In all of these countries, as a result of competition, handphone charges are very low on a PPP basis.

Australia is considering changing over too, a very good idea given how overpriced handphone usage is there.

She gave you a bullshit answer. There is "no way to unlock"? Then why does it work with Digi and Celcom?

And what about international roaming? Imagine if you could not roam your phone in any country where that model of phone was in the shops! Many legit iPhone users will travel here and expect to be able to use their phones.

Finally had the chance to play with an iPhone today (friend visiting from US, had one in his pocket).

Wow.

The interface was amazing. From the articles I read, I never imagined how smooth and visceral the interaction would be. Moving things around on the screen was like moving objects around on a table. It was impossible to stop touching and playing with it. Even the keyboard worked better than I expected; within a few minutes I was typing away at near full speed.

Very impressive. Unfortunately it's still missing some key features (native ssh client, SIP client, 3G), or I would have ordered one tonight.

Hey - I'm in Bangkok for a few days, enjoying broadband that kicks Streamyx's ass.

At the MBK Centre, level 3 (handphone headquarters like Low Yat level 1, except about 20 times more shops) there are a LOT of places selling unlocked iPhones. Going price for 8GB is about 22k baht (RM2,200). I even saw a couple shops that were ONLY iPhone. The best-stocked shop (see photo) had about 100 phones on hand, including several that were out for people to play with (you can see one, in a blue skin, if you look closely).

Some of them were proudly displaying their Fifth Avenue Apple Store bags. I think they are just taking some cash, flying to New York, buying as many phones as they can afford, and then coming straight back.

I'm thinking about the maths. The retail price in New York is about RM1400. An air ticket costs about RM4000. So at that selling price, the break-even point is 5 phones. If they bring back 20 phones, they're looking at a gross profit of RM12K for a weekend's work (fly-buy-fly).

It's interesting to me - and maybe a bit telling - that here in Bangkok there are dozens of entrepreneurs who are taking this risk, and I think probably making a killing at it. Meanwhile, I haven't seen a single iPhone in Low Yat, not even one. Nobody in Malaysia has the risk tolerance to try this? It's discouraging.

There are many, many phones that are not officially available in Malaysia. Yet it's still reasonable to expect they will work.

The retain price of the phone is RM1,400. So the only amount above that you should pay is sales tax, customs, and reasonable transport costs. Otherwise you're just giving money away.

There's no reason he can't do it with the E65. He just needs someone to show him how.