Not to be sarcastic or anything but Steve Jobs mentioned that himself publicly, price, timeline and all. Can we get some new unknown inside info instead?

One thing that Apple has always been good at is in developing eco-systems for their products. The Mac + OSX + iLife is one, the iPod + the iTunes Store and in the future + the Apple TV is another.

I am waiting to see what the iPhone eco-system is going to be like. It may start out as riding on the iTunes/iPod wave but it's possible that it will branch out on its own. The tie up with Cingular to provide visual voice mail is a hint of what's possible. I can't wait to see what else is in store over the next 12-24 months.

The iPhone will fly off the shelves the moment it is introduced 3G or not. The question now is not whether but how Apple plan to innovate and sustain the initial success.

To be even more specific, the standard Maxis/Celcom/Digi SIM card will not work in the locked iPhone.

The iPhone being quad-band GSM phone however will work in roaming mode in Malaysia but using your Cingular (now known as AT&T) account. I believe this is what the Apple staff was referring to.

The iPhone aside, a switcher from Windows to OS X will almost definitely benefit from having a manual. It's a paradigm shift for most people so let's not scare people away from the benefits of OS X by looking down on people asking for manuals to unlearn their Windows behaviors.

Personally I suggest some of the Missing Manuals series.

From what I read, the EDGE chip used is physically a lot smaller than the 3G chip available today, hence they decided to use EDGE for the 1st gen. 3G rollout is far from complete in the US which is most likely the biggest market for this phone. If you listened to Job's keynote however, he mentioned 3G from the start so it'll probably come when the iPhone is rolled out in Europe and Asia where 3G is more pervasive.

There are other design cues that show how American this phone is. The two handed input (think Blackberry rather than kids typing one handed) and visual voice mail (American adults love voice mail, everyone else uses SMS) are unusual outside of the US.

Personally I think many people in Europe and Asia are jealous that Americans will for once get the latest & greatest mobile phone technology after outpacing the yanks for decades...

Malsingmaps has a very good Malaysian map, the road details are every bit as good as the commercial Garmin maps I've used in the US & Europe. Have you even used a GPS in Malaysia?

Besides, GPS is not just for mapping. Geocaching, while small is a popular past time in Europe and US. I have a friend who's promoting Malaysia as a travel destination to these people and all the better for him if he had the iPhone as another gadget

Seriously though I'm still wondering where they put the SIM card. Most phones I know have it under the battery, and given that the iPhone doesn't have a user swappable battery, plus Apple's penchant for not putting slots where they're not needed, I wonder where the SIM slot/tray is and whether it's even user accessible?

I wasn't exactly arguing that a GPS should be built into the iPhone, more like the use of a GPS in the iPhone shouldn't be discounted altogether. I agree with you that Apple will never put a GPS into any iPhone simply because the want the simplicity. However don't discount the features the iPhone already has. The 3.5" screen of the iPhone is reasonably large enough for a GPS screen (my Nuvi is 3.5" for example) and the automatic portrait/landscape sensor will be very useful on a GPS.

The mashups of Google Maps & GeoIP locations is just an indicator of what's possible today, imagine what can be done with more accurate locations. I think the Nuvi 680 is a step in the right direction, but with a bit more thought put into it, I think Apple can do it better.

I agree that RM 2k+ is expensive for a phone. Not that I'm justifying it in any way but don't forget that this is also the top of the line iPod so that is part of the price.

However I still wonder why people are making such a big deal about the lack of 3G. Do people use 3G all that much? Are you paying RM 100-120 for the unlimited plan? I cancelled my unlimited plan simply because it wasn't worth it, I would rather go for Wifi.

So an honest query to everyone out there, do people use 3G all that much?


This post has been edited by tishaban: Jun 13 2007, 08:33 PM

Actually if you consider that $60 includes the minutes plus unlimited data plan, it's not so bad. What I really don't like about Cingular/AT&T is that the coverage is bad, at least where I usually am.

This was discussed earlier and I guess the worse case scenario came true....

So, no grey-import iPhones?

Actually, technically speaking you can use it in Malaysia in roaming mode. Some AT&T specific features won't work though eg. visual voicemail. I'm not sure about the GPRS/EDGE stuff however.

It's a bloody expensive way to own an iPhone but if you really want one

You post something without bothering to do any research or even reading the past few pages and flip when someone points out the obvious? Duh...

Yes.

Where to get it? Some Apple Stores in the US.
How much? US$600 plus sales tax.

How to get it? That you have to figure out yourself but yes there are iPhones in Malaysia, at least 4-5 confirmed ones already that I know from people who brought them in personally or through friends. Most likely more.

If you don't have the money or the means to get to one, you have to wait your turn when it's officially imported or unofficially unlocked. Tough luck...



This post has been edited by tishaban: Jul 14 2007, 12:34 AM

ezinger, you can buy the iPhone in the US without activating the AT&T connection at the store. That can be done at home through iTunes.

There are ways around the activation, ie. you can activate it without signing up for an AT&T contract. Google for dvd jon. Once you do this you're left with a locked phone but working iPod.

US$399 x ~3.55 is more than RM 1400 lah. I think you need to check your math :-)

Don't forget to add sales tax as ezinger said (~US$30 depending on where you ship to in the US) and Fedex/UPS to Malaysia (~US$90+). Realistically it's going to be closer to RM2k overall

Actually I wouldn't call Apple newbies in phone design, they're just very American. If you've lived in the US for any amount of time, you'll realize that most of the adult users will use voice mail rather than SMS and would dial the number rather than search through the phone addressbook. This is reflected in the iPhone design where SMS is a bit lacking and visual voice mail is relatively powerful, and the addressbook lacks a proper search feature.

Wow, maxis is intelligent enough to know how to differentiate iPhones from non-iPhones? I find that hard to believe

I'm not saying it's not possible to do so technically. I'm just saying that Maxis which to me is the least agile and innovative telco in Malaysia, would grok the iPhone so early on and intelligently (or stupidly) block all iPhones from receiving incoming calls on their network. I haven't seen Maxis being so proactive before.

Actually when I checked, Fedex for one unit is $90+, but for the second and third unit, it's only around $20+ extra. So if you can get 3 people to share one shipment, the cost per unit goes down significantly.