Google up the effect of 3G on power consumption on cellphone at Anandtech.com. Simply put, the battery drain on 3G alone makes the iPhone, not a phone at all. Steve refuses to act on the whim of its overzealous would-be users who may or may not know when it comes to juggling battery endurance and connectivity options.

Let me ask you, you say next year it comes. Got link to proof? Oh, you mean it's coming to ASIA in early 2008. Define "Asia" or "Early 2008" for me please. Those who are waiting for this dont know the mechanics of iPhone activations or Apple current business model of distributing the iPhone.

1 - iTunes is REQUIRED to activate the iPhone. Malaysia has iTunes, or planned by Apple to launch in the near future?Even Singaporedoesnt have iTunes, and some of the hopefuls here are pining on a local Singapore launch, what a laugh! I rest my case.

2 - Subsidization plans with voice/data plan is REQUIRED to distribute the iPhone in the chosen coountry. Malaysia's telcos subsidize our phones, or do we have to pay full price for our phones, THEN ONLY we subscribe to their voice/data plans? Different business model, no? Any chance of this changing into the "subsidization" model in the future? I rest my case again.

3 - SOLE (definition = single, satu , one, yat , uno ) distribution right given to ONE particular telco, is the current pattern Apple is adopting to distribute the iPhone in a particular country. IF (a very big IF) it launches here, the chances of it being available on your chosen telco is 1 out of 3, 33%. You might even end up having the need to do the very same unlocking we the early iPhone users have been doing, despite aaaallllllllthe waiting you did. Prices wont fall, my dear friends, if you think that all that waiting will halp on lowering the price. Apple's notorious on locking on its prices tight, until the next iteration of its particular product. So, you waited all this while, just to have to do the very same unlocking process we did earlier on? And there is also the question of whether it is subsidized here, or are we paying full price. The current USD399/MYR1400 price is a SUBSIDISED price from AT&T, which current users outside of USA are able to bypass because of the free unlocks. Otherwise, everyone had to subscribe to AT&T's voice/data plans, for a minium of 2 years, that bloats the price up to past USD800. I'm willing to bet that USD800 is the ACTUAL price of the iPhone WITHOUT subsidization, and if it does get released here, those who chose to wait, are going to get slapped (in the face as well) with this pricetag. Enjoy!

Let me get you that beach lounge chair, you'll be waiting for quite a while for this to happen locally here. It's the lease i can do, while the rest of us are already enjoying our subsidised unlocked iPhones.

FYI, some of us early adopters get ours at retail USD399 price, excluding state tax. Some topped it with shipping cost, and that's it.

A good indicator to see if Apple launches iPhone here is when you see them launch iTunes here. No iTunes, no official activation of iPhone, no launch here. When again, did you say that Apple's launching iTunes here?

Which is the reason why local launch is doubtful. Sure, you can come back to me and say the French gets their iPhones unlocked, but fully unlocked (meaning even non-French telco sim cards works) or "unlocked to French telcos only"? And point #2, Apple can cater to the French market this way, since subscriber figures are significant, compared to Malaysian numbers.

Warranty void one you take it out of the country it was intended to be used, unless the unit has international warranty coverage.

Contrary to popular beliefs here, once you "virginise" your iPhone back to its locked state, Apple will honor warranty, provided you return it to the country it was purchased from. It is because the lot here knows little about virginising, or conclude that it's too difficult for them to do, that makes them assume to themselves that "warranty void still".

If you think about the economics of it, you will see why Apple/AT&T are pursuing legal action.

You are buying a subsidized (read:discounted) phone.....a phone that is discounted, so that you will subscribe to a voice/data plan arranged by Apple and AT&T. This voice/data plan is where AT&T and Apple made their money back, and all of us who hacks and cracked and unlocked our iPhones are not contributing towards that. Therefore Apple is selling iPhones to us now at a loss , although how much loss that is , remain to be seen, and they are hoping to recover that loss from the percentage cut they receive from every iPhone user that has subscribed to AT&T (AT &T pays them a certain percentage from the voice/data plan payment each new iPhone user does when subscribing to AT&T).

So, when you sell something at a loss, and then hoping to recover from subscription, but people dont subscribe to that subscription, your business ends up in a loss, wouldnt it? Wouldnt you pursue legal action if someone do this to you?

They were controlling it, albeit in forced manner, by inadvertantly forcin new users to jump ship from their current carrier to AT&T. That was the plan, and it was workin fine until the unlockers came. Apple may have not missed their cut from AT&T that much, but money earned is still money lost this way.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Oct 23 2007, 03:39 PM