This , I journal, my journey towards getting an iPhone 3G. Thanks to the lazy-arsey-ness of Malaysian telcos towards getting its own iPhone, I took actions into my own hands. This blurb chronicles the attempts, the failures and finally the success of securing an iPhone 3G from Auckland ,New Zealand.

The whole notion of getting, and the likeliness possibilty of getting one comes as an afterthought. It came from a simple suggestion. The suggestion came during my attendance of a company compulsory course in Kelana Jaya. Met a fellow colleague who is conincidentally going to Auckland the next day. The suggestion came from the fact that the participating Vodafone store in Auckland is just at the entrance of the hotel, hence the supposed easeness of getting. With that thought in mind, my colleague agreed, never thinking that the actual situation is crazier than what we planned.

Fast forward to day of arrival. From his departure to arrival, news POURED in on Engadget and Gizmodo about NZers being the world's first iPhone 3G owners, and how crazy the situation was at the Vodafone stores, specifically the same store we were planning to get ours. To get an idea how crazy it was, take a look at this pic, courtesy of Engadget:-



See that little sign that says Citylife Auckland? Our hotel, and next to it, the swamped Vodafone store. My heart sank like a stone to the bottom of the ocean.

As predicted, first attempt failed, with no iPhone in hand. Thanked my colleague for at least trying, although if it is up to me, I'd stay up and line up and try my chances.

Second attempt, actually came from an acquaintance in this forum. Specifically, Cocklea. I'm not sure if he is okay with me divulging the nature of his work, but let's just say he's the insider when it comes to stock figures and which stores actually stocks iPhones. He also is stationed at one of the stores which carries them. I thought luck finally have turn to my side when I found this out. Armed with this info, and www.vodafone.co.nz for a list of stores that carry them, on my side, I the proceeded to calling them from Malaysia. I concentrated my efforts on stores in the city center first, since it is more convinient for Cocklea to pick them up and pass it to my next colleague who is coming to Auckland in 3 days time.

What we didnt foresee is the stupidity of some of these stores at work. They would only sell these iPhones provided you sign up with Vodafone contracts with them! This piece of news then further whittle down the lists of stores willing to sell the iPhones outright to a handful only, and as time ran out, so does the iPhone stocks themselves. Until the day of arrival of my next colleague into Auckland, downtown Auckland TOTALLY ran out of iPhones, 16GB version. Chalk up failure #2!

But I guess I dont know the meaning of giving up, or being fcuked up the ass twice. Said to myself that I'll take point from here, time to take control! This time, I furthered my search to stores outside Auckland, and on its outer suburbs. Help also came, unexpectantly from another forum member here, Psyeo. I managed to finally secure TWO units, one for me and one for him, and thanks to Psyeo's willingness to search a way to get to that store out in Westgate( 1hour 15 minutes out!), he went with my colleague and finally confirmed ownership. Finally!

And here I stand today, or sit rather, in Starbucks KL Sentral waiting to get onto the ERL train to KLIA to finally pick up my 3G iPhone White 16GB from my colleague. He is sure to shake his head at my crazy obsessiveness of getting one, but him knowing me since '98 since our flight academy days, would know that once I set my sight on something, I'll never give up until either I'm sure I've exhausted all avenues or ways of getting it, or succeeds in getting it.

And the reward isnt that expensive either. I didnt have to bribe or pay exorbitant amounts to get them, Vodafone NZ sells them outright for NZD1129. Kautim with my colleague, and that is basically the amount I pay to get it. A nice bonus is the fact that all NZ iPhones are fully unlocked outright, right out of the box, and I'm about to prove that once MH130 lands today at 2005 in KLIA.

I will use this thread to further chronicle the findings, discoveries and my own review of the iPhone 3G. Thanks for reading my ramblings, and stay tuned for the glorious moment, the moment of receiving my baby.









In this section, I will post as much information that I had been asked either via PM, SMS, call, or posts in here regarding the nature of the NZ iPhones.

1. NZ iPhones are distributed either via Vodafone retail stores, or NZ's Apple Resellers. They are www.vodafone.co.nz and www.magnummaconline.co.nz respectively.

2. There are three versions of iPhone 3G being sold at the moment of this writing, the Black 8G, the Black 16GB and the White 16GB. The 8GB model is priced at NZD979, while the two 16GB models are NZD1129. Do the necessary conversion to RM at your favourite corrency converters.

3. Vodafone retail stores are listed based on regions/cities in New Zealand, with areas accessible by me, only in Auckland. The stores are listed here at this link:- http://www.vodafone.co.nz/maps/iphone-stores.jsp, while stock availability can be accessed via this link:- http://www.vodafone.co.nz/iphone/availability.jsp. At the time of this writing, there are only 3 chain of stores that will accept purchase outright without tying you with a contract, they are Magnum Mac NZ, Vodafone and First Mobile. Other stores listed in that link I gave, will push you to subscribe to a contract and refuses to sell the iPhones without contract.

4. The two listed price of NZ iPhones(NZD979 for 8GB and NZD1129 for 16GB Black/White) are the ones being sold outright without any contracts or plans. I will not bother with units that are tied to contracts/plans.

5. NZ iPhones are fully unlocked, and is confirmed working by me, on all three major Malaysian carriers, Celcom, DiGi and Maxis. They are working both in call and texting for all three carriers, and working on 3G data on both Celcom and Maxis. All you need to do to activate your NZ 3G iPhone is connect it via iTunes and go through the process. You will need to either register an account with iTunes, or use your already pre-made account that you've created before or using now. I strongly recommend creating an account first to simplify and smoothen the process of unlocking. Keep your sim card inside the iPhone during activation. After the activation process, you can straight away use your iPhone with your favourite carrier here.

6. There are no guarantees that your iPhones remain unlocked in the future. The nature of Apple's own security implementation and covering for its partners makes this impossible to say that Apple will not change its policy to maintain the status of unlocks on your iPhone. However, if the past is of any indication, unlocked iPhones sold in France and Germany, have maintained their unlockability status until now. This is further supported by the fact that Apple holds databases of all unlocked phones and all unlock processes goes through them. This can be seen, from Optus Australia's practice of providing unlocks for their customers. NZ iPhones are believes to be classified as fully unlocked without the need of further interaction of Apple, which would be surmised that Apple have segregated stocks in NZ as such.

7. I provide no guarantees, warranties, or aftersale support of any kind to you. I can only offer my help from my previous research into buying these iPhones to the best of my knowledge. No whining, crybabies or attempts of hurting or killing me will help you negotiate for a return to NZ should your NZ iPhones dies on you. You will receive the stock "AS IS".

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 19 2008, 11:27 AM

as obsessive as it is hahaha 3g mali mali

hahahah
the Stringfellow's journey to collect iPhone 3g.
that shud be better title..

Kerja keras woo. But the end result is satisfying when you finally hold it in your hands. Like getting your first born baby only.

hahahaha kerja keras part too to get ur first born baby...

But on a serious note, I'm writing as a reference and help for those that are either in Auckland themselves or visiting,for them to gauge and as a starting point for them to see if they could possibly snag a unit or not. It may be hard work and tedious for some, but other may want to try their luck. Just something to ponder.

@string u bought it with just the phone? not subscribe to any plans right.

Just the phone, no plans. NZD1129 White 16Gb.

Woot ur iPhone 3G is going to arrive soon, congratz
I'm lovin mine, and u'll be loving urs as well

Psyeo boss, just like a clarification here. You can receive and make calls out of your Maxis sim?

update: stocks coming in tomorrow! (but only 18 piece, nice.... ) and online stock is now back as well.

bro string, no worries man. i wish i could've done more, but it was fun nonetheless. i guess now we know: you want an iphone outright, do not buy them in the city

and also an update on reliability, got my first "locking up" iphone today. it just stays on the home screen and do nothing else. i hope this is not common, but at least the warranty claim is pretty good. return, and get a new device in 4 days.

This post has been edited by cocklea: Jul 16 2008, 06:42 PM

how much is that in RM?
gratz on your baby

Figures! Just my luck! Looks like it should be smooth sailing, and easier to get from NZ now. Don't sweat it bro, you're a great help. I got the iPhones from your company, remember? That alone vouches the credibility and stature of your workplace.

XE.com conversion gives RM2,819. Last few days, it goes only to RM2,789. Fluctuating forex rates.

Tried testing to Psyeo on his Maxis line, it went through, so CONFIRM Maxis works. Now only left Celcom and DiGi.

Okay, time for me to hop onto the ERL train. Excited!

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Jul 16 2008, 06:54 PM

oh, the store you got it from is an FM ke? bangga ler camni, hhehe

anyway, DiGi ngan Celcom should be fine too I guess. I've tried it with loads of SIM (O2 uk, E+plus germany, and some weird Brazilian sim i got from this really hot chick ) and all of them seems to be working fine.

woots....congrats to u man...!!!

hmm after conversion, how much the 8gb version in RM?

String, I am so excited for your new born baby Quick quick post your update here.......

string, did you have to activate the phone first? or you can use it straight out of the box?

i'm gonna ask my friend in auckland to send it to me. prob get a few sets since there's stock online.

Wootz grats ur gonna be 1 proud "daddy" receiving ur "son" hehe

Hola from arrival area KLIA!

MH130 delayed from 2005 to 2017. They should be out 30 mins after touchdown, which would be 2047. I dare not post more since this free KLIA Wifi is spotty at best.

Kan Cheong!