Just receive email from my ever trusty source about in-house Maxis employee purchase program, a.k.a Maxis staff internal iPhone purchase.

1. 2 iPhones per employee.

2. For the first iPhone purchase, if opt to use salary deduction:-
- for 8GB iPhone 24 months salary deduction = RM75 , 12 months salary deduction = RM150, with both options totalling up to RM1800. Outright purchase is also available for RM1800.
- for 16GB iPhone 24 months salary deduction = RM92.50, 12 months salary deduction = RM185, with both options totalling up to RM2220. Outright purchase is also available for RM2220.

3. For the second iPhone purchase(remember, staff can buy 2 per person), purchase totals for both the 8GB and the 16GB iPhone increases to RM2300 and RM2700 respectively. For these second purchases, they are only available as upfront/outright purchase only, no monthly deductions.

4. Interestingly, Maxis marks the retail price of the 8GB and the 16GB iPhone as RM2540 and RM2960, respectively.

5. All iPhones purchased, even by their staff, are bonded with 1 year contract. Boo hiss! However, plans are not as per the currently available iValue Plans, they are as per the employee plan.

6. There are penalties imposed even for their employees if they leave Maxis before contract ends.

Payment Method: Outright Purchase
Penalty: if you leave Maxis before 12 months, the difference between staff price and *retail price will be recovered

Payment Method: Salary Deduction (12 mths contract)
Penalty: if you leave Maxis before 12 months, the balance cost at *retail price will be recovered

Payment Method: Salary Deduction (24 mths contract) 
Penalty: if you leave Maxis before 12 months, the balance cost at *retail price will be recovered.
• If you leave after 12 months but before completion of salary deduction, actual balance will be recovered

Example 1:
•  Outright Purchase of 8GB, leaves after 5th month before contract ends
Penalty = RM2540 – RM1800 = RM740

Example 2:
•  Purchase 8GB for own use, opt for salary deduction (12 mths ) and leave after the 10th mth before contract ends
Penalty = RM2540 – RM1500 = RM1040

Example 3:
•  Purchase 16GB for own use, opt for salary deduction (24 mths) and leave on the 20th mth after contract ends
Penalty = RM2220 – RM1850 = RM370

7. Details on how to sign up contains sensitive material, so I cannot include here.
Of course, all this is rendered uninteresting as we count down the days left till the announcement of the new iPhone next month.

Read here. Maxis is the slowpoke. Apple set their own release date and product roadmap. Maxis has nothing to do with producing the next iPhone, they are just the vendor. So if they are late in signing up with Apple as the approved telco, it is not Apple's fault that they are late in the product cycle, when everyone else else is already dumping the iPhone 3G en masse, and Maxis treating it like it is the next best thing since sliced bread.

Or maybe perhaps you are the slowpoke? The whole fiasco about Apple closing in on the new iPhone has already subsided, with general consensus already taken in the fact the new iPhone is impending, announcement next month, and launch probably in July.

Next time, read up, especially on Apple's product cycle on roadmap. Macrumor.com buyer's Guide is a good start. Dont come back crying here when the new iPhone launches less than 3 months after you have just bought yours. No point crying over spilt milk, or ripped wallets.

And oh, the price being a ripoff? Only in this forum. Sellers here take all the opportunities they can slaughtering the willing lambs around here. I slap them aside and take my own route. A lot others do the same as well, buying them AT RETAIL PRICE, NOT RIPOFF PRICES from Singapore and HK as well. There are ways to get these at reasonable price, in fact , much more reasonable than the Maxis' price.

totally agree with u bro..
i used to change phones every 3-4 months..or at least i wud get the most out of it within a couple of weeks...
then came along iphone...after using tis phone..my eyes saw no other phone n my heart no longer pushed me to change to a new hp...
im lucky i got iphone arnd apple's initial release n wud be strictly following da product cycle n grab on the chance to upgrade when i can...
i agree thr are ppl who buy a phone and plan 2 stick with it for few years b4 the next change...tat is totally cool n understandable... but those who buy the iphone following the maxis launch n argue tat how can apple launch a new iphone when u just bought one, well u need 2 wake up n start reading n researching....

Hmm when I was purchasing my iPhone the other day the maxis staff directed me to a corner where they apparently gonna jailbreak it. iPhone 3G from Maxis is not jailbreak, no? Kinda confused..

duh... i got a warning from davidgary73... my 1st since i was a member...
BTW we are just comparing... i don think that is violating the rules...
our price here is too high!!!!
my fren just got it for $400 with a $65 plan...
here... RM1510 with RM100 plan...

My friend had a problem with her Maxis iPhone, she claimed her warranty unit and it's a refurbished unit. It's better than my new unit in terms of build quality.

Do I detect buyer's remorse?

Check back your contract you signed when you got your Maxis iPhone. Unless there is a clause stating that you are eligible for product trade-in or upgrades, you are stuck with the product you signed that contract on: the iPhone 3G.

I guess there is a blessing in disguise for Maxis for stocking such high numbers of iPhone 3G while still taking stock of iPhone 3G[S]. That way, sneaky subscribers who think they can beat the system by claiming they have faulty iPhone 3G and think they can get Maxis to exchange them for the iPhone 3G[S] will find that is not the case, since Maxis has boatloads of iPhone 3G units left. Tough luck.

In the meantime, good times comes to those who waited, those who armed themselves with knowledge and those who heeded the warnings. Their patience will soon be rewarded appropriately with their the iPhone 3G[S].

Both are Maxis units, refurbished has serial number starting with 5XX while new has 8XX.

Well at least for the battery life, you can swap the internal battery pack to something of a higher capacity. We do have battery maintenance service offered with a higher capacity pack no? Of course, it won't be original. But then the warranty period may be well exceeded when the battery dies.

It has been proven in some cases that refurbished units are better than new units. She is my friend, so I get to hold hers and compare it with mine.

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Added on June 14, 2009, 6:10 pmApple engineers put more time to assemble the product properly thus the percentage of hardware issues are small, rather than assembling it in a large quantity in the factory where QC is not being done at all units.