Me hoping to get one too at tomorrow's KLCC roadshow (according to Maxis website). Gonna take the iValue 1 for 24 months since I've been with Maxis since my first handphone. My current usage is around RM50 (without using any data) so RM100+ a month is pretty fine since I get the 500MB on data too. But I feel the 24 months a bit long though. Probably should top up RM200-300 for 12 months contract.

Guys! Happy to join you all as users/owners.

I went to KLCC Road Show and finally got myself one. Apparently they waived the prepayment requirements and I don't have usage of RM250/month either. However, I have been using Maxis since 1999 (almost 10 years) and my usage is around RM100+ for many years now. So I took the opportunity of the savings to get the 12 months contract. I realize 12 months is safer since 24 months is a bit too long for a contract. So I guess they also check into your overall account and payment history.

Everything seems great and it works out of the box. Fully understood what I got myself into since a new model will be launched shortly but luckily iPhone OS 3.0 will add more functionality to it. Although it is at its end of life product cycle, its price has kinda 'devalue' (I mean by Maxis's offer). By the way I owned the iPod Touch (1st Gen) so there's nothing to learn for me. It felt second nature hehehehe...

Yeah, there's a prepayment of RM400 if you have not been with Maxis for more than 6 months with a minimum of RM250 per month on the bills. However, if you've been a Maxis 'loyal' customer (basically more than a year) the person in charge can waive this requirement as they have done for my case. However, they also have a right to limit your choice to a few plans to 'minimize their risks'.

Coming back to what is being offered by Maxis, I think we can see that Maxis is increasingly progressive in offering the iPhone (by introducing more plans). Especially the prepaid one time off payment which I can see is designed to knock off gray imports. But I would stick with iValue plan if you have been using Maxis. You get the phone at a lower price. Of course, some can argue that the overall cost of ownership is high, but hey... we need telephone service anyway so it doesn't really matter. By the way, 512MB is a lot to use. I've been FB-ing, chatting, email and Google Mapping (don't use satellite imagery, it uses more) as much as I can and I only hit 80MB++ with still room for youtube. Trick is, stay off the Safari browser. Use apps for accessing FB, etc they're more efficient. Use RSS to pull stuff from your favorite sites.

And for those who claim that oversea telcos offer cheap/free iPhones with an affordable monthly cap. Here's the explanations. Most of these plans offer like AUD$49, 79, etc but given credit time worth AUD$350 so on. Most people would think gee... thats a lot to use, very value for money. Wait... the per minute cost is not printed. Look at the fine prints, AUD$0.80 per minute with 30 second block. Thats like almost equivalent to our minutes (RM0.15, 30 seconds block) offered by Maxis if you would compute. The point is their per minute charges is high, Malaysia is still very competitive in the mobile communications rates. Of course we pay for the phone, but its unlock and we're free to choose our telco service. Phones from elsewhere is free but locked and you pay additional costs for unlock which is the same in the end (lets not venture into 'illegal' means).

Conclusion? Apple phones are not cheap stuff hehehehe unfortunately but they are highly desirable. If you're residing in Malaysia, just get one of Maxis's plans or you can wait for better offers.

This post has been edited by davidmak: May 25 2009, 01:40 PM

Actually its very hard and complicated to compare dollar to dollar or dollar to conversion because these prices are obviously positioned in consideration of their social structure, purchasing power, various tax structure, culture, etc which is different. We're just picking one component from one country and compare with ours. I have to agree that because of this, one type of product is cheaper in some countries and what is not. I mean, lets not even compute purchasing power parity (because thats the most accurate apple to apple comparison, by computing everything orange, lemon, watermelon you name it into a baseline comparison).

I think its a bit funny to just look at how Apple iPhone is cheap in a country while it is expensive in the other because their individual social structure is different (other goods are expensive, for example). You may say that I'm going too far as out of topic but the conclusion is simple:

Don't look elsewhere. If you're residing in Malaysia and want an iPhone, get it from Maxis (not because you may say I work for Maxis and support it, but because it is the only sound choice available). Malaysian consumers value one thing, product support and Maxis can give that to us. Singapore may have better pricing and also a warranty, but unless you live in Johore, I don't see a point of troubling yourselves to go there and get support. Lets not even say, ooo my sis stays there and can do for me. Lets talk general practicality.

Tell you the truth, I notice that Apple products all baseline to their selling USD prices. That is convert it to your local currency and you get a selling price for your country (most of the time). The iPhone price strategy has hidden costs as in it is partnered to a service plan. Dig deep enough, you will see that all these cost eventually add up and is similar from country to country one way or another. Apple's cut for every iPhone their telco partner sell is the same. They're built the same and from the same places in the world (China, etc). The LRAC (long run average cost) is quite consistent.

Hmmm... isn't there a Service Card which accompanies the iPhone 3G? That card is used for maintenance/servicing/warranty service. They usually recognize the card rather than the owner. And that card is listed as originating from one of Maxis's plan. Isn't that the case?

Yeah the home screen button should feel soft yet tactile unlike the iPod Touch home screen button which is tactile but not soft. It emits a click sound/feel.

Yes, more surprises. By the way, I don't agree on how Maxis rates the data packages. Come on RM30 for 250MB, RM50 for 500MB and then suddenly RM99 for 3GB? It doesn't jive. At RM99 for 3GB it sounds dirt cheap when compared to RM30 and RM50's. These two latter plans should be doubled. Then it make sense.

Yes, as mentioned, when compared among the 3 packages. I was actually commenting that Maxis's charges doesn't scale properly from 250MB-500MB-3GB. By the way the unlimited RM99 data package is nice loophole. I wonder how will it be sold together with this iData. My guess would be Maxis shall limit iData for iPhone plans and keep the RM99 unlimited data out. There's a clause which says it has the right to reserve applicability of certain packages/products.

Depends on what you want actually, ultimately both decisions will land you to the same expectation/outcome. That is an iPhone with telephone service and internet experience. I would prefer value 80 and RM2400 phone (you get free data for 6 months on promotion). Spend that RM99 on a mobile internet like Digi if you really like internet on the go. You make better use of your cash.

I can't see myself using the iPhone as a permanent internet interface (replacing my laptop, netbook, etc). I would treat the iPhone as some kind of tablet for information and entertainment on the go. Beyond that, serious stuff should be left with serious hardware.

Yes yes we understand your point! Haha! There was one time I discussed about the Malaysian consumer in this same thread. Thats the Malaysian culture and in fact the same expectations from any other buyer. There's simply no consumer confidence when it comes to buying things, especially for pricey stuff. Every product has to come with some sort of guarantee and after sales support. That is a sign that consumerism is growing and healthy in Malaysia.

Which is why I also wrote that most would just ride on Maxis's plan and have the peace of mind. Some wouldn't mind the trouble of traveling to Singapore to get it fixed, some techie would challenge by saying 'how often do you see Apple products fail anyway?' Which is true to some extend. But Maxis clearly is targetting this product to a wider audience, the not so techie. Lets not ponder onto the audience within this forum LYN cause everyone has some sort of basic knowledge of gadgets and with the strong community support, its not really a concern. But to these non-techies its not so clear cut.

Most importantly, Malaysian consumer fear inconveniences which adds another point.

Exactly the point here. But I see that some users here demands everything or at least think they can have everything hehehe!

The 'yellow screen' or to accurately put it warm color temperature or reddish tint was also reported by many around the world. The funny is Apple said it was intended because it helps produce more accurate colors (what kind of BS). I've been to many concept stores including the major one in Sydney. All of the demos were perfect. In the end, I concluded that Apple probably has more than 1 (maybe more) suppliers for the LCD (which was kinda confirmed by an Apple specialist).

I have a few friends to compare the screen with and each and every one of them have somewhat different shades. In other words, they weren't consistent. Surprisingly the ones on display always have the cooler color temperature and more contrasty (which give the impression of a sharper display).

Anyway guys this just comes in:

It has been identified over the net that Apple silently introduced a new build of the same firmware version which corrected the yellow tint problem. The end result is a more neutral hue color temperature. The articles below were dated for a firmware released in 2008. We're currently using 2.2.1 which is in fact a newer firmware. The article discussed about doing a restore to obtain a newer firmware build. Not sure if there newer builds for 2.2.1.

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=1530

We can try though. Hopefully it works.

You will have all the standard and default apps that come with any iPhone any country. There will be no game apps included. However, you have the Apps Store which allows you to download apps/games (both free and paid ones)! If you're worried about using credit cards or don't bother to buy, there's ample free apps/games! When you're ready to buy games/apps, there's plenty of them at affordable prices (like USD$0.99, so on).



Anyway guys, back to the discussion of yellowish screens. I tried to do a full restore (which was brilliant by the way), no sign of any changes on the screen color temperature. The version 2.2.1's build is still at 5H11. Guess we'll have to wait till iPhone version 3.0 for any telling.

Unless they do a repack for returned units. Of course they will be refurbished and QC-ed but I am just joking.

Yes, there seem to be many kinds of screen on the iPhone 3G (in terms of color temperature) but mostly are on the warm side. Mine is slightly warm but contrast is still good, which is the most important thing. On a side note, the warm colors do make them look richer and full bodied. My old iPod Touch 1G is bluish and too cool.

Anyone has problem with slow youtube streaming when on WIFI? On Maxis 3G, things are swift (but thats because youtube is downloading a lower quality streaming)

What I learned from various internet articles is that youtube streaming and apps download through WIFI will improve if you set the WIFI router to 802.11b only and disabling the QOS 11e protocol. The iPhone 3G supports both 802.11b and g. We don't see such problem over the Safari because it was optimized. However, it is confusing that why this wasn't carried over to the app downloading and youtube streaming.

This is definitely a problem over Apple's side and it is unknown whether they will fix this. Hopefully this will be done by the time we get iPhone v3.0.

Might as well keep it as collection or as a spare (if its still working).

There are a lot of hidden pricing involved. Lets just say USD299 is just the beginning. A lot depends on the price structure. Lets not confuse ourselves. iPhone 3G 8GB dropping to USD99 however is impressive. But we won't know until Maxis release its new price structure, if ever or any.

At what cost? We know Maxis won't be so 'easy' on this.