Posts Tagged ‘iphone3gs’

DiGi iPhone Pre-Order

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

DiGi has put up a page where one can pre-order the iPhone 3GS.  Pre-orderers will be given priority over others when the time comes to collect the iPhone.  Click here to register your interest – there is no obligation to buy the phone if you pre-order; simply don’t turn up or do anything if you don’t want to!

And ah, please read point 9 of the FAQ around 50 times so that you understand what it means:

9. Do I have to signup for a DiGi mobile service plan in order to buy an iPhone?
Yes. You will have to signup for the selected DiGi mobile service plan in order to buy an iPhone.

I have deliberately increased the font size so that you can read it better.  Have you read it at least 50 times yet?  No?  Go read it again!

Pre-orders are accepted until 18th of March, so better make up your mind quickly!

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Don’t Let Facts Get In The Way Of Reporting

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

So the “big” news yesterday was the announcement by DiGi that they have reached an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone 3G S in Malaysia, by the first half of this year.  The Star reports that the agreement is for three years, which is a very long time, if you ask me, judging by Apple’s rumoured past practices regarding the iPhone – could this mean that the iPhone 4G will be exclusive to DiGi when it appears?

In that same report, the Star says that (emphasis mine):

The iPhone is sold in 85 countries and has about 25,000 applications that can be downloaded.

Considering the report was written yesterday, the least the Star could do was to check its facts and figures – the Apple AppStore surpassed the 25,000 applications number a long, long time ago.  As of January 2010, it had 133,979 apps available for download, and the number is closer to 150,000 now.

And don’t let the title mislead you – the “price war” being referred to is “price war with contractual commitment“.  I doubt Apple would be so silly as to give two levels of pricing to two celcos in the same country.  So, everyone is waiting for DiGi to come out with some attractive packages where it will subsidise the price of the iPhone in return for a long term contract – but as I’ve mentioned repeatedly – if you already know what your competition is doing, it’s easy to undercut them, like what DiGi did with their Blackberry BIS package.  It’s altogether another matter to be “innovative” and “market leading”.

And as I’ve told people who are willing to listen repeatedly, you do not have to wait for DiGi to offer the iPhone if you want to use the iPhone on DiGi’s network – just get a prepaid Maxis iPhone (it’s not branded Maxis in any way, externally or internally), throw away that RM 8.80 Maxis prepaid SIM pack, insert a DiGi SIM card and you’re good to go – I’ve been doing this since I got my “Maxis” iPhone3GS since last July!  Unfortunately there are still a lot of ignorant people out there who think that they have to be tied into Maxis when buying the iPhone.  Sigh…I guess companies love to rely on ignorance and stupidity to make money.

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DiGi To Offer iPhone 3G S…Yawn…Zzzzzzzzz…

Monday, March 1st, 2010

In what (for me anyway) is a case of too little too late, DiGi has come out with all guns blazing saying that it will soon offer the iPhone 3G S.  Why is this a non-event?  First – the phone’s been out for more than 6 feckin’ months already.  Second – the iPhone 4G will arrive in less than 4 months.  Third – what makes us think that the retail, contract-free price from DiGi will be any cheaper than Maxis?  Last time I checked, Apple wasn’t a stupid company that gave variable pricing to two celcos in the same country for the iPhone, so the only area to differentiate oneself is by the plans offered.  And since Maxis’ plans are well known, it’s easy for DiGi to undercut them.  You have to remember though – once DiGi does this, Maxis can just as easily strike back by re-pricing their plans if they wanted to.

So, this means that Maxis exclusivity with the iPhone 3G S is coming to an end.  One wonders whether Maxis will still get the exclusivity for the iPhone 4G due to its longer business relationship with Apple.  And what about the iPad?  This one interests me more than an old phone offered by DiGi – will DiGi offer this too?  Will DiGi offer the iPhone 4G?  So many questions, so little answers.  And if you check DiGi’s iPhone FAQ page, it’s full of baloney like “stay tuned”, “we can’t tell you yet” and “coming soon”.  I mean, if you’re not going to share useful information, why the feck have an FAQ page in the first place?

Click here to read the press release to help you fall asleep.  Thanks to tcmean and RMvalues for alerting me!

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CNET Prizefight: iPhone Dethroned

Monday, February 8th, 2010

The CNET website regularly carries out “prizefights” between new smartphones and the incumbent of the day, which has been the Apple iPhone for some time now.  This time, they pitted the Google Nexus One against the Apple iPhone, and the end result was that the Nexus One dethroned the iPhone and is now the undisputed(?) smartphone champion.  Do you agree having watched the video?  I certainly had a good laugh about it – two of the “rounds” which went to the Nexus One are very US centric and may not apply for our neck of the woods.

In any event, this point is moot since Google does not see us worthy of owning the Nexus One in Malaysia.  And even if it went on sale, will the Market be there?  :P  Click here to watch the video, and I’m sure you’ll come in and share your thoughts with us as usual!

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Confirmed: Contract Free Maxis iPhone 3G S Available Again

Friday, December 18th, 2009

maxis-logoThanks to a loyal reader, and a good friend of mine, artic_xp, we now know that the 32GB version of the new iPhone 3G S is now available again, for purchase on a prepaid, no commitment basis, after its withdrawal some time ago.  The 16GB version is unfortunately in short supply, with a waiting period of between 2 to 4 weeks.  So, if you’ve always wanted an iPhone 3G S, but did not want to commit to a long term contract with Maxis, just pay RM 2,990 for the 32GB version (plus RM 8.80 for the Hotlink prepaid starter SIM pack) and walk away a happy camper because you can now use it on your beloved Celcom network.  And for those who are desperate, better get one now before Maxis changes their minds again!

If you’re interested, artic_xp purchased his unit from the Maxis Centre in Berjaya Times Square.  Thanks, artic_xp!  We hope you’re enjoying your new purchase of the best smartphone in the world!

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