Singtel Brings iPhone 3G to Singapore

It’s finally here, people. And boy, do I have some great news to share. Just to underline the topic of the day, the iPhone 3G has officially landed on our neighbouring shores and makes it debut today, August the 22nd. Those of us who’ve been holding out on the iPhone 3G hit since July 11th, get your passports and vehicles fueled up, because this is gonna be one awesome trip you don’t wanna miss As of now, reports are already gushing in from the frontlines of Apple Stores all over the island next door, and from the pictures taken I believe this has marked Apple’s biggest event around these places in the last…. I don’t know, decade? One word, the queues. And of course, my fellow Malaysians, there’s another reason for us to join in the festivities.

First, I’m gonna walk you guys down the timeline leading up to this momentous event.

• March 20th – Rumours are out that Singapore will be receiving the Apple iPhone later in September 08. iPhone 3G still unknown to the world.
• May 12th – Singtel Communications announces that it will bring the Apple iPhone to Singapore, Phillippines, India and Australia (Optus). Excitement begins to build.
• June 9th – Apple announces Singapore as one of the 70 countries worldwide to receive the iPhone 3G at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2008. All rumours are confirmed.
• July 11th – The first wave of iPhone 3Gs hits the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan around our region.
• August 12th – Singtel Communications officially announces iPhone 3G launch date on August 22nd and tells us to stay tuned for plans and pricing details.
• August 19th – Singtel Communications officially reveals iPhone 3G plans and pricing plans to the public in the form of iFlexi plans (with data plan) and Singtel plans (without data plans).
• August 22nd – The long-awaited and hyped launch date.

Launch Date Announcement

Singtel Plans (Non-Data)

iFlexi Plans (With Data)

As of 12:03am today, overjoyed Singaporeans in the acclaimed ‘more than a thousand in line’ queue outside Apple Stores all over Singapore have finally got their hands on the iPhone 3G. Reports also indicate that Apple has learnt its lesson well from the arguably disastreous launches in the US as well as all over the world, where activation servers were unable to cope with the severe load of iPhone in-store activations worldwide. Thus far, there have only been reports of nothing but success and happy customers for the Singapore launch. Kudos to Apple for that! Unlike in the States and NZ, queues in front of Singapore Apple Stores began only around noon on Thursday, August 21st. And like Apple’s flagship 5th Avenue Store in the US, Singapore’s very own glasshouse Apple Store looked equally majestic, with a large ribbon tied around the entrance as you will see in the photos below.

Additionally, as a treat to my fellow Malaysians, it has been confirmed that the Singaporean Apple iPhone 3Gs will be FULLY UNLOCKED and has been tested on all GSM carriers, be it on StarHub, M1, and even our very own Maxis, DiGi and Celcom, due to Singapore’s laws restricting anti-competitive arrangements in telecommunications services. [READ HERE] However, all phones must still be activated in-store, with an additional SGD$800 as contract termination fees should you decide to terminate your mandatory 12-24 month contract AFTER signing up. This means acquiring a contract-free iPhone 3G from Singapore would be significantly more difficult than in New Zealand ones. Let me break it down for you, based on what I know thus far :

New Zealand >> Go to Apple Store >> Pay NZD$979 (8GB) / NZD$1129 (16GB) >> Walk straight on home with an unlocked, contract-free outright iPhone 3G

Singapore >> Go To Apple Store >> Choose A Plan >> Sign Contract Agreement >> Pay for iPhone 3G + First Month Contract Fees Accordingly >> Go Home OR Stay >> Sign Contract Termination >> Pay SGD$800

As you can see here, acquiring an iPhone 3G from Singapore will be of significantly more hassle. As for the costs, I will not comment on this at the moment as I’m not sure how Singtel calculates the termination costs. Why’s that? Take a look at say, the most expensive iThree Plus or iFlexi Premium plans above, where the iPhone cost is supposed to be SGD$0. So if I terminate my contract, wouldn’t that mean that I’d only be paying SGD$800 / RM1.9k for an outright unlocked iPhone 3G. Not bad, huh? Seems plausible, but I’m gonna wait until we get more information from Singaporean users. Anyhow, here are some pictures of the Singapore launch, courtesy of CNET.com

Before I end this, here’s some extra information related to the iPhone 3G’s nearly 2 months in use by people worldwide :

• There have been reports of mild yellowish tints and colour tones on the LCDs of the iPhone 3Gs where compared side-by-side to the 1st Gen iPhones which had more neutral tones. Initial hardware dissections revealed that the LCD panels used in the iPhone 3Gs are the exact same models as the ones in the 1st Gen iPhones, just as Apple had claimed. Apple later confirmed that these newly introduced tones were to enhance and allow warmer colours on the iPhone 3Gs displays. These tones can be fixed by a little screen calibration in a firmware update.

• Several users around the world from Japan to the UK have reported cracks appearing on the backs of the WHITE iPhone 3Gs. All reports indicate that these phones had not suffered any form of abuse or shock, and that these cracks appear to only plague the WHITE models. No further updates as of now.

• In contradiction to some claims and complaints towards the iPhone 3Gs (despite the fact that I’m not a user of one yet myself), the acclaimed ‘plastic’ back is not merely cheap plastic that is used in producing toys and such, but a form of polycarbonate with several layers of gloss, which will not turn yellowish or suffer scratches easily as people usually assume.

All in all, it’s only been the Apple iPhone 3G’s first month of shelflife, but statistics have already shown the huge boom in its popularity, not so much because of the 3G and GPS, but the huge variety of 3rd party applications available in the App Store. My current favourite are 2 games [SPOILER] Monkeys & Water Droplets [/SPOILER] as well as a rather pointless but nevertheless fun toy app. Stay tuned for my next article! Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Timothy Goh

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