October 2, 2007
I have just received an Apple iPhone in Malaysia! Click to start reading of when the Apple iPhone arrived in Malaysia to me.
Recently Apple officially released its talked about Apple iPhone on June 29th, 2007. Every hardcore Apple lover in the United States started queuing at their nearest store for one. Apple Centers were packed with customers and many seen gleaming with delight after coming out with their new toy.
Thanks to the build up of publicity by Apple iPhone advertisement screened online and not to mention the keynote speech by Steve Jobs, all lovers were in a frenzy to lay their hands on the upcoming Apple iPhone. Photos taken by arikan proofed customers were willing to wait in the rain and sell their spot for USD5000! Folks at Gizmodo interviewed the possible first iPhone customer. So why is Malaysia not talking about the iPhone?
The rumour being spread across Malaysia at this moment is the device may only reach our shores in 2009. Note that I said ‘may’. Yes, 2 years from now only will it fall into the hands of Apple followers here. Well, that’s Malaysia for you – last in technology. Funnily though Apple is only circulating the phone to AT&T subscribers and are not even thinking of taking advantage of the larger market like Japan and Korea.
In truth, let’s face it. After watching the Apply iPhone advertisements and the demo by Steve Jobs – I want one! At least I want to be able to try it out and see if it’s worth USD599 for an 8GB mobile phone.
Other speculations happening is the Malaysia price of the Apple iPhone when it comes here. Will it cost RM1599 or RM2100 or even higher?
Well friends, only time will tell as we wait here until 2009. At the time, the Apple iPhone will be a little too late and probably players like Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung or LG will lead the market in Malaysia. Not to forget the direct competitor; HTC.
HTC recently bought dopod and not long after, released the HTCTouch which runs on Windows Mobile 6 and has almost the same if not better capabilities compared to the Apple iPhone.
So why in the world wide web do you think Malaysia is NOT talking about the Apple iPhone?
August 9, 2007
Jason Lam who works in MacAsia 1Utama shares his first iPhone upclose experience and mentions Apple will only be launching the Apple iPhone in Asia early next year. Note: Asia and no mention of Malaysia in particular.
August 9, 2007Question of August 9, 2007: Will the Apple iPhone in Malaysia succeed by the time it gets here?
August 20, 2007
You read that right. The hands of Kenny Sia has now tasted the iPhone and it seems he won’t be letting it go any time soon though ITFusion got it for him to review ‘temporarily’.
August 20, 2007Question of August 20, 2007: Do you think ITFusion will give the phone to Kenny Sia?
September 6, 2007
Will the iPod Touch overule the Apple iPhone in Malaysia? Well, Steve Jobs has showed us the price of the Apple iPhone will be sliced this holiday season. Which means when it does come to Malaysia, the Apple iPhone will be most affordable. ;)
Thanks to the folks at iPhones Unlocked, I’ve been given the opportunity to review an Apple iPhone in Malaysia! Click to start reading of when the Apple iPhone arrived in Malaysia to me.
October 2, 2007[tags]Apple iPhone, Malaysia iPhone price, HTCTouch Malaysia[/tags]
Because it sucks? Because apart from its 4/8GB flash it is already outdated. Because its competitor’s products are better? Because it is expensive? Because it lacks a keyboard? Because it has no MMS? Because it has no 3G?
I actually did forget to point the link of the number of things the iPhone doesn’t provide but should.
And I definitely didn’t like the one where it said you can’t use MP3s as ring tones. LOL!
Thanks for stopping by Jonny.
It might be interesting to note that Apple is working on an affordable iPhone so that it can achieve the same success like how the iPod did.
That said, kindly elaborate what sort of answer do you expect to receive from your question  Why Malaysia is Not Talking about the iPhone?
Well, I can see it being discussed in Malaysian forums. I can look forward to see it being reviewed in local gadget magazines despite not being released here. I would assume that the Malaysian media would provide some coverage in their weekly technology spread. For a product not being released officially here, I can see it has generated more than enough buzz. Do you agree?
not talking about it? i’m TALKING about it in my blog …
i love it … not having a physical keyboard doesn’t mean it’s not cool … without it, you’re being compensated with a bigger screen … furthermore it has a logical keyboard, mind you …
it’ll be in asia in 2008 but no one actually knows if it’ll arrive by then … but i would rather have it late than early simply because by then, then price would have dropped and bug-free dude … you don’t think you’ll pay for USD599 for the same spec by the time it arrives at malaysia’s soil, do you?
cheers
Because you can’t use it with a SIM card?
Because despite the fact it can take photos, you can’t send pictures with it?
Because despite the fact you can connect to the net on it, you still have to sync it with iTunes to upload music?
hinching:
Point taken. What I was targeting was actually the local blogosphere. I believe you’ve been blogging long enough to know how most writers here work. If it’s something controversial, it’ll be there. If it’s something really new and cool, it’ll be there.
But the Apple iPhone didn’t really make that happen as far as I’ve seen till this point of time.
StockTube:
I didn’t say I hated it. In fact, I want one! :) But why is the local blogosphere so quiet about it I ask.
Edrei:
We’re definetely on the same tune – somewhat.
A quick search at Petalingstreet.org revealed 153 pingbacks which I think is a decent number in terms of the coverage.
Once again, taking the fact that the iPhone hasn’t reached the popularity like what the iPod has achieved. It’s not surprising to see that the non-tech bloggers not blogging about it. Introduce an iPod with mobile phone capabilities… perhaps they might relate it better since it is an existing product.
Apple’s rise in popularity in the past few years is due to its iPod mp3 player. The public itself still associates Apple directly with the iPod product and not their Tiger OS X system etc.. Hence it’s not strange at all to see the lack of activity around the iPhone. After all, by the time it reaches here, I’m sure everyone would be familiar with the iPhone itself. Cheers.
danny, i didn’t say you hate it … in fact i’m glad to find someone who love the gadget the way i love it :P
i just hope by the time it reaches malaysian soil, it would be 2nd generation with lots of juices for me to admire …
my initial estimate is the sales of iPhone tops USD 100 million on day-1 itself …
it’s steve’s evil plan to always give you limitations on the first generation prod so that he can continue enhance to make it better in subsequent generation … so i’m sure the above limitations would be a no-issue in no time …
just my opinion …
cheers
Hinching:
I’ve a feeling you’re falling into the same page as me now. As for “by the time it reaches here, everyone will be familiar with the iPhone” part, I’d beg to differ.
If you’ve noticed how trends come and go in Malaysia, especially the mobile market – it is very fast paced. But I don’t want to argue as I said, by the time it reaches here other players are still leading the market. Will you not agree?
StockTube:
All we can do is to lie in wait.
I bet Steve jobs must be thanking you for the 100-million remark. :P But we’ll see as reports should be released pretty soon.
eh, i think end of the year keluar in Kl lah. kot. i heard some other rumours haha.
well, from the news I’ve been hearing internationally many are advising to wait for newer revisions. though of course, it’ll be great to have it. such a cool thing. :P
I’m waiting for it eagerly. Anyway, how much do you think it will be priced here in Malaysia and when do you guys think it’ll be available here?
sorry for the duplicate comments posted…internet connection error
Kenneth, I myself am eagerly awaiting its arrival. :)
I’ve a feeling like any new product especially coming from Apple, they’ll price themselves uniquely at RM2500-RM2800. With Apple, you’re always buying the brand because they make it look cool and work great.
As for when will it be available, judging by all the international reviews done thus far I’ve a feeling the earliest we might see it here it Q3-Q4 2008. Most likely the 2nd/3rd revision or upgraded firmware.
“….you had me at scrolling…”
Hey Danny, Kenneth. Having used the iphone for almost a month now, I must say I am really impressed at what the iPhone can do for the user. Never mind the critics who complain about what the iPhone cannot do, you guys will find it a worthy investment. It is truly ahead of its time. Few clarifications. The iphone does use a removable sim card. Talk of future 3G capabilities is already in the works for future revisions.
“Having used the iPhone…” 0.0
I’m assuming you are in the States and that is why you have the iPhone to play around with. But that aside, 3G definetely was something totally lacking in the iPhone.
Although its adoption is slow here, it is the future for teleconferencing – except when WiMax comes out that is. :P
Danny,
Just a question, how much would it cost roughly in Malaysia?
1slandpacket, good question.
Speculations are RM2500-2800 but I’m guessing high RM2000 if it were to reach our shores, go through the customs, go through the tax payers hands, go through the distributors then the resellers and finally, into our hands.
Anything is really possible by then and if Apple really wants to take the market here by surprise, they’d have to sell it at RM2000-RM2500. :)
Hope that helps.
Wut bout the network provider?
i mean all the liveTV or GPS system wont work here in Malaysia.
and i thought the rate plans used in US (AT&T) are specific and AT&T only.
Rumours saying in the UK, iPhone will be released near Xmas using O2 as the service provider. O2 ’s network need to be specially configured to accommodate the Apple handset.
I wonder any of malaysia’s network service provider wud do that just for iPhone.
Or, Apple will create an iPhone which can accommodate a normal network service provider.
a.k.a. less features?
alfadli:
That is true. At the moment, I don’t think our network infrastructure is even optimized for this kinda mobile capabilities.
Well, Celcom paired up with Vodafone. So there could be a possibility Maxis or DiGi may pair up with someone in order for this phone to function at full capacity.
Or as you said, a dumbed down version – though that’ll definetely affect the overall sales.
There are no such thing as LiveTV or GPS on the iPhone. You must have meant Youtube and GoogleMaps. Youtube works just like Youtube on your PC, works with any connection, although for a smoother non-caching experience, Wifi works best. GoogleMaps works just like Google Earth, albeit with all surface flattened into 2D. There are no GPS integration into GoogleMaps, nor are there any capability via Bluetooth to connect a Bluetooth GPS device to feed latitudinal/longitudinal info to GoogleMaps. Both applications have been seen in cellphones before, although non-power users would not have come across them as they are only available to higher end phones like the Nokia N95 or E90. Their equivalents on these Nokia phones are Youtube Internet Channel and Nokia Maps respectively, although their implementations are not as slick as Apple’s.
Like i commented in the iPod Touch section on this blog, Apple’s tradition so far is to award iPhone distribution to a single telco. AT&T gets it for the States, O2 in UK, T-Mobile in Germany and Orange in France. Going from this, only one telco in Malaysia will get the iPhone, should Apple deem it worthy to release here.
*Apple/Steve Jobs considers market penetration of mobile phones plus aptitude towards emerging technology of a particular country before releasing it there. Hence why you see Italy, a country with almost blanket EDGE coverage, yes im not kidding, gets sidelined in favour for its other European neighbours, based on how laidback the Italians are when it comes to technology. Malaysians? You tell me*
The problem is, NONE of the telcos here adopts the same business plan as these European/American telcos of subsidizing the cost of the phone in return of binding the user to set period of usage agreement. In lieu of this situation, you may see, should Apple decides to launch the iPhone here, that the Malaysian iPhone MAY NOT BE PRICED at the current USD399/GBP279 pricetag, as these pricetags are made available due to subsidization from the contracted telcos Apple has awarded the distribution rights to. Add on top of the silly and mysterious ways our government works on taxation of electronic/telecommunication equipment and other unforeseen costs, Malaysian iPhones may well be reaching RM2800 to RM3000 and beyond. You heard it here first folks. Now this is the same iPhone that the rest of the world is using, with no specs upgrades, or inclusions of locally-preferred connections like UMTS, HSDPA/HSUPA or 3G, as the inclusion of these into the current spec-ed iPhones will cause an uproar among early adopters as well as users at countries which the iPhones has launch first, particularly in the States.
Of course all of these are purely speculative, but they are speculations drawn from conclusions from current trends Apple is adopting. Chances are, those who are lucky enough to get their iPhones at the USD399 pricetag from the US, may reap the rewards of buying it cheap when compared to the locally launched version, that is…….IF Apple deem it fit to launch here. You heard it here first, folks!
Hmm, so the iPhone doesn’t have a GPS function. Something which most KL adventurers would find very handy driving around the town. Especially me who doesn’t venture much into the abyss.
As for the price tag, well…I really can’t say. For a device which has WiFi, I’d bet its price should be subsidized because part of the Budget mentions trying to penetrate the broadband market by being able to provide hardware which is more cost effective. But of course, the iPhone may not fall into this category.
And yet again, the agreement with you is there. The taxation works in mysterious ways that hikes up the price by a huge jump and that’s excluding the cut of resellers.
Man, this is beginning to sound crazy of what the iPhone should be priced at.
Wah, nice ipod i like it
You forgot…phone. :P
I think the 16GB iPhone should be about RM1999 when launched locally…just a wild guess.
rockstar:
Not sure when it’s arriving officially. But on LowYat forums, they’re pricing it around RM2200. :)
Hmmm…with the forming of our new government maybe they could speed things up for the local iPhone launch..or maybe not.
Hopefully we could purchase locally after June to get the advantage of latest software update which would include the 10 enterprise features that Apple commited.
SO, anyone has idea on how much is the 8GB and 16 GB iphone selling? HOw should we unlock the phone?
Hey Danny Foo… it’s June now so has the iPhone reached Malaysian’s shores? I’m Malaysian living in Australia but will be back somewhere in July for a holiday so hopefully I can buy one in Msia. FYI, there’s still no sight of the iPhone here in Australia though the iPod Touch is everywhere. Rumours say that the phone will be here late this year. One can only hope.
Hi, it came in a box but Apple warned “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL TUESDAY June 10th 2008″…could be a demo unit
Oh, did i mention the box is for Australia..n maybe other countries as well