Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Another Slice of Apple for Malaysia, The Iphone

Since it was announced by Steve Jobs and made available in the US end of June 2006, the craze had started. This touch screen multimedia internet mobile phone device had been sought after, many had gone through great lengths to obtain it through the black markets where the phone was not available.

In Malaysia, forums mushroomed to discuss the product at great lengths and communities were created to cater to the small community that had managed to get hold of the iphone through online purchases or shipped over from the countries that Apple had partnership with the operators.

At the end of 2008, as the iphone reached Asia, many spent a fortune to buy them. Some had earlier gone through great measures to obtain even the operator-locked units from US and Europe and meddled on unlocking it illegally. After all these years...

Its finally here.

I discovered this on the Maxis website



The site opens for registration to those eagerly wanting this device. An it is mentioned on the website that the official launch will held later this month.

Apple had made iphone cheap in the US through a committed package subscription plan. In other parts of the world, the subscriptions are on the high premium side. To get a feel what the package would be like, Maxis had also provided the plans and packages available for the consumers.



So, how will it fare in the market? There are unverified talks that Maxis is bringing in a quarter of a million units for the local market.

Has the enthusiasm died down due to the long wait? or is the interest still bearing sparks? waiting to be rekindled.

Will the ridiculous rate plan as highlighted on the website be acceptable for the Malaysian population, especially with the gloomy outlook of the local and global economy?

I am interested to find out.... but I am definitely not going to be one to register for it at the moment.