Colin Charles Agenda

I was initially unsure if I would like to buy an iPad when asked many a time, and my usual response was “let’s see it first”. Then I saw it. It didn’t take a couple of minutes of playing with it, and looking at it, that I decided that I must get it. A week later, the Apple Store still gets queues in the morning (when I went there was no queue – a pre-requisite for me even entering the store), and they’re all out of 16GB models. In fact, the 32GB models are hard to come by. So I got a 64GB model – oops! Here are my early-experience notes:

1. I like the form factor. Its a bit heavy (try holding it on left hand, typing with right hand for long periods of time). Brushed aluminium on the back, and it seems like my MacBook Pro – I doubt its going to get scratched easily. The screen is like an iPhone/iPod Touch’s, and it smudges similarly – not too badly. I doubt its going to scratch easily, which is probably why Apple can’t be bothered with screen protectors.
2. Speed. The A4 processor is totally amazing! Scrolling is easy, changing from an app to another is snappy, I’m totally amazed.
3. The battery life is totally amazing. A4 processors in an iPhone in the future might help. But I also think there’s a huge battery here. One thing to remember – there’s a special 10W USB Power Adapter to charge the iPad. So even when you grab the Apple World Travel Kit, you don’t get a compatible adapter. The standard iPod/iPhone one only outputs 0.15A of power, while the iPad one gives it 0.45A. They may even be the same size, but they’re not the same. In fact, when you pick up 3rd party power adapters that have USB chargers… you’ll find its not rated high enough for the iPad.
4. Activation process is interesting. The device will not work until you connect it to your computer. It has to be running iTunes 9.1 (so I had to reboot my laptop to get this going). It was simple. Of course I have a Malaysian iTunes account, and for this to work, I needed a US iTunes account. No iPad Apps unless you have a US account. No credit card that has a US-based start, so I can’t buy apps yet. I consider this to be a major fail and think Apple should stop limiting folk to regions – its retarded. I’ll have to go buy lots of gift cards soon…
5. Typing on the touch screen is surprisingly easy. Portrait mode – check. Landscape mode – check.
6. I don’t know what the WiFi troubles are all about (just yet). I am currently travelling and using an Airport Express. I hope when I get back home, it “just works” with my current access points.
7. iBook only gets installed the first time you connect to the AppStore. Winnie the Pooh is the story of choice – why? The interface reminds me very much of Delicious Library. The management of this is via iTunes.
8. Standard iPhone apps work. They don’t necessarily look pretty – sitting in the middle and all that. People are going to want to get their apps working on this platform, fast.
9. It has a pretty good speaker. It comes with no headphones, so if you don’t want to be annoying, spend USD$29 and get yourself a pair from Apple.
10. The screen has an interesting wallpaper. It looks like the iPad had been scratched. Tsk tsk.
11. I bought a dock. The keyboard dock isn’t available for sale yet. But it can already work with a Bluetooth keyboard. I’m excited to try this working, so I can type fast on my iPad.
12. The guy at the Apple Store told me he returned his Apple-made iPad case. To make matters worse, the store was out of stock. So I bought an Incase one. With a zip (the other one had a retarded design). I have no complaints here.
13. Watching YouTube videos are nice. I highly recommend giving it a try. In fact, watching videos are quite pleasant on this large screen. Its about the size you get in an airplane…
14. The accelerometer is very active. There exists a screen rotation lock – totally useful when you’re lying in bed and reading.
15. I tried out the Maps application. Interesting. There should be a digital compass. No assisted-GPS or using the nearest cell to find you, but I tried to find my location and it was pretty accurate just based on what must have been the IP address. I’m not complaining. Maps would be good for this kind of device, and my model does not have an A-GPS, but I don’t really think I’ll be needing it.
16. This is not a netbook replacement. You just can’t access your media that easily. In fact, iTunes is such a horrendous way to manage all this. I’d have preferred if I could drag & drop things onto my iPad. Not all media will get on your iPad easily, quite naturally. Mac users are probably used to Perian, but such an application does not exist for the iPhone/iPad. I presume converting lots of media to a format that is capable for the iPad/iPhone.

Applications

1. I’ve had an iPod Touch for years (I bought the first generation when it was announced, from the same Apple Store in San Francisco that I got this iPad years ago). I’ve never downloaded this many apps, or felt like paying for stuff, until owning the iPad. Colour me impressed.
2. iPad apps cost a lot of money. NetNewsWire which might be free on the Mac desktop, come free on the iPhone, unless you get the Premium edition for $4.99, costs a mere $9.99 on the iPad! Instapaper has a free version for the iPhone, a Pro version for $4.99, and on the iPad it costs the same. Time charges you for every issue you buy – why? I’d rather read the dead tree edition at airports.
3. The Bloomberg application (which I use on Symbian S60, BlackBerry, iPod Touch, and now iPad) is truly a thing of beauty. If you’re a finance geek, love the stock markets, and spend some time on it, you’ll want an iPad just for it. Charts, etc. are totally amazing at that size. And the touch interface is totally rocking.
4. I am a bit disappointed that the Remote iPhone app from Apple to control Keynote does not work as an iPad native app. I would love to use my iPad as a clicker, compared to my iPod touch. Why? I can see my speaker notes, etc. on a larger screen. It becomes totally useful. Remember, I don’t want to give a presentation on my iPad – I still want to use my laptop; I just want to be able to walk around and use the iPad as a large clicker and see things on my screen. I have yet to purchase Pages or Keynote yet, I wonder if I’ll ever purchase Numbers? All $9.99 a pop.
5. I played around with Adobe Ideas. Nice.
6. Evernote is a must have application. It “just works”. I think its much better than the Notes application that Apple bundles.
7. Don’t bother buying an iPad without an iTunes account. You’ll want to be buying apps to make it useful/interesting.
8. Its funny they did not embed a PDF reader. You have to download (mostly buy) one.
9. Having two copies of apps is stupid. For example, I have Wikipanion for iPad and Wikipanion for iPhone/iPod Touch. One is the regular, nice size, and one is about half the size (aka iPhone size).

Games? I’m the last to judge. I don’t play games. ‘Nuff said.

Developers? Go get your app in there during the land rush grab. I wonder if these premium prices on apps will last, or if its just a fad. Are people willing to spend a lot more on apps here? The iPhone AppStore is basically killed by $0.99-1.99 apps. Its hard to break out of those price points unless you’re uniquely providing value. On the iPad? For the near future, you can do whatever it is you want, and people are bound to play with it as the initial hype is there. Once it becomes more commonplace, I expect apps to get cheaper, and more free apps to become more high quality.

What will I use it for? So far, I’m browsing lots of stuff in Safari. I’m writing notes in Evernote. I’m checking out a lot of apps (Marvel is neat, some news apps, Twitter apps, etc.). The Bloomberg application just rocks. I’ve not seen much of this “just work” with the cloud – I can imagine Apple is working on this. Maybe I’ll finally purchase a .Mac account. Copy/Paste isn’t as seamless, in my opinion. Multitasking would make it a whole lot more useful – but then again, me switching apps at the moment is almost instantaneous, so it already feels like I’m multitasking.

Will I get the 3G version? Nope. First off, this whole micro-SIM will be a big issue for me (no provider in Malaysia supports it). Next, where do I use this – probably mostly at home, in a hotel room, or on a plane. What about a cafe? Well, I’ll carry around my portable 3G WiFi device and all will be well. What if you’re on a train/bus? The 3G connection will probably be unreliable as the cells switch, I would get pretty annoyed with connection drops. Besides, I don’t use data when roaming, so another minus for the 3G edition.

What’s missing? I’d like to grab the Camera Connector. Maybe someone will make a 3rd party GPS. Could be useful for mapping nuts, especially since it won’t be an A-GPS. I’m still contemplating spending USD$29 on the dock connector to VGA adapter. I don’t know if I’ll ever do a presentation using my iPad. I’d much rather use the Keynote Remote… if they make an iPad version.

Is this replacing my Sony Reader PRS-505? I’m not sure. One’s e-ink. One isn’t. I haven’t read on the iPad long enough to know if its going to annoy me or not (in iBooks, that is). Reading in Safari is very comfortable.

It always makes me smile when I see headlines like this: iPhone can boost mobile data business: Maxis. Lets decompose the article. (And yes, the answer is still that you shouldn’t buy a Maxis iPhone 3G.)

“We are seeing exponential potential in mobile data growth. With the launch of iPhone, I think it will strengthen Maxis’ competitiveness,” chief marketing officer Matthew Willsher said in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

What it means: Lots of people like mobile data. New phones practically demand it, otherwise you might as well buy a cheap as chips phone, that only makes and receives phone calls, and has a non-colour screen. The chief marketing officer continues to say that the iPhone will “strengthen Maxis’ competitiveness”, which means that they will get more mobile data subscribers yes. But they will all complain at the lacking quality of service. Its fine and dandy that there is a 3.5G network, but if each cell can only take a certain capacity (in terms of bandwidth), what happens in areas where things are oversubscribed?

So far, more than 1,000 units of iPhones have been booked and Willsher said the initial booking numbers have “exceeded expectations”. However, the company did not want to reveal its actual booking numbers.

What it means: There are over a thousand idiots (some tell me its mostly Maxis staff and partners, since Maxis provides hefty staff discounts) who purchased the phone. This after the announcement that there is to be an iPhone OS 3 sometime really soon, and the heavy, mostly accurate speculation that there will be a new iPhone coming out sometime in June. It also seems that Caller ID doesn’t work out of the box and will require Maxis to update the software themselves (how true is this, I have no idea). But the chief marketing officer is right, 1,000 units being booked and snapped up, really does exceed expectations — I expected Malaysians to be a lot that valued their money a lot more.

Industry sources revealed that Maxis may have ordered as many as 150,000 units of iPhone 3G, as part of the conditions to bring the phone into the country. Willsher also declined to comment on this.

What it means: Wow. 150,000 units of a product that is to become obsolete within the next few months? Especially noting that it may not be exclusive to Maxis?

What’s the appeal of the iPhone? The AppStore. The iTunes Music Store. Not being able to have the music store seems like a big boo-boo towards Apple/Maxis.

And just in case you made it this far, read Jeff Ooi’s rather satirical piece Cut Maxis from broadband, please! When it works, its usually a breeze — when it doesn’t, its mighty annoying. Sadly, its usually not working… i.e. probably lacking capacity.

So Maxis’ mobile data business will be boosted – chances are lots of people are locked in for a year or two, and even if the service sucks, paying the penalty of quitting early, will probably derail most folk. Let’s see how they flog off the remaining 149,000 units in the next few months ;-)
(and no, no amount of advertising on blogs [I'm looking at you Nuffnang], and getting funny man Kenny Sia to write about it will help – read the comments, it seems at least his readers are smart!)

You know what’s disgusting? I knew that I couldn’t purchase music at the iTunes Store (see A plea to Apple), but yesterday I found out I couldn’t even look at the podcast directory. In fact, no Malaysian using the Malaysian store can. Podcasts are free Apple.

The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the Malaysian Store

And here I was wondering why there aren’t more Malaysian podcasts. Do you listen to a Malaysian podcast? Tell me what it is.

In fact, can anyone tell me if they have access to the AppStore but not the music/podcast store? That means… do Singaporeans get access to podcasts? Music? Thanks.

The whole of the Malaysian Twitter scene is abuzz with the official launch of the iPhone 3G by Maxis in Malaysia. Now, you can see the i-Value Plan with a 12 month contract, i-Value Plan with a 24 month contract, and the more sensible Value Plus Plans with a 6 month contract. Such is life, where Maxis released some data, then pulled the main page, as pre-orders are meant to close by midnight, on the 12th of March.

Should one buy an iPhone 3G today?
Barring the prices, and the plans, should one get an iPhone 3G? If you’ve been waiting and lusting for it, there’s a chance you’ll jump to the pre-order. If you’re on a disposable income, there’s a chance you’ll jump to the pre-order. But what about the rest of us, that actually work hard for our money? Is the iPhone 3G worth it?

First up, know that this current iPhone 3G model was released in mid-year 2008. Apple has an uncanny mechanism for refreshing their hardware, at least once every year, and rumours will always exist, stating that the next refresh will come in June/July 2009. In fact, this isn’t even hearsay – check out what the Mac Buyers Guide for the iPhone says.

Also, remember the current iPhone 3G has limitations, namely a horrible camera, the lack of MMS (meaning Maxis can’t spam you as much, so it might work out to be a bonus), and no video calls. Don’t forget, as a Malaysian, you will have access to the iTunes AppStore to buy apps, but there is currently, no iTunes Music Store.

Then, you should think about support. If your Nokia fails today, you can take it to many authorised dealers, or to Nokia themselves. While Apple has an online store, they only have Apple Premium Authorised Resellers in Malaysia today. This means, that getting simple things done, can take a week or two, in terms of turnaround time. Can you live without a phone for that long?

In conclusion, knowing that the iPhone 3G is probably ready for an update in about 3-4 months, has got deficiencies, and you’re going to be finding it more difficult to get support, if you’re getting one from Maxis, you might consider their 6-month contract, if you like to live on the edge.

Should one buy an iPhone 3G today, from Maxis?
Looking at their rate plans, this is a tough question.

A 12-month contract costs anywhere between RM100-RM375, in where you buy the iPhone 3G 8GB for anywhere between RM1900-RM1080, or the iPhone 3G 16GB for anywhere between RM2290-RM1470. Know that your total commitment ranges from RM1200 – RM4500, not including the cost of the phone. Data isn’t unlimited – you’re going from 500MB-3GB, and you are billed on “minutes” instead of calling blocks (so 333-2,500 minutes per month).

If you’re crazy enough to stretch this out to 24-months (that’s two years people), suddenly the 8GB model comes down to RM1,510-RM0 (yes, a free phone) or the 16GB model comes down to RM1890-RM260. Nothing in the plan changes, per se, except the term of your contract, so your commitment level now becomes RM2400 – RM9000 over 2 years.

Note that these sneaky buggers also ask you to pay an “advance deposit” to ensure you are a Maxis customer for a while.

Also, it looks like if you need more data, you have to shell out the tiny sum of RM99/month. On an iPhone, you tend to need more data. Because with the lack of MMS, getting things out of your phone is just an “e-mail message away” — that becomes the new MMS.

Today, I am already on a plan with Maxis. The Value Plus 80, which I always think I might increase to 150 or 250 even. Maxis plans to continue that, for folk with deeper pockets, with their Value Plus plans. Why deeper pockets? Because the 8GB model costs RM2,540 and the 16GB one costs RM2,960. And you get a meagre 500MB of data free, so you’ll definitely be getting the RM99 unlimited data plan.

Now, back in January, I wrote about price comparisons and where to buy an iPhone 3G in Malaysia. RM2,899 (8GB) and RM3,099 (16GB), unlocked, from iWorld. Today, I moseyed over there to see them having a “spring sale”, and it now costs a mere RM2,999 for a 16GB model, completely unlocked. Sure, you’re worried about warranties, but you’re not much better off, from buying it from Maxis.

Compare that: RM2,999 vs RMRM2,960. RM39 is the difference, you save with Maxis. But the grief of going to the Maxis store, parking there, dealing with not-so-clever support “professionals”. No contracts. Completely unlocked phone. Delivered to your house, the next morning. I’d pick iWorld.

In conclusion, is it wise to get on a Maxis plan? Probably not. They’re fleecing you, the customer. If you’re going to pay so much for the phone, you shouldn’t be locked into such an expensive contract. You should be free to move over to DiGi when they launch better services.

As a Maxis customer, know that their 3G data service quality is questionable. Also know that their customer service is lacking.

Note that you can also get units like the ones from iWorld, completely unlocked and available for you, around Low Yat, for a few hundred ringgit cheaper. I’m just stating my experience with them, that’s all.

Anything else?
Well, its unclear if the Maxis iPhone 3G units are completely unlocked, or if they’re SIM locked to Maxis for the period of the contract.

With MNP in place, and competition rife, I’m surprised Apple Malaysia didn’t pull a stunt like what they did in Hong Kong – sell completely unlocked units, and let the people choose.

Apple is planning an event towards the end of March, that may announce some changes to the iTunes Store, which may mean that Malaysians get to buy music, and other content. This is how Apple makes residual income from the sale of an iPhone — they don’t really care for the carrier profits, now do they?

I don’t forsee many Malaysian’s shelling out cash for apps in the AppStore, with the way the USD-MYR rates are going. They’ll use it, but they’ll get the free apps. I can’t blame them. Apple doesn’t release sales metrics for their AppStore by region, but if they did, we could come up with a better analysis.

In “high society” (middle class and above, I use the term loosely), seeing an iPhone is very common. Whether its the older model, or the 3G model, its almost everywhere. So again, it depends on the “disposability” of your income.

So, would you buy an iPhone 3G in Malaysia, from Maxis?

Update: Maxis has pulled down details of their rate plans. Its OK, Twitter points me to this link, in where you can see the rate plans for yourself.
Update 2: Apparently, according to a LowYat.Net forum moderator @andrewkjs, they had a post with the pricing and were given a call by the friendly lawyers at Maxis, and given a takedown notice. Tsk tsk. IANAL, but you don’t need to comply with phone requests. Written emails are much better – you can publish them too :-) Also, another site, that is carrying some iPhone information is MyMacBUZZ, run by my friend @blogjunkie, including things like internal discounts, and more.
Update 3: An enterprising fellow has posted a spreadsheet analysing the iPhone pricing, and how much the total cost of ownership really is (a little further down, he talks about Celcom/DiGi and more… so I haven’t verified the numbers, per se, YMMV). Conclusion? Malaysians get a raw deal in comparison to Hong Kong or Singapore (heck, even New Zealand, from what I gather).
Update 4: Its a little after 3pm, and the site seems to be back up. Book until 17th March 2009, and you’ll get invited to the launch held at the KL Convention Centre from 20-22 March 2009. I have a feeling a launch itself cannot take several days, so this event must be more “open to all”. T&C is not available, but an FAQ is. Read it! Note that Visual Voicemail will not be available, and “On launch, customers will not be able to buy content from the iTunes store.” Remember, Maxis 3G network isn’t up to scratch, so contracting and finding out it will suck at home, is going to be a big deal for many. I predict more complaints written to SKMM/MCMC about this at some stage, if the uptake is great.

I have lamented before, that Apple should sell the device, in more markets, especially here in Malaysia. I experimented with grabbing one here, and it turned out to be a pleasant experience. I can only sing praises for iWorld’s customer service, and quick delivery, and more.

But I think I’ve come to a realisation as to why the iPhone 3G is not ready for the Malaysian market yet, despite it being a groundbreaking device. So assuming you’re pining for one, you might want to think again, and settle for what is available in the market currently.

1. The camera is nothing to shout about – who cares for a 2MP camera, with no flash, no video recording by default. The quality is passable, but no different from my old Nokia E61i. I’d have expected a lot more from Apple, clearly.
2. No Multimedia Messaging (MMS) – don’t you think this is short-sighted? You’ve snapped a nice photo, and now you want to share it, and your only method to do it, is via email? Especially when the cost of MMS is a lot less than the cost of sending one email – unless you have an unlimited data plan, and that comes at around RM99/month via Maxis.
3. No video calling – the whole idea of a 3G network, is that you have a lot more bandwidth to use, and you would make video calls. In fact, Maxis doesn’t charge you any more to make a video call, than they charge you to make a voice call. Is this forward thinking? I believe so. But with the iPhone 3G, you cannot make a video call, which seems kind of daft. Its useful, when you’re out shopping, or just wanting to see what the other person looks like…

So, unless you’ve got an unlimited data plan (they don’t come cheaply), you’ll find the iPhone 3G lacking. In fact, even with an unlimited data plan, its kind of lacking, in comparison to what you can get from Nokia and other providers. Apparently, not only I think the iPhone 3G is semi-daft – APC magazine came out with ten reasons too (though to be fair, cut&paste works now, I believe).

And until the iTunes Music Store becomes available, I don’t see it being too useful. In fact, I see a lot of iPhone’s being used these days, but I can assure you the use of the AppStore is limited – so, even if I were planning to develop applications for the local market, I would think again.

On local developers
I would however like to highlight that there are local iPhone/iPod Touch application developers. Take a look a ApptivityLab with their mistletoe application, as well as the wabbit studio’s shizi app, that is a Chinese & Hong Kong units translator.

I always remember writing units translators when I first learn a new language. Its one of those exercises that you do, similar to Hello World.

At some stage, it would be great if there were local applications, that provided more integration with the A-GPS, and more. I have plenty of ideas, but its a chicken and egg situation – I’ll have to wait for Apple to bring the device here. But Apple won’t – because the device is lacking. So maybe, we’ll see something new at WWDC 2009? I doubt it, but I have hope. Why? Because Apple designs for the American market largely, and the American cell networks, are just not nearly as advanced as those, outside America.

As an aside… I’m surprised it was ready for the Singaporean market. I’d have assumed that MMS, a phone that records video, video calls, and more, would be required.

So, its a few hours before MacWorld 2009, and I’m contemplating getting an iPhone 3G. December 2008 has come and gone, and there is no sign of Apple partnering with any telco, or deciding to sell unlocked units in Malaysia, much to my annoyance. No, no, I love my Nokia E71, I’m just researching the iPhone 3G.

David runs MyMacBuzz, and has a useful resource available: Where to get legally unlocked iPhone 3G (updated). Many folk on Twitter also helped, and pointed me to iWorld (horrible Flash based website).

iWorld sells the 16GB edition for RM3,099, and the 8GB one for RM2,899. Its all unlocked, and nice. I couldn’t help but mosey over and compare it though, with other countries (I’m told unlocked versions are sold in Singapore too, I just couldn’t find the price online, easily).

• 8GB: iWorld (RM2,899), NZ Vodafone (NZD$979 = RM2,005), HK Apple Store (HKD$5,400 = RM2,437)
• 16GB: iWorld (RM3,099), NZ Vodafone (NSD$1,129 = RM2,308), HK Apple Store (HKD$6,200 = RM2,806)

This is what I like to see – seen at the Apple Store Hong Kong

Apparently, Optus is selling the iPhone 3G 8GB for AUD$729 (which is only RM1,820), but to unlock it you’ve got to be on a contract (I wonder if my AUD$5 contract applies? Probably not).

iWorld apparently provides a warranty for seven days, but beyond that, you’re on your own – they’ll help you out if need be, but I guess if something goes wrong, you’re on your own.

I know there have been lots of MacWorld predictions and wishes, but my hope is that we’ll see iPhones available in more regions, unlocked, even.