Colin Charles Agenda

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.

Today I found Must Go Lah, a portal for events happening around Malaysia. Its a WordPress-based site (still 2.5), run gratis, by Orangedot Technologies.

I even disabled AdBlock Plus to look at the site and found no monetary business model (read: ads). I’m impressed - I wonder how long it will last. Do we really need another site for events listings, considering there already is Upcoming? Turns out of course that there are more events listed on MustgoLah, then there is on Upcoming. I’ve added it to my RSS reader.

Are there more event portals in Malaysia that you know of?

Via Ditesh:

Interesting aside: the bus stopped in a ${RANDOM} town in Johor for food, and at the cashier, I spotted the cashier using KC POS which had a prominent “Powered by MySQL” text and the Sakila logo. Very cool!

This was a small town coffee shop, using a cash register, powered by the mighty Sakila. Similar to the chain of restaurants, Old Town White Coffee.

The whole blog post from Ditesh itself is interesting, but knowing you can find MySQL just about anywhere, showing the ubiquity of the database, just makes you proud to know, you work at/on/with MySQL.

More for my reference than anything else…

I originally read it in the dead tree edition of The Edge. Its a pity they don’t place all their content online (worried about people not buying your paper for RM5? Place it online after a month, its “dated” enough to be free).

Facts:

• According to Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop, only 1.2 million of Malaysia’s 10.5 million workers earn more and pay income tax.
• Only 38,500 earning a taxable income of RM100,000 and above are in the highest tax bracket.

The above via Malaysians brace themselves for higher cost of living. If you can get past the opinion, most of the article is quoted in this comment.

I don’t know if what the EpiCentre folk told me is true (about sustained sales of RM5 million/month for 3 months), but Apple has created the Apple Store (Malaysia).

I consider this a positive first step. For me now, I will not have to order engraved iPod’s through the Singapore Apple Store - I’ll do it right here in Malaysia (after all shipping in 1-2 days, is OK). In fact, I can’t imagine why I would order too much from physical Apple stores like EpiCentre or Machines anymore - unless I wanted to take advantage of their 12 months 0% interest-free credit card plans (Maybank, HSBC, American Express, Citibank, and probably a few more participate in this).

I said it before, and I’ll say it again - its a positive first step. Why? There’s a good chance, that they’re setting this up for the magical iPhone to come into the market. And in no time, we might see an iTunes Music Store. We might have crippled access, with no music/TV/movies, but its always a progression.

Not needing any Apple products yet (latest purchase: pink iPod Nano; latest gift arrival: new iPod Touch - thanks Sun), I am however still tempted to buy something from their online store. Why?

1. There’s a limited edition t-shirt up for grabs before November 24
2. Supporting their online initiative, to show that there’s a market for this sort of thing, and they should bring in more (like the iTunes Music Store, et al)

It seems there’s only one remaining iPod Classic, with a nice big disk (120GB). The last Classic I had, had a 30GB disk (and couldn’t store my complete music collection). Maybe this is what I need? Its sub-RM1,000, so an easy purchase to make ;)

They even have an education store, which is supposed to normally provide discounts, but from my cursory inspection, seems to suggest otherwise.

What are you waiting for? Go buy your Apple gear already.

Last week I found out about the Open Source Economy Conference 2008 held in Putrajaya, Malaysia on the 19th of November 2008. Its co-organised by Sun and the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC). Its also the “launch” of MySQL in Malaysia.

I only mention this because I’m speaking - check the agenda out. Don’t hesitate to register now.

I once wrote a plea to Apple about giving Malaysians access to the iTunes music store as well as selling the iPhone’s in Malaysia.

I stepped into one of the Apple Premium Authorised Resellers the other day, and spoke to someone who seemed knowledgeable about these things. I mean, I purchased my MacBook Air in Machines. I purchased an external DVD drive for it from the EpiCentre store, more recently.

The shocker? RM5 million in sales, sustained, for at least three months, before Apple would consider even opening an official Apple store in Malaysia.

Is this hard to reach? I find it hard to believe that this isn’t already reached. I take buying Mac hardware for granted. My latest iPod purchase however wasn’t in the market - I ordered it from the Singapore online store (I wanted it engraved).

If I want it engraved, I can only imagine that a lot more Malaysians want it too. Of course, I also imagined Malaysians spending more than RM5 million on Apple hardware per month.

Anyone know if this is an Apple requirement?

Truly fitting image about the ISA, in the wake of recent happenings. Feel free to use the image, its CC-BY-NC-SA.

(for those international readers, Kamunting is where the ISA detainees are held [sat view]. This photo however, was taken in the middle of Kuala Lumpur)