{"id":856,"date":"2008-07-15T11:29:54","date_gmt":"2008-07-15T16:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/?p=856"},"modified":"2008-07-15T11:49:47","modified_gmt":"2008-07-15T16:49:47","slug":"a-plea-to-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bytebot.net\/blog\/archives\/2008\/07\/15\/a-plea-to-apple","title":{"rendered":"A plea to Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Singapore the last few days, I found some time to visit Orchard Road on Sunday. I thought about the best place to get an iPhone 3G and headed to Lucky Plaza. To my surprise, zip, zilch, nada.<\/p>\n

Disappointed, as a long-time Apple user and developer, who has bought a lot of Apple gear, and been to several WWDC’s, and still continue to buy Apple gear (latest acquisition: MacBook Air), that Apple constantly assumes that there is no world outside of the USA.<\/p>\n

So I asked myself over a very late lunch, why am I roaming the streets of Singapore, just to get myself an iPhone 3G, and have to go thru the hassle of “cracking” it? I am a legitimate user, who’s willing to pay the actual fees, yet I’m shoved for being in the wrong country.<\/p>\n

Sub-Rant<\/strong>
\nI’ve recently changed my location from Melbourne, Australia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is a problem for the iTunes Music Store, because while the iTunes Music Store is commonplace in America, it wasn’t long ago that it came to Australia. It still doesn’t exist yet in Malaysia. In fact, my Malaysian-issued credit card is discriminated against<\/strong> by Apple’s online store.<\/p>\n

This I consider to be a large failure – I guess this will change at some stage, as the iPod Touch is sold legally in Malaysia, and applications for it must be available now (I haven’t checked this week, I’ve been pre-occupied).
\n<\/Sub-Rant><\/strong><\/p>\n

I was extremely overjoyed that I got invited to a Facebook group (this doesn’t happen often, believe me), called iPhone 4 Malaysia<\/a>. Louis Pang compares Malaysia against Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Madagascar, showing the number of mobile phone users, GDP per capita, and population of each country. Impressed I was, seeing the Malaysian statistic:
\nPopulation: 25.3 million
\nGDP per capita: USD$13,000
\nMobile phone users (2006): 19.4 million<\/p>\n

77% of Malaysians have a mobile phone! This statistic is surely a fib (I think; then again, some people have more than one mobile phone), as the adult population in Malaysia is nowhere near 77% (I’m unsure what the statistic is, I’m wondering where the census data is…)<\/p>\n

Then again, if true, how is it possible that Apple is selling iPhones in these other countries, and not in Malaysia?<\/p>\n

Naturally, I looked at the article at The Edge Daily, and Sharmila states that Maxis gets right to distribute the iPhone 3G<\/a>. There is no reason to speculate, but the cost is expected to be under RM1,000. Will this happen by year end? Who’s to say…<\/p>\n

So, if you’ve read this far down, and you’re Steve Jobs (or someone close to him, and will pass the message on), here’s my advice:<\/p>\n