Possible iPhone 4S Pricing in Singapore

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Judging from the various news/rumors circulating around these few days, finally we will be seeing the next iPhone in 3 storage capacities, 16GB, 32GB and for people like me, 64GB. And the news is that we are going to get them at a lower price, namely, the current price for the 16GB will get you a 32GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5, the current price for the 32GB will get you a 64GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5. And that brings us to the 16GB model, which will probably be around $130 cheaper than the old 16GB pricing of $480 (Singtel pricing) on contract with the cheapest iPhone-specific plans, such as Singtel’s iFlexi Lite. That is a big deal. Not only because it will make the “current generation iPhone” a lot more attractive for people who aren’t willing to spend over $400 on a phone, it also effectively pushes the “last generation iPhone”‘s pricing down to a possible $200 range.

Judging by the latest exchange rate Apple uses for Singapore, and assuming that carriers keep their current subsidy amounts, I believe we are looking at these possible prices;

Non-Contract iPhones from Apple

16GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $708
32GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $838
64GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $968

8GB iPhone 4 (Plastic Casing, Made in Brazil) – $578

Contract iPhone from Singtel on iFlexi Lite Plan

16GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $310
32GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $430
64GB iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 – $550

8GB iPhone 4 (Plastic Casing, Made in Brazil) – $200

Unfortunately, the contract prices will be harder to predict, basically due to the fact that Apple’s profit levels are different on the various models as compared to their sales price, so you will often see a bigger subsidy on the higher end models simply because Singtel and other telcos get the higher end models cheaper.

Also note that I am using “iPhone 4S / iPhone 5” simply because I have no idea what is going to be announced tonight. This is really exciting.

EDITED: Prices above are probably totally wrong due to 2 factors;

1. The US exchange rate has spiked since the last Apple product released with a lower exchange rate – the MacBook Air

2. News about how the capacities are going to double at the same price are totally wrong.

Also, since Apple Singapore has just released prices for the 3GS and the iPhone 4 8GB, we can somehow safely assume that the exchange rate used for the old iPhone 4 prices will be slightly different for the new iPhone 4S.

That means;

Non-Contract iPhones from Apple

iPhone 4S 16GB – 928
iPhone 4S 32GB – 1068
iPhone 4S 64GB – 1208
iPhone 4 8GB – 788 (Apple SG verified)
iPhone 3GS – 548 (Apple SG verified)

Contract iPhone from Singtel on iFlexi Lite Plan (assuming subsidy prices remain the same)

iPhone 4S 16GB – 520
iPhone 4S 32GB – 660
iPhone 4S 64GB – 800

P.S.: Note that contract pricing is a running target and the prices are often different among the different carriers, so they are highly unreliable, but it’s a rough estimates based on current contract pricing.

P.S. Again: I am 20 to 30 dollars off on all the prices. Apple revealed those prices to be as following;

16GB 948
32GB 1088
64GB 1238

Now then the dust has settled……

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When the news broke I was in tears.
Not because I think Apple is over, because it’s not.
Not because I think Steve’s condition is worsening, because I really think it isn’t.
Not because I don’t like Tim Cook, because he’s a really cool guy apparently.
But because Steve Jobs is no longer listed as the leader, even if He still is, as the Chairman of the Apple board.
And because maybe never again will we see another Steve note, although I really hope I’m wrong about this.
My adoration and affections for everything Apple stems from the very fact that I idolized Steve Jobs to the point of obsession.
The affection won’t stop now, definitely.
For Apple, the company today, is Steve Jobs.
And Steve Jobs is Apple.
Even if the listed CEO isn’t Him.
You see the photo of Steve on my blog?
“We Love & Support Steve Jobs Forever!!!”

I Love and Support Steve Jobs Forever.

Nokia/RIM/Windows Phone 7’s enemy isn’t Apple, it is Android

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Apple is likely to “strike back” by acquiring patents from rivals such as Nokia or Research in Motion as a response to Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility. He also mentioned InterDigital, which has been widely viewed as a potential target for acquisition by Apple and other major players in the smartphone industry.

Google is, and has always been fighting a losing patent war, even with the Motorola purchase. RIM/Nokia/WP7’s enemy isn’t Apple, it is Google and Android. And they will make all the deals they can with Apple to eat Android alive. A puny Motorola isn’t going to deter things.

Google’s announcement just a day or two after Motorola announced that they are going to start suing other Android licensees (after losing out in market share to HTC and Samsung) makes the Google-Motorola deal sound like a sudden decision. Which won’t be surprising given Larry Page’s history as a CEO.

Appleinsider: Apple predicted to ‘strike back’ at Google with its own patent purchase

NUS Matriculation Fair Laptop Sales 2011

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For those wondering where I am, I will be back in the regular August month-long Sapura booth at Yusof Ishak House from this Wednesday onwards. Am currently at the NTU Laptop Sales Fair 2011. Photos to follow in days.


My new pal the Dell guy using his personal MBP 15 on the job

Apple employee “No more 13″ MacBook Pros in the future”

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A little bird chirps, “chatted with someone (let’s call her A-san) from Apple South Asia/Singapore education sales. She mentioned casually that ‘they will do away with the 13-inchers (MacBook Pros) in the future’. ”

We all have heard the rumors about the redesigned 15-inch MacBook Pros, and bigwigs like John Siracusa have repeatedly mentioned on his shows (Hypercritical) that he thinks that the 13-inch MacBook Pro will be removed from the line-up to simplify it, but this is the first time anyone heard something like this coming out from the mouth of a non-retail Apple employee in a relatively high position (locally at least).

The current 13-inch MacBook Pros are actually designed, and marketed as MacBooks when they first debuted in 2008, but the higher than 999USD starting price made Apple rethink its strategy and they eventually relaunched them as MacBook Pros instead. It definitely won’t be weird for them to return to a “11-inch and 13-inch = Airs, and 15-inch and 17-inch = Pros” lineup, one that they have been adopting ever since the Intel switch in 2006, before the Aluminum MacBooks become MacBook Pros in 2009.

iCloud’s Web Apps

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iCloud’s web apps, which are only accessible by developers now, are 100 times better than anything for MobileMe ever was. If they can do something this polished, why the heck was MobileMe that crappy to begin with?

Probably the most elegant bag for the new 11-inch MacBook Air – Fabrix Cases’ The Satchel

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I have been waiting to post this review for almost one whole year, and now is exactly the best time to release it – the 11-inch MacBook Air officially becomes Apple’s cheapest notebook, and with the Airs being the future of Apple’s notebook lineup, it seems very possibly that the 11-inch will easily become the most popular notebook on Apple’s line soon.

One thing about having a 11-inch notebook is how hard it is to actually find a bag that fits the exact profile of the notebook unless you actually had one custom made. Apple notebooks are probably the only ones with huge support from some of the world’s best notebook bag manufacturers. That said though, the 11-inch MacBook Air is relatively new, being in the market for only less than a year. Many manufacturers have been marketing bags/sleeves that were previously made for netbooks for the 11-inch Air, but few of these bags/sleeves actually perfectly fit the slim profile of the 11-inch Air.

I have been using Fabrix Cases’ The Satchel for almost a year now, since I first got my 11-inch Air last October, and must say that it is easily the best bag for the 11-inch Air and its slim profile.

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Thoughts about Lion – OS X’s evolution

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It’s been a while since I wrote something of (questionable) substance on MacRyu.com, and since Lion is just days away from us, I figured I should put something up.

No, I’m not going to detail the changes in Lion and give you some kind of a technical walkthrough. That job should be left to the pros, namely, John Siracusa.

What I want to write about is what I think Lion represents, in the grander scheme of things I call “The Evolution of OS X”. I personally believe that there are two very specific generations of OS X releases that ended and began at 10.5. I will be using the cat names and the version numbers interchangeably throughout the writeup, so if you are confused just google the cat names from 10.0 till 10.7. LOL.

Here goes.

If there’s one specific theme that Lion represents it will be “the next generation”.

Yes, I know Lion is the next OS X, I know Lion is new, but those are not why I think Lion represents “the next generation” of OS X.

One thing casual users and recent switchers do not understand about the last 2 OSes, Leopard and Snow Leopard, is how they represent a major shift in OS X’s development.

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Top 4 Malware for Mac OS X

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Yes, malware does exist for OS X, and these are the top 4 malware on the radar today.

1. Norton Antivirus for Mac
2. Symantec Endpoint Protection
3. Sophos Antivirus Protection for Mac
4. McAfee VirusScan for Mac

In case anyone thinks I’m joking or that there are malware pretending to be these legitimate software, I’m not, and there isn’t (or at least from what I know so far).

Take for example, Norton Antivirus(NAV) and Symantec Endpoint Protection, both of which are probably the same thing, except that you get the former if you enter a certain polytechnic and the latter if you enter another one. Both products, upon installation, installs a kernel extension. This modifies the system, and from experiences of students who were forced to run them in school, makes the system extremely unstable, especially after system updates. In the case of Norton Antivirus, very often installing the package (note that I didn’t use the word App here, for Norton Antivirus is anything but a useful mac application)itself may cause the boot sequence to fail in the future (read: spinning indicator with Apple logo on grey background forever).

Installing NAV or any other Symantec products on your Mac will also almost definitely cause your system to have poor performance, although it might not seem apparent immediately after install, for a clean and new system can look and feel fast enough even after the performance cut. Six months down the road however, NP students and SDN/SDMC students from NYP will think they need a new Mac already.

Many users with the above malware do not have a choice in the installation. Often times when they purchase their brand new Mac from their schools, it is already preloaded with malware. And in the case of NAV and Symantec products, it is almost impossible to remove. Contrast that with the recent MacDefender non-issue, when you actually have to install it yourself, give it the correct permissions, before it will actually run. And removal is a simple process. Activate Activity Monitor, kill the process, and trash the app.

No matter how you look at it, malware like Norton Antivirus and the Symantec products are definitely some of the deadliest you will ever find on the Mac platform.

Thankfully the majority of Mac users are well-educated enough that they do not need to install the above products, and will probably never do so.

The only people who gets hit with MacDefender are the idiots who thought they needed an anti-malware/antivirus program on the Mac in the first place, and chose to install MacDefender onto their systems happily. These are also the same idiots who will install Norton Antivirus on their systems from day 1. And obviously Norton Antivirus isn’t going to protect them, since it can’t even identify MacDefender as malware.

If you are one of those unfortunate enough to have NAV installed on your systems unwillingly, GET HELP NOW.