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Monday, November 5, 2007

iPhone in the Philippines?


Last week, while watching Pinoy Big Brother (I know, but since this is for the Filipino masses blog, I have to watch that show too), I noticed something that made me giggle. To my surprise, Toni's cellphone is none other than the iPhone. Wow, I said to myself, iPhone is now available in the country. But then I remembered, Apple said that iPhone will not be available in Asia until next year, so the question is how did she 'acquired' that phone?

Strolling down the mall, I noticed that some cellphone shops actually sells iPhone. I asked for the price, PHP 29,000 for the 8GB iPhone, hmmm expensive I cringed. I asked if they have those phased out 4GB, unfortunately they don't have those in stocks. Finally I asked them if this was open lined already and they answered me with a big YES. But then I wondered, how the hell did they unlocked it with such a breeze and yet those in the USA or even Europe are having a hard time unlocking those things?

After the initial amazement of iPhone - I asked myself even though they assured me that the warranty is up to a year - how can I be personally assured that this thing will not be bricked if iPhone firmware updates? What if I installed 3rd party apps e.g. jailbraking the iPhone, will I still be covered with their warranty? After that, the realization sets in, it is not worthy right now to buy this gadget at this current state of uncertainty. PHP 29K is no joke and I don't want to brick it nor give them to snatchers. Have to wait for the official release here in the Philippines, who knows it might be open line.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah!

picasa said...

the iPhone in Manila has been out for a month or so. If you go to Greenhills, you'll find it everywhere. although the version being sold is only the 8 GB.

Now you asked about updates definitely you can't update them. Once you buy the iPhone your stuck with the current version of the OS.

But if you google and find jailbreak 1.1.1 something, which is the hack version of the iPhone OSX update 1.xxxx

Now Steve Jobs has done something about his iPhone being sold all over the world open lined. The unit can't be bought using cash and each customer can only purchase 2 units.

Anonymous said...

Sorry... I click picasa user which i'm not..

iPhone in Manila has been out for a month or so. If you go to Greenhills, you'll find it everywhere. although the version being sold is only the 8 GB for 30k to 50k

Now you asked about updates definitely you can't update them. Once you buy the iPhone your stuck with the current version of the OS.

But if you google and find jailbreak 1.1.1 something, which is the hack version of the iPhone OSX update 1.xxxx, then you can install that to have the latest updates

Now Steve Jobs has done something about his iPhone being sold all over the world open lined (about 250,000). The unit can't be bought using cash anymore and each customer can only purchase 2 units; which used to be five)

Lace Llanora said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lace Llanora said...

it's really not the best time to buy the iPhone this year. i have a similar blog post, i hope you find this useful iPhone article

There will be more firmwares to come from Apple that these hacked iPhones won't be able to avail. :)

Anonymous said...

As I said.. JailBreak... I also read the even the upcoming 1.1.2 update has already been hacked to work for Open lined iPhone and the update hasn't been released yet.

Anonymous said...

Gostei muito desse post e seu blog é muito interessante, vou passar por aqui sempre =) Depois dá uma passada lá no meu site, que é sobre o CresceNet, espero que goste. O endereço dele é http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . Um abraço.

Anonymous said...

magkano naman kaya ang selling price ng iphone dito sa pinas.

jan2x said...

Last time I saw iPhone sells at about PHP 22K, that is the most affordable one. Go to tipidpc.com and look for Longbeard.

Anonymous said...

even though the iphone's price went down.. I will still say to wait for the next version atleast that may have a 3G technology.