That, and the costs of getting into (smuggling it into) Thailand.  Profits for whoever stands in line to buy it in the US, middle men, and retailer.  All adds up.

Chao Na wrote:

Because they're cool.

Well my 160 GByte Classic blue-tooth enabled G6 is COOL but it really disappoints with syncing problems with my music library. And who would want a cell phone without BlueTooth capabilities? And you can't use it here, so ... What''s the big deal?

You can't use Bluetooth in Thailand?  What have you been smoking?

If you mean 3G, no there is no 3G network in Thailand.  Coming soon, though.  And the new iPhone offers other improvements other than just 3G.

Chao Na wrote:

You can't use Bluetooth in Thailand?  What have you been smoking?

If you mean 3G, ...

Yes, no 3G in Thailand. And according to a link above the IPhone doesn't support BT, so I'm not sure it wouldn't be useful "hands free", unless, of course a second-party bluetooth adapter is available, like the IPOD

Me? Smoking? javascript:emoticon(':smoking:')

Are you sure it's not not legal in Thailand?

It is useless to argue with Apple freaks.  My brother is one -- he lives in the Silicon Valley and lugged a Newton around for years.

Bluetooth?  What's that?  Well, it enables me to share files instantly (and for free) with people sitting near me, and it drives the hands-free set in my car.

By the way, the GPS in the Nokia N95 8GB is just a nice toy.  The maps are absurdly out-of-date (the Thai maps, of course).  But everything else works like a charm: the video, the pictures (including slide-show), the (surprising) wireless-modem capability -- everything.

Just don't tell that to an Apple Person.  They will just reply that that iPhone is "cool."    :-)

Silom Farang recently went out and spent SEVENTY THOUSAND BAHT on a "cool" Macintosh, which is developing screen cracks and has big problems installing and running Photoshop.  Hey, but it's COOL!

I say, you can buy a Honda Airblade for 55,000 baht.

I checked out the link, and the Apple shop. Nothing to phone home about. I'll stick with my Nokia thanks.

If you look at the keypad of any Nokia sold in Thailand, you will notice that the phone is Thai-enabled.  That means, not just menus etc. in Thai, but that you can write and read SMS messages in Thai, give your contacts Thai names.  The Nokia has been localized to Thailand.

Just as a guess, the iPhone has not.  This may have something to do with Nokia owning about 90% of the Thai market, and Apple owning 0%.

Hey, but Apple is "cool."  Hopelessly dimwitted, but "cool."

The iPhones on sale in Thailand have been software-updated to give them Thai language capabilities.

Dimwit.

Isn't there a topic you actually have knowledge of that you'd like to discuss?

No, I don't know anything about all this.  I worked in software development in the Silicon Valley for 23 years -- how about you, Chao Na?  Most of those years were with a company which did telephones -- how about you, Chao Na?

To me, these two sentences say the same thing:

1. Nokia owns about 80% of the Thai market, and Apple owns 0%.

2. Apple has just "software-updated" its iPhone to do Thai language.

Nokia is planning ahead, and has been for years.  Apple is playing a terrible game of "catch-up."  "Terrible" as in "failing."  Consider the Newton.

But now I ask myself: does Chao Na ever post anything original?  Has he ever actually contributed anything to this forum?  Or is he just another ravening attack weasel?

Onto the "ignore" list you go, O People of the Fields!!   (urp)

San Francisco (dpa) - Apple's eagerly awaited new iPhone went on sale around the world Friday but software glitches that hampered the activation of the new devices caused lengthy delays and left many buyers frustrated.

The problems were traced to Apple's iTunes store where users' account information is held.

"There's a worldwide issue with iTunes that Apple is working to resolve," an AT&T representative said. "We have had reports that customers attempting to download new iTunes 7.7 software to their new iPhone may get an error message saying 'page not found.' We have reported this issue to Apple. While Apple works to resolve this issue, we are asking customers to sync their newly activated phone later at home."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=128828

Why are Nokia phones so popular in thailand? My BF has one...  and loves it.  But to me, they are ugly, thick, bricks.  Heavy and awkward.  Very old fashioned.  I'm not an Apple fan (I've always owned PCs and Motorola mobiles), but the new Iphone 3G is pretty tempting. Especially now that AT&T is subsidizing the price here in the USA.   For those of you not familiar with the phone or its very user friendly features.. you can check it out here...

http://www.apple.com/iphone/guidedtour/