You can now pre-order your Apple iPhone 4S from Singapore’s Apple Store

Apple Store in Apple have open up their pre-order site for iPhone 4S, so you can now order it with pricing starting from $948 without any contracts.

iPhone 4S Price without Contract:

16GB Black/White: $948

32GB Black/White: $1088

64GB Black/White: $1238

Shipping dates is current 1 to 2 weeks, which I think they will be shipping on 28th October 2011 as announced during iPhone Event few weeks ago.

iPhone 4S is more expensive than iPhone 4

This is weird, normally Apple will keep their price point the same, but this year iPhone 4S’s 16GB model cost $948, but iPhone 4 16GB only cost $888 last year. I’m not too sure what is the reason of the price increase, and I hope iPhone 4S with contracts will not go up too.

Updated: @ryuworks mentioned that iPhone 4S price increase is due to the spike of US dollar to Singapore dollar exchange rate during the launch period. Too bad for us, we have to stick to this price point.

If you would like to get iPhone 4S without contract, proceed the to Apple Store Singapore here. Of course, all iPhone sold in Singapore are all unlocked set, so you can put in SingTel, M1 or Starhub SIM Card without any issue.

If you don’t want Siri and a upgrade to iPhone’s Camera, iPhone 4 8GB is still available for purchase for $788 without contract.

Apple Store opening up in Hong Kong!

It is no longer a secret! Apple is really opening up their Flagship store in Hong Kong! Before this flagship store, people can only buy Apple products via Apple’s Premium resellers, but not for long. They can finally buy directly from Apple. Although the price and products will not differ from any reseller.

It is rumored that the store will open up on 24th September.

How about Singapore?

To be honest, I’m jealous. How come we Singaporean are still not getting any Apple flagship store? If you remember in one of my previous blog post. Singapore is in the top 10 Mac Countries, and we are the Top Mac country in Asia! Of course, people will talk about population, yes, ok I understand. Come on, bring Apple Store to Singapore ok?

Apple is now selling more per square foot than any other companies in United States. Yes, they are selling more than Tiffany & Co, Coach and Best Buy. This is something no one can imagine!

Most analyst don’t think Apple Store will survive when it first launched. Most of them thinks that Tech Company who sell hardwares like Mac and Macbook will not be able survive, looking at Gateway and HP past experience. But as usual Steve Jobs proved everybody wrong again. He’s stores are selling more than anyone else in US, and they are still growing!

iOS 5 with Earthquake notification

We geeks love Technology, but nothing beats saving people’s life via Technology. In Future, Japanese iPhone users using iOS 5 will be able to receive early earthquakes notification! This will not only allow them to have more time to prepare for the natural diaster, it can also help warn people nearby. This kind of technologies really warms my heart.

Japan has the most advanced earthquake early-warning system in the world. A nationwide online system launched in 2007, it detects tremors, calculates an earthquake’s epicenter and sends out brief warnings from its 1,000-plus seismographs scattered throughout the country, one of the most earthquake-prone nations on the planet.

Apple helping Japan

I’m totally impressed with what Apple is doing to help Japan who was hammered by natural disasters in recent months. They have not only open Apple Store in Japan during diaster period to help charge iPhone/iPad and Macs, they even offer free water damaged iDevices due to Tsunami. Good Job Apple, keep it up!

Crazy stuff you can do in an Apple Store!

We have heard that Apple is always very open to what you can do in their Apple Store. But how crazy can they let you be in their store? Would like to eat pizza in an Apple Store? Rr dance in Apple Store?

Comedian Mark Malkoff tries to find out how far he can go in an Apple Store, but the result? He tried very hard, and apple is still very open to all his crazy stuff. Wanna find out what he did? Check out his video below:

iMac 2011 Refresh!

Apple have finally refreshed their iMac line for 2011 with Quad-Core Sandy Bridge Processors, Thunderbolt and FaceTime HD. Of course they also added new AMD Graphics Cards which are reported to be 3 times faster than previous, but the most interesting update is still thunderbolt, and Apple is adding 2 thunderbolt for 27 inch iMac!

So exactly how fast is Thunderbolt? Check out the diagram below:

2 Thunderbolts on 27 inch iMacs!

Thunderbolt is really pretty fast, and although 21.5 iMacs will come with only 1 thunderbolt ports, each port can actually daisy-chain up to 7 devices, which is really impressive. But do note that 27 inch iMacs have 2 thunderbolt ports, which means that you can actually have 14 devices hook up to your iMac!

Of course FaceTime HD is added to all iMacs so you can FaceTime with your fellow iPhone owners or Macbook Pro family. Better graphics cards are added to help in gaming and movie rendering.

What I feel about the upgrades

Overall, I feel it is just an yearly update of processor and graphics, but of course we welcome the newly added Thunderbolt Ports and FaceTime HD! So do check out the new iMac 2011 at Apple.com!

Finally, Singapore is getting iPad 2! This is the second good news in a row for Singapore. We have just gotten our White iPhone 4 today, and there you will be able to purchase iPad 2 by this friday(29 April 2011).

iPad 2 will be slightly cheaper than the original iPad when it first sold in Singapore:

WiFi
16GB: SGD$668
32GB: SGD$798
64GB: SGD$928

WiFi + 3G
16GB: SGD$848
32GB: SGD$978
64GB: SGD$1,108

So have a great Apple week Singaporeans!

White iPhone 4 finally will arrive tomorrow, not just US, but also in Singapore!

What a great news to all of us! Apple fans outside of states, normally have to wait for an extra 2-3 weeks before we can get the new products, but this time round. Apple is going to sell White iPhone in Singapore together with United States. So let’s wait for the Apple Store to update tomorrow. By the way the price will remain the same.

White iPhone Arrives Tomorrow

SINGAPORE, Singapore – April 27, 2011 – Apple today announced that the white iPhone 4 will be available beginning tomorrow. White iPhone 4 models will be available from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com/sg/) and select Apple Authorised Resellers.

“The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”

iPhone 4 is the most innovative phone in the world, featuring Apple’s stunning Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone resulting in super crisp text, images and video, and FaceTime, which makes video calling a reality.

Pricing & Availability
White models of iPhone 4 will be available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Macau, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and the US, beginning Thursday, April 28 and in many more countries around the world soon. White iPhone 4 will be available for a recommended retail price of S$888 for the 16GB model and S$1048 for the 32GB model through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/sg/), and select Apple Authorised Resellers.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

[via Lesterchan]

It might not be a real product. But I seriously think if it is real, it will really sell very well. All geeks love Legos and Apple right? Such a nice combination.

There are a Apple Store Lego set plus a “line” set which consist of legos queuing up Apple products.

Product Features

• Amazing PLAYMOBIL™ set introduces children to the magic of Apple technology
• Interactive play teaches important social interaction skills
• Includes everything pictured: entire store with figures and over 60 accessories
• Store comes fully staffed with PLAYMOBIL™ Apple Store associates
• Ground floor of Apple store features product demo tables, software shelves and kids corner
• Top floor includes Genius Bar and Keynote Theater with mini Steve Jobs figure
• Use your own real iPhone 4 as the screen behind Steve Jobs in the Keynote Theater (downloadable simulated keynote presentation available on the PLAYMOBIL™ website)
• Purchase the optional Line Pack and stage your own Apple Device launch party!
• Entire store measures 72 cm long x 36 cm deep x 40 cm high
• Officially licensed Apple product

Check out the nicely done video and enjoy the joke:

One of the way to save money when you want to buy any Apple product is to check out the Apple Refurbished Store. Normally you will get around 10-30% discount from products ranging from iPod to Macbook Pros. I just found out yesterday that Singapore Apple Store is already selling refurbished iPad Wifi Only version and the discount you will get is huge! You can get up S$150 off from 64Gb Model!

Why buy Refurbished Products from Apple?

Although it might not be a good time to buy a new iPad since a refresh will be coming soon, but for those who are interested in buying an iPad now, you could check out the Refurbished Apple Store for iPad.

I know most people will have this typical mindset that refurbished items don’t last long as they are products that has been returned by users and they are not new. But Apple have a very good practise with their refurbished products, they will fix or replace spoilt component, check thoroughly for any other issues, replace the existing battery with a new one and replace the case. So there is no way you will see scratches nor lousy battery life due to previous usage. And honestly, the percentage of refurbished items to have problems again is almost the same with any new items you purchase from the store.

And not to forget all refurbished items on Apple Store will still have 1 year of AppleCare Warranty and you can still extend your AppleCare to 2 years or 3 years for iPad and other Mac products.

So check out the Apple Refurbished Store for cheaper Apple product if you would like to save some cash!