M1 will make available the iPhone at their midnight launch tonight at both Paragon and West Mall. During this midnight launch, besides getting the iPhone, you can also get the Apple Protection Plan for the iPhone at 20% OFF for S$79.20 (U.P. S$99).

As stocks are probably limited, only those who had pre-ordered will be able to collect their phones at the midnight launch. If you can’t make it tonight, you can still pick up your reserved iPhone 3GS (16GB) Black from Bugis Junction before 11 December 2009 and still get the 20% off the Apple Protection Plan.

Have fun people with your new iPhones!

Thanks to @sheheng for the information!

Like a cat and mouse game, M1 announced the pricing plan and sales date of the iPhone just hours after Starhub put up their pricing. Both will start selling the iPhone from 9 December with M1 offering a much more attractive pricing plans than incumbent SingTel and Starhub.

Like other two Telcos, M1 is offering the iPhone 3GS from S$0 for their iPhone Unlimited plan to S$658 for the iPhone 3GS 32GB. The monthly fee for the various plans are generally similar to the others, with similar offerings of call times and SMS/MMS. But what stands out is their offering of 10GB data plans for even the most affordable iPhone Value plan (S$36/mth) – a massive ten times more than what SingTel and Starhub are providing. This will probably be more than enough for most customers, unless you start streaming online music or Youtube videos.

Looking at the price comparison between three Telcos with their iPhone-specific plans, I think the biggest loser will be Starhub. SingTel’s customers with the iPhone 3GS would be locked for at least a year more before they can start switching.

For Starhub customers, it is a different story. There is less a hindrance to switch camps now that number portability is available. With both M1 and Starhub announcing their plans within hours of each other doing so – to switch to M1 with a much lower monthly fee, mostly cheaper iPhone price and a much better data plan – is looking like a much better option!

So who will get your money come 9 December?

update 3 – Also those who had pre-ordered, would have receive the email and SMS to inform them of collection. A site was set up to confirm pick up locations but site seems to be offline – probably not load-balance to handle the high influx of customers.

update 2 – got confirmation of the increase in data bundle and also added special bundle for students and NSF.

update – with no official word yet, it seems that Starhub has raise the free data bundle for the iPhone-specific plans to 12GB, from its original 1GB (via CNET Asia)

In a bid to recapture some marketshare in the tight mobile market, Starhub has announced ahead of M1 with their iPhone pricing and sale date.

Coming to stores all over Singapore this Wednesday, Starhub will be the second Telco to offer iPhone to the country. Prices will be from S$0 (for the top tier 3G SmartSurf Unlimited plan) to S$668 for the iPhone 3GS 32GB (3G SmartSurf 100). Data credit starts at 12GB for all plans with a maximum cap of S$48 to unlimited usage for the 3G SmartSurf Unlimited plan.

Tapping on their cable TV infrastructure, Starhub is also offering 17 channels for free, at least till March 2010. These channels include National Geographic Channel, CTI, CCTV4, BBC WorldNews, Bloomberg, CNN, Football Channel just to name a few, as compared to the 4 (CNA, Ch8, Bloomberg TV and Football Frenzy) offered by SingTel.

Also for students and NSF who take up these SmartSurf plans – you will get unlimited SMS/MMS bundled with those plans.

We have done up a quick pricing comparison with SingTel and what Starhub announced and generally prices are comparable with only differences with call, Data and SMS credits (see below for quick review). We will update the comparison when M1 announces their plans.

For those who had pre-ordered, you would probably receive notifications about getting priority access to the new iPhone 3GS. At the moment, there is no news on whether there will be upgrading fee for Starhub users still on contract, or trade-in prices for existing iPhone 3G phones and any package for switchers. We will definitely update with more information on launch plans and features from Starhub and M1 in the next few days. Keep a look out!

For Starhub customers who had already owns the iPhone – do check your iTunes for a carrier update that will allow you to Tether and MMS with not much hassle – as compared to before.

If you are looking out for a good deal to get a Mac or iPod this festive season and wish we had a Black Friday or Cyber Monday to get those discounts, look no further then the Refurbished section at the Apple Store.

The refurbished are pre-owned products that were returned and had underwent stringent checks and replacements of faulty parts, thoroughly cleaned, inspected and repackaged for sale – with large discounts. They all come with a one-year limited warranty and are eligible for AppleCare Protection for extended warranty.

The products available varies depending on availability but usually you can find MacBook Air, MacBook Pro , iMacs and various members of the iPod family. The discounts you get can range from 15% up to 51% – but in this case that is for an older generation of MacBook Air.

So don’t wait – the offers are ever changing, depending on availability! Check out the Apple Store’s Refurbished Mac and Refurbished iPods and get your Macs or iPods at a discounts.