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PSA: iPhone 5 available in 22 more countries, on Cricket and US regional carriers galore
Disappointed that your country or favorite carrier missed the initial cut for the iPhone 5 launch? Odds are that you're all good now. Worldwide, 22 more countries have joined the mix as of today, including wide swaths of Europe as well as New Zealand; you'll find the full list in the release here. Americans also don't have to turn to the big carriers, as they can now opt for prepaid carrier Cricket in addition to a slew of extra providers that include C Spire as well as regionals like GCI and nTelos. In some cases, you'll even snag a discount by going with one of the smaller networks. If you bagged an iPhone in Barcelona, or caught one on Cellcom, let others know how it's going in the comments. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Bastion heading to iPad tomorrow [updated]
The kid is sauntering over to Apple's iPad tomorrow in Bastion from Supergiant Games. New Zealanders – beyond the beautiful rolling hills and verdant greenery – get iOS games ahead of the rest of the planet due to the position of the sun and how that relates to our definition of time, you see, so it's already available in that territory. The game has a set launch date of August 30, but some territories are already in the future.Anyway, Bastion's iPad-only for now, which Supergiant says was a decision made due to "technical reasons." Additionally, the team, "felt the game experience would not translate well to the iPhone's smaller screen."When it arrives on the US App Store, it'll cost $4.99 and there's no demo version – you could always try it out in Google Chrome first? Don't hesitate to let us know if you see it pop up on our digital shores, which should be sometime tonight around 11PM ET. And head over to Supergiant's page for a ton more info about the new release.Update: This story was updated to reflect the official announcement of Bastion on iOS.
iTunes in the Cloud movies find their way to Australia, Canada, the UK and 32 more countries
The advent of movie support in iTunes for the Cloud was a boon to Apple TV owners as well as any iTunes user with a tendency to hop between devices -- within the US, that is. Apple today swung the doors open and let Australia, Canada, the UK as well as 32 other countries and regions around the world get access to their movies whenever they're signed in through iTunes or an iOS device. Not every studio is on the same page, as many American viewers will know all too well: it's more likely that you'll get re-download rights for a major studio title such as Lockout than an indie production, for example. Even with that limit in mind, there's no doubt more than a few movie mavens glad to avoid shuffling and re-syncing that copy of Scott Pilgrim to watch it through to the end.
Bing Maps piles on 215TB of new Bird's Eye imagery, proves it's a small world after all
Did you think Microsoft was done with Bing Maps updates after it threw a whopping 165TB of satellite imagery at virtual explorers? You've got another thing coming. The mapping crew in Redmond has thrown another 215TB of data over the fence, this time targeting its Bird's Eye views. Most of the attention is on Australia, Europe, New Zealand and Tokyo, although Microsoft has seen fit to sharpen up some of its US visuals in the process. All told, there's over 88,800 square miles covered by the new and updated aerial shots -- enough to make sure that we'll never have trouble finding Cinderella Castle at Tokyo Disneyland.
Facebook App Center goes globetrotting with 7 new countries, blankets all of the English-speaking world
Facebook's App Center is having its passport stamped quite a lot lately. Just days after the HTML5 app portal set foot in the UK, it's making the leap to seven more countries. Brazil, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and Turkey will all get a crack at using web apps both on the desktop as well as in the Android and iOS native clients. The new group is coming onboard in the next few weeks. In the meantime, countries where English makes a frequent appearance -- Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US -- now supply the App Center for every single user. To help speed along the virtual customs claims, Facebook is trotting out a translation tool to get developers on the right track. It shouldn't be long before App Center is a mainstay of the entire Facebook world, even though we may end up cursing the company after hour three of a Jetpack Joyride marathon.
Mobile Miscellany: week of June 25th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Samsung introduced its first Windows Phone for China and both HTC and Samsung each chimed in about Android 4.1 -- the sweet treat better known as Jelly Bean. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of June 25th, 2012.
Google Maps live traffic updates served up to seven new regions, 19 more get 'expanded coverge'
Ready for yet another dose of news related to Google Maps? The service's live traffic update functionality has been expanded yet again, and now seven more cities including the likes of Mexico City and Greater Johannesburg, South Africa can join in on the action. Better yet, 19 other major areas that already get traffic information are receiving "expanded coverage" for their roads. Naturally, all of the new goods are accessible through Google's various Maps apps by simply enabling the traffic layer. If you're eager to start scouting the traffic flow, you can hit up source link below to find out whether your locale is on the list.
Sony to sell downloadable content at GameStops in Europe and Australia
Sony isn't about to let Nintendo and PC games get a leg up on it in the downloadable content (DLC) arena. That's why the company's European arm (which also runs the show in Australia and New Zealand) is taking its digital wares to GameStop, where customers will be able to use cash, gift cards or trade credits to purchase activation codes for PlayStation Network games and add-ons. All told, some 1,600 stores in Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and Switzerland will soon be offering the ability to purchase content usually ordered from the comfort of your couch and Crash Bandicoot boxer shorts. The complete PR awaits you after the break.
Spotify hits Australia and New Zealand, can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
Music fans in Australia and New Zealand are waking up some happy news this Tuesday morning. Spotify announced that it's bringing its streaming services to those markets, starting today, offering up access to some 16 million tracks via PC, smartphone and iPad, bringing Spotify's availability to a grand total of 15 countries. Each new country will also be getting Spotify apps to call their own: Triple J in Australia and NZ Top 40 in New Zealand, both of which offer up curated music access. More information on the launches -- including prices for premium accounts -- can be found in press releases after the break, and a playlist of some of our favorite local jams (and a locally-themed Kinks number) can be heard below.
Mobile Miscellany: week of May 14th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Verizon Wireless brought its LTE service to 28 new markets and expanded its reach in 11 additional areas. We also saw Straight Talk introduce the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim, and it appears that Rogers will soon offer the HTC One S. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of May 14th, 2012.
The Walking Dead won't head down under
Australian and Kiwi zombie enthusiasts looking forward to the first episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead have been infected with something even more dangerous than a dead-raising mutagen: Disappointment.While a listing for the title reportedly exists on the Australian PSN, The Walking Dead cannot actually be purchased or accessed in any fashion, according to a thread on the official Telltale forums. As it turns out, things are a bit worse than a broken listing: "Due to the OFLC ratings laws in Australia and New Zealand, and the fact that this is a mature game, we do not currently have plans to release the game there on consoles," so sayeth Telltale forums rep Mike.For those of you not mired in the intricacies of Australian censorship politics, "OFLC" stands for the Office of Film and Literature Classification, which was the Australian Classification Board's parent agency until it was dissolved in 2006. Currently, the Classification Board belongs to the Attorney-General's Department, where it is responsible for assigning ratings to movies and video games.At any rate, it must be reassuring to our friends down under that their island nations are apparently completely immune to zombie invasion.
PSA: Get your new iPad today in Austria, Ireland, Mexico and many other places
If your homeland wasn't part of the initial iPad roll out we've got good news -- today is the day for iOS tabletry. Maybe. The latest slab of Retina display-equipped machinery out of Cupertino is landing in 25 additional countries today, including Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. So, if you haven't been waiting on line since the 16th in anticipation of this day, then go to your local Apple store to score one. Or don't. For the full list of countries check the PR after the break.
Google Maps delivers live traffic updates to Hong Kongers, Kiwis and Norwegians
If you're a Google Maps fan living in Hong Kong, New Zealand or Norway today's your lucky day, as the search specialists from Mountain View, CA have added live traffic condition information to the geographic platform. Those wondering just how dismal their evening commute will be can navigate to maps.google.com, or use the various mobile applications, to see the verdict. Google notes that the information is available for "major cities and highways" and that it is working to expand and improve reach over time. Don't be shy, hit-up your Maps medium of choice, drop the traffic layer into place and feast your eyes on the manifestation of urban sprawl.
Star Wars: The Old Republic to launch in the Asia Pacific region on March 1st
On launch day, fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic were able to start logging into the game simultaneously across the world... assuming "the world" meant North America and Europe. The Pacific regions were unfortunately deferred to a later launch date, something that provoked some ire from fans in that area. However, the wait is now over for an official launch day. A launch of March 1st has been announced for Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Naturally, there are fans in those regions who would prefer to play on regional servers but have already started play on existing servers via imported copies of the game. BioWare is promising that players in these regions will be able to transfer characters for free for a limited time following the launch date, allowing everyone to move to regional servers if desired. The game is also available for pre-order now, so if you're in the affected region and want a copy, best take a look at stores near you for order options.
Gameloft cleared after 'crunch' probe (ouch)
Former Gameloft Auckland head studio programmer Glenn Watson alleged in July that Gameloft pushed its employees to work 14-hour days, seven days a week, violating New Zealand's 2002 Health and Safety in Employment Act. The resulting investigation by the New Zealand Labour Department, covered by Develop, has now been closed after finding no substantial evidence of inappropriate crunch time or any breach of health and safety laws, and no legal action will be taken against Gameloft. This is good news for mobile-game enthusiasts -- and for Gameloft employees.
Samsung battles Apple in Australia/NZ phone market as patent fight expands
There's rarely a day anymore that TUAW doesn't report on the status of one or more patent infringement lawsuits. The latest from the battle between Apple and Samsung is that the Cupertino company has now issued a notice of infringement to Samsung in Australia, noting that Samsung's case design for its phones and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet are infringing on Apple's patents. Apple's notice of infringement, as reported by Bloomberg, identifies 10 patents that the company believes Samsung is violating. At this point, the new claims will be piled onto more than 30 other lawsuits the companies have filed against each other. Samsung can point to hopeful signs Down Under, though. IDC today reported that Samsung has overtaken Apple in the combined Australia and New Zealand mobile phone market, where 65% of all phones sold qualify as smartphones. The numbers are a bit confusing in the IDC press release, so we are reaching out to them for clarification from the main research report; it's not clear whether it's Samsung specifically or Android-based phones overall that have overtaken Apple's 36% market share in Australia. In New Zealand, iPhone shipments slowed in preparation for the launch of the iPhone 4S, allowing Samsung to capture the lead for smartphone shipments in that country by pushing the Galaxy S II and Galaxy 5. Other manufacturers, including Huawei, are making inroads as well by selling low-cost smartphones. Apple holds third place in the NZ market with 13% overall share, but most likely the reason for a poor quarter there is all in the timing -- the iPhone 4S didn't launch in New Zealand until well after the Australian version went on sale, starting shipments on November 11. Pricing and carrier subsidies in NZ are also a bit more stringent than elsewhere; Vodafone requires an NZ$85/month plan for 2 years to discount the 16GB iPhone 4S from an eyepopping NZ$1049 down to a manageable NZ$149 purchase cost. IDC's Yee-Kuan Lau reported that for 2011, Android will win "by a hair in the Australian smartphones tussle," while in New Zealand, "Android is expected to widen the gap and maintain the lead in the smartphones market." [via The Next Web and The Verge]
iTunes Match international rollout begins (updated)
Update: GigaOM reported that the rollout was premature. Those outside of the US and Brazil who successfully signed up for the program will have their money refunded, and Apple has told these customers that Match will not function outside of those countries. iTunes Match has started rolling out in markets outside the US. International users have said that signups are now available in the UK, parts of Europe, and Australia. Here in New Zealand, I can confirm directly that iTunes Match is available as a signup option in my NZ-based account, for a fee of NZ$39.99 per year (compared to the US$24.99 per year it costs in the US store). Signup links aren't showing up in the main pages of the iTunes Store for international users; instead, you have to navigate to your "Account" page to see an option for the signup. Some sites, such as Mac Rumors, have suggested this means iTunes Match has been accidentally revealed early to international users and therefore may not function as expected. UK users will pay £21.99 for the service, while Europeans will pay €24.99. Australian users pay similarly higher fees at AU$34.99 per year. iTunes Match allows users to mirror their entire iTunes libraries in the cloud, enabling near-instantaneous playback/download of any song in the user's library on any connected device.
Rara.com: a new music service for the techno techno technophobe (video)
Music lovin' grampas here and in Europe will be doing The Charleston when they hear about Rara.com, a cloud-based music service with them in mind, which launched today. Powered by Omnifone, the same whitelabel service behind Sony's Music Unlimited, Rara hopes to appeal to the 70 percent of people its research shows "do not 'do' digital music." There's access to the same ten-million-strong music library as other services, and pricing starts at a frugal 99c/p for the first three months (rising to 4.99 from there on in) for the web-only option. Those with a little more tech-smarts can use an Android service too, which launches at 1.99 (going to 9.99) with the web-service bundled in. Those directly north and south of the border can look forward to access later this week, with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore lighting up before Christmas. An iOS app will complete the set soon. Tap the PR after the break for more.
Microsoft Lync coming to Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone next month
Heads up, corporateers. Just like the company previously hinted, Microsoft Lync will soon make its smartphone debut. Currently, the enterprise instant messaging client (formerly known as Microsoft Office Communicator) has only been available to Mac and PC users, but all that is set to change next month when the software becomes available for Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone. Curiously, Microsoft's New Zealand outfit had formerly stated that Symbian would be among the mix, although its mention is entirely absent from this announcement. Granted, the news seems rather informal at this point, and there's only so much you can cram into 140 characters.
How not to buy an iPhone overseas
It kind of seems like I can't catch a break when it comes to iPhone launches. The first iPhone debuted a little over a year before I left the US and moved to New Zealand. I knew the move was coming, so signing (then breaking) a two-year contract with AT&T didn't make sense. I also wasn't prepared to pay US$599 for a cell phone. "That's more than my PlayStation 3 cost!" I said at the time. (Guess which device I use more often now.) The iPhone 3G launched in New Zealand eight days after I moved here, and the color drained from my face when I saw how much Vodafone was charging for it. Vodafone once again priced the iPhone 3GS well outside the bounds of sanity in 2009, so I had to pass on that model and hold onto the iPhone 3G I'd eventually purchased. A year later, the NZ iPhone 4 launch was an unmitigated disaster, and I had to go through three handsets before I finally got one that worked right. None of that remotely compares to what's transpired as I've tried to get an iPhone 4S into my hands. Caution: First World Problems Ahead. This is going to be a rather long, cranky post about one impatient man trying to buy a smartphone. If that's not your cup of tea, there's plenty of Internet out there beyond this page. Still here? In that case, I hope that if you're reading this and considering a (cough) non-traditional route for your iPhone purchase, you'll think twice and avoid the same frustration I've endured over this long, irritating, and (spoiler) ultimately fruitless odyssey. It came as little surprise to me that Apple delayed the iPhone 4S launch in New Zealand to the third tier of "whenever we get around to it" countries, but I was both surprised and annoyed that unlocked handsets wouldn't be available in the US until November. I'd initially been planning on having a colleague in the States get the handset down here, but I wasn't willing to wait a whole extra month (Warning: Contains Foreshadowing). I ordered an iPhone 4S and Apple TV from Australia instead and had them shipped to a contact of mine in Melbourne; he was someone I'd met in person before, and I decided he was trustworthy enough to act as a go-between. Even though the iPhone 4S turned out to be far more expensive in the Down Under stores compared to its US price, I felt it was worth paying a little extra if it meant I didn't have to wait. I should have known better. Apple delayed shipping iPhone 4S pre-orders to Australia until the day the handset launched. Pre-order customers in many other countries received their iPhones on the day of the 14th, but Australian pre-orders didn't actually leave the Foxconn factory floor until that same day. This meant the handset didn't actually arrive at my Aussie contact's home until early morning of October 18. I was annoyed, but not yet angry. Four days of extra waiting wasn't quite enough to get me turning green and throwing compact cars at unmarked helicopters. Not yet, anyway. But the delays continued. Despite assuring me that he'd ship the handset to New Zealand within a day of receiving it, my Aussie intermediary didn't make his first attempt to ship the iPhone 4S to me until Thursday. His local post shop refused to mail the package because -- wait for it -- the iPhone has a battery in it. Sticking strictly to the absolute letter of mailing regulations means that any device with a non-removable lithium battery can't be shipped internationally via air mail in Australia -- even though that's precisely how it arrived in the country, in precisely the same packaging state. I called Australia Post, and their representative said shipping it shouldn't have been a problem; "We ship iPhones out all the time," were her exact words, but she wasn't able to get the post shop employee to listen to reason. Meanwhile, the last direct communication I'd received from my acquaintance in Australia came the day he received my iPhone. For whatever reason, all subsequent contact over the next four days took place between his wife and mine. I had to call him to find out that despite his wife's assurances she'd ship my iPhone to New Zealand the day after the first attempt, it didn't happen. He got annoyed with me when I told him the continual delays were costing me money -- I can't write up reviews or how-tos on a product I don't own -- and he breezily suggested that he'd mail it out "as soon as I can." His dismissive attitude toward my situation (and the financial peril he was putting me in) is what finally threw me into a Hulk-like rage. Let's just say the next morning I was looking up "drywall repair" on Google and leave it at that. Not one of my prouder moments. By this point I began to suspect he was trying to sell the phone out from under me. The lack of communication from him and continued failures to ship it out only reinforced that fear, especially when I noticed that his wife who was "too busy" to mail my iPhone out had spent several hours a day posting in an online forum they both frequent. Simultaneously impatient and paranoid, I sought assistance on Twitter from any TUAW readers who lived close to the guy. My wife wasn't particularly pleased with this plan, and I knew on an intellectual level that it was a huge and foolhardy risk -- one more inadvisable link in an already rusty chain -- but I was starting to get desperate. At first no one's schedule was open enough to get to his place on the outskirts of Melbourne. The longer my iPhone sat uselessly in his house with neither word from him nor any attempts to ship it out, the more I suspected that I was going to have to consider it stolen and get the police involved. At last, a Melbourne-based reader contacted me on Twitter, and we were able to make some very cloak-and-dagger arrangements to retrieve my gear and finally get it sent out to me. My wife thought I was a harebrained idiot for trusting a stranger with this mission (and she was probably right). But the guy seemed trustworthy enough to me, and at any rate I didn't feel like I had much left to lose. He agreed to send one of his coworkers to pick up my iPhone, and I alerted the guy who'd held my property in his home (by now, for a solid week) that someone was coming to pick it up. Twelve hours went by before I received this response from the man who'd held over a thousand dollars in my property in his home without communicating with me for over a week: You didn't consider asking before giving my address to someone? And no thank you for doing what we have? Very few moments have filled me with rage as palpable as that I felt upon reading that email. I could hear my heart not just beating, but slamming in my ears. It took an almost physical act of will to restrain myself from firing off a volcanic response right away; I wisely held off, because my ad hoc courier hadn't retrieved my items yet. I sat down and blasted Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from my stereo while I tried to cool down and find a calm center. It didn't work, but at least I got to listen to some good tunes while I waited to see how my own dopey version of Mission: Impossible played out. Just as John Lennon started singing about a lucky man who made the grade, I got a coded message on Twitter: "The bird is in the cage. Repeat. The bird is in the cage." I felt an instant wave of relief, but it didn't last long. I still had to get my iPhone out of the country, and I was depending on a complete stranger to do it. Thankfully my trust in this guy was justified. He told me the iPhone's box was still sealed, and he left it that way. He promised to ship it out on his lunch break the next day. It seemed the ordeal was finally about to come to an end. Except it wasn't. Meanwhile, since my iPhone was finally out of his hands (and I'd had a chance to cool down), I sent my response to the guy who let my iPhone rot in his house for a full week. An excerpt: Here's the bottom line. My items made it from the factory floor in China to your front door in less than four days. That's 4600 kilometres -- over a tenth of the way around the entire planet -- and the shipping was free. You've had five days since your first try at shipping my items to get them to the post shop 2.3 kilometres from your house, and I was happy to pay you $50 for your time and effort. But since you stopped communicating with me and gave neither me nor my wife any specific estimates for when you would ship my items, I finally acted to recover $1,200 in my property that had sat in your home for over a week. Not wanting to waste any more of my altruistic courier's time than I already had, I called ahead to Australia Post to make sure that the post shop he was going to wasn't going to refuse shipping the iPhone the way another one had six days before. The representative I spoke to told me that whoever I'd talked to the preceding Thursday had been blowing smoke -- under no circumstances would Australia Post ship an iPhone, period. Australia's regulations on shipping devices with integrated lithium batteries make it impossible for individual shippers to send such devices internationally. It's ostensibly a rule designed to protect aircraft from fires and explosions resulting from faulty lithium batteries. It's also an idiotic, reactionary rule drafted by complete morons who apparently have no idea how modern technology works. My iPhone was in exactly the same state it had been in when shipped from Hong Kong to Australia -- brand new, never activated, sealed in the box -- so Australia Post's assertion that it was "too dangerous" to ship was ludicrous. I explained to the representative I spoke with that I wasn't trying to get on her case, since she didn't draft the rule, "but make sure it goes up the chain: this is a stupid rule, and the people who came up with it are idiots. It's complete nonsense." I passed that message along on Twitter as well, when the official Australian Post account said the same thing: "We cannot accept lithium batteries for international carriage." My response was less than kind (I'm blaming it on having recently immersed myself in Steve Jobs's biography). I'm aware of the rule. I'm also aware that it's completely moronic, and I will shortly be saying so in a very public forum. TNT had no problem moving an iPhone from Hong Kong to Melbourne. So don't push that 'dangerous goods' BS on me. Millions of travelers fly with iPhones every year. NONE of them explode. Your restrictions are arbitrary and idiotic. I shipped an iPad from the USA with NO issues. Its battery is BIGGER THAN THE ENTIRE IPHONE. Wake up! I turned to an alternative carrier, the one that had brought my iPhone into Australia in the first place. TNT handles virtually all of Apple's international shipping in this part of the world, so it was reasonable to assume TNT had no qualms about shipping such "hazardous materials" as an iPhone battery identical to the ones in carry-ons and passenger pockets worldwide. I was right -- TNT had no problems sending an iPhone internationally -- but they would only ship to a business, not to an individual. It was at this point that I reassessed my options rationally, possibly for the first time since ordering the iPhone in the first place. Fellow iPhone fanatics from New Zealand had been telling me horror stories of week-long delays in NZ Customs, tax and import duties so high they made my teeth chatter, and shipping expenses that seemed astronomically high for an item smaller than a deck of cards. I finally asked myself a question I should have asked weeks earlier: "Is this stupid phone, this product, this thing really worth all of this trouble?" I decided it was not. As the philosopher Rogers once said, "You got to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em." After telling my erstwhile courier my intentions, I called Apple and told them to process a return. After I explained the situation (and affirmed the product was still sealed in its box), Apple processed the return without charging any fees whatsoever. Apple agreed to send a TNT rep to my courier's business to pick up the iPhone, and my courier guaranteed to turn it over. On November 1, 18 days after this cavalcade of stupidity began, Apple confirmed that it had received my items and was preparing to process my refund. The end. Though this story doesn't have the happy ending I was looking forward to, and at times tried to wring from it with all the effort I could muster from the other side of the Tasman, it could have been much worse. Putting that much faith in near-strangers when so much is at stake is not something I'm ever likely to do again when the stakes are this high, and I don't recommend anyone else do it, either. If any single link in this chain had broken, I'd have lost not just the iPhone itself but the considerable amount of money (after honest reflection, an insane and downright excessive amount of money) invested in it. In the end I lost almost nothing, except time, worry, and a pile of frustration. Who do I blame for this debacle? Do I blame Apple, for delaying the availability of unlocked iPhones in the States and thereby locking out a much more reliable (and cheaper) source for the handset? Do I blame Apple again for delaying Australian pre-order shipments? Do I blame the guy who held my iPhone in his house for a week, completely failed to communicate with me, and had me three days away from calling the cops to seize my property? Do I blame Australia Post for its Byzantine restrictions and complete failure to service me as a customer in the simplest task in the universe, moving a small item from point A to point B? I could blame any one or all of those entities for this utterly crap situation, which led me to groan "All for nothing, all for nothing" for several minutes immediately after processing the return request with Apple. Ultimately, though, I have no one to blame for this spectacle but myself. I didn't need the iPhone 4S before November. I wanted it before then. I let that frothy desire blind me to the stupidity of my actions virtually every step along the way. I paid several hundred dollars more for the thing than it would have cost if I'd simply waited for the US model instead. I put extraordinarily expensive and highly-in-demand property in the hands of several complete strangers, any one of whom could easily have betrayed me for a very quick and lucrative payout. I made myself and everyone around me suffer for weeks while I bitched and moaned about the stupid iPhone being stuck in limbo. All things considered, I was lucky. Of all possible outcomes, getting a full refund is the best thing I could have hoped for aside from actually having the iPhone arrive safely. Of course, knowing my luck, the iPhone would have been a dud unit anyway, so things probably worked out for the best. If you learn nothing else from my odyssey of idiocy, at least learn this: Don't be as stupid as I was. Try not to get so worked up about some metal/glass widget that you let your reason fly out the window and spend two weeks careening between Hulk-rage and anxiety that makes the characters in a Woody Allen film seem well-adjusted by comparison. The iPhone may be a great tool, the electronic equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife on steroids, but it's not even close to being worth what I put myself (and everyone around me) through to get it. I learned that the hard way. I hope you don't have to. Update: It's just been announced that the iPhone 4S will be available in New Zealand on November 11, which makes everything that happened in October seem that much more pointless.
