Cost of Buying an iPhone / Accessories Shopping
The price of iPhones in Philippines is ridiculously high. Considering that it’s being sold for USD$399 (roughly $430 including sales tax), importers are having an early Christmas retail high by selling unlocked iPhones ranging from $550 to 600.
Fortunately I was able to get one for much lower. The story behind it was that some guy bought an iPhone for $550 and wanted to sell it that same day for 60 bucks less. SMS/Texting is such a big thing in the Philippines that texting difficulties of the iPhone was enough of a deal breaker for anonymous guy (I forgot to ask for his name. I was so excited that I didn’t even bother to ask. Sorry, I forgot about common courtesy.) to not even give it a whole day to get used to the iPhone’s quirks.
So there I was with an iPhone in my hand. The very next day, I went to Digital Walker and got myself a Capdase screen protector. I am a voracious researcher when it comes to my brand new electronics, and I did see the youtube video of the iPhone stress test, but I wanted to make sure. My keys and spare change usually find themselves spin drying along with my mobile phone in my pocket, and the iPhone is just too pretty to get dings and scratches.
Next stop was a silicone case. Again stating the obvious, that the iPhone hasn’t been officially released in South East Asia, getting nice accessories for the iPhone can be a chore. Either the electronics or mobile phone stores haven’t yet stocked up on iPhone accessories, or they’ve purchased too little and the rabid iPhone fanboys (me included) buzz about in local forums pointing an enthusiastic finger at those stores that carry the much coveted accessories. I went to 3 different stores mentioned in those forums and alas, they were sold out. My only option was to get a cheapo silicone case at a mobile phone kiosk. I only paid USD$2 for it, and I am really loving it.
Photos to come soon. 
I would have wanted the Speck iPhone ToughSkin, but it’s nowhere to be found.
Ok, back to the original point of this post — The Cost of Buying an iPhone. I paid $490 for my iPhone, add to that 10 bucks for the silicone case and screen protector to keep it scratch free, gets me to a nice round figure of 500 bucks. However, for the past couple of weeks I have been diligently selling all my iPods. I dusted off my 1st gen 4 gig nano whitey from the closet and I was able to sell it for 80 bucks. My orange shuffle is also up for sale, and I’m hoping I’d get 50 or 60 bucks for it; add to that the 200 bucks I got for my e61 (which is no longer mine).
All in all, I paid $160 for the iPhone.
