Most of us, if not all, have already heard about Apple iPhone. Some have even bought one (or more?) while others have experienced the iPhone buzz campaigns directly in their faces, literally.

Some of us may feel weird and are dying to ask a simple question: What is so special about iPhone? Why all the hoo-hahs?

Well to be honest, I don’t find iPhone or iPhone 3G extraordinarily special in any way, it does not have the most advanced technology, the price for an unlocked iPhone is exorbitant and it is not available worldwide, yet.

If there is one thing with which we could justify iPhone’s popularity, that would be its great design in an attractive form factor. Other bling bling such as touchscreen and wide display complements the plastic and metal exterior superbly. Add to that the audio technology powering the best-selling iPOD MP3 players, GPS functions, WiFi and the brand name loved by all consumers, Apple – and we have a product named iPhone 3G.

iPhone is the most successful phone sold on planet Earth, ever! The sucess is underlined when iPhone appears to be dominating markets which are considered to be rather saturated and hard to penetrate – United Kingdom, Europe, China, Russia and even Japan!

The phenomenal success of the Apple brand name and its marketing strategies continue to puzzle many industry experts as well as laymen. Other companies may sell similar products to Apple’s but not one enjoyed comparable sales, popularity or adoration.

While not one Malaysian Telco is able to agree a deal with Apple to bring in iPhone, there are at least 3 major Telcos in Russia which have managed to bring in iPhone 3G. The 3 companies are MTC, Megafon and Beeline.

To purchase iPhone 3G from these companies, you are required to pay a nominal fee (according to tariff plan chosen) followed by monthly service subscription fees for predetermined duration. You should refer to the companies’ websites but roughly, you can get an iPhone from MTC by paying an initial fee of 5990 руб., for Megafon the lowest initial fee is from 49 руб., details regarding sale of iPhone from Beeline is not disclosed and may need to contact Beeline yourself.

Finally, a team dispatched by Volgotimes found that iPhone is being sold in several locations in the Volgograd City – ЭТО, ЮГОС and ИНИВЕРМАГ. There are more choices in ИНИВЕРМАГ, you can choose to buy iPhone with subscription plans from those 3 companies or buy an unlocked (probably second hand) iPhone 3G at a lower price. Rejoice because we have tried to find out the reasonable price for a hassle-free unlocked iPhone 3G with no subscription plans to worry about. The price ranges from 12,000 руб. to about 17,000 руб.

Oh by the way, just for reference sake, first hand unlocked iPhone 3G still costs as much as RM3,000++ in Malaysia. The second hand unlocked iPhone first generation was still selling for as much as RM1,400, so I suppose the damage for a second hand unlocked iPhone 3G would be around RM2,000++. Anyone care to confirm or speculate further?

What is the feature you like the most on iPhone? Would you get an iPhone in Russia or would you do that in Malaysia? Why?