Economic Crisis? Iphone 12 sells like hot cake!

 I was in Midvalley over the weekend for the routine grocery shopping and I have decided to sign up a phone plan with Maxis/Hotlink as I have wasted 2 years with Hotlink without any plan. Read my article here where I talked about subscribing to a Hotlink plan (which is pretty basic).

At the Gardens, I saw this very fantastic view (around 10.30am on Sunday) below. People are queuing to go in machines!

I headed to Maxis (I am certainly not another apple craze here although I am using iPad) and got my packaged phone. While waiting for my turn, I keep hearing Maxis staff "almost yelling" at the very long queue at Maxis centre: Please leave your name and we will call you when the new iPhone arrived!. 

Wait, I was thinking: Isn't it that the COVID19 has disrupted many livelihood and people were going hungry or just merely going by the day? But why is the highest priced phone in market running out of stock? Is it because a lot of people spent more time on their phones these days (due to COVID19's MCOs) and they find iPhone a worthwhile 'investment'?

I have no idea to the above questions but you might enlighten us. 

Meanwhile, enjoy yourself with the "hot air balloons" in Midvalley.. they do not have Kolam this year at the centre court and it's filled with these. In contrast with the Maxis Centre and machines, the mall feels very empty..

Is subscribing to Hotlink Postpaid free phone package worth it?

 I was a long time user of Hotlink until 3 years ago where my work place has poor Maxis/Hotlink coverage and I switched to other telcos. But when they installed a Maxis/Hotlink communication tower on top of the building where I worked, their reception became superb and I decided to switch back.. I have been using Hotlink Postpaid for nearly 2 years now and I am not on any contract. Since my usage is a bit higher on weekdays and not on wifi, I had to subscribe to the higher data plan to ensure I have sufficient data available for my usage. 

https://www.hotlink.com.my/en/plan/hotlink-postpaid/

Under current promo, Hotlink has several very affordable plans which will lock you in for a period of 24 months (contract). You can get C12 or Y11 for just RM1 upfront payment or Y20 for RM99 with a 24-months contract. Is this worth it?

Let's do the math:

Example: Vivo Y20 cost RM599 in Vivo's official shop in Lazada and comes with free shipping. 

a. Cost of Phone              : RM99

b. Savings on the phone  : RM 500
c. Lock in period             : 24 months
d. Savings per month      : RM20.83

What does a RM60/month plan gets you? 

According to Hotlink's website, you'll be getting 15GB of data (for all types of usage) and 15GB of Youtube only data. 

So if you lock yourself up for a 24 months period and pay upfront of RM99 and RM60/month, you'll get a Vivo Y20 phone. Is this worth it? Yes if you use that Vivo Y20 phone or give it/sell it to someone else. So what happens is you're getting a value of RM20 by getting the phone.

Just imagine this, I paid RM60/month for almost 2 years but I didn't get any devices or gadgets plan. If I have done so 2 years' ago, I might have got myself a heavily subsidized phone. Effectively in this case, you'll be paying RM40/month to utilize the RM60/month 15+15GB data. It's a no brainer but only if you're sure that you'll like to stick with Hotlink and will not need to migrate to another telco mid-way.