iPhone 5 Price Comparison: USA is cheapest, UK most expensive

It might take a while until Apple opens a store in Bhutan. In the meantime, Bhutanese will need to shop for iPhones in other markets. We have collected information about the price of the unlocked iPhone 5 in various markets which might be of interest. Note: the iPhone 5 is still not available for sale in Thailand.

iPhone 5 prices, local currency

	16 GB	32 GB	64 GB
USA	USD  649	USD  749	USD  849
Canada	CAD  699	CAD  799	CAD  899
Singapore	SGD  948	SGD 1088	SGD 1238
Australia	AUD  799	AUD  899	AUD  999
UK	GBP  529	GBP  599	GBP  699

iPhone 5 prices, Ngultrum (September 17, 2012)

	16 GB	32 GB	64 GB
USA	BTN 35,240	BTN 40,670	BTN 46,100
Canada	BTN 39,120	BTN 44,710	BTN 50,310
Singapore	BTN 42,160	BTN 48,390	BTN 55,060
Australia	BTN 45,700	BTN 51,420	BTN 57,140
UK	BTN 46,590	BTN 52,760	BTN 61,560

Raising the next generation of "Fair & Lovely" consumers

"When I grow up, I want to look Indian!"

If you want to help your "dark-skinned" child to develop a slight inferiority complex, I have a simple recipe: Take her to any Gini and Jony shop. This high-end Indian retailer of children's clothing has hundreds of outlets all over the subcontinent, and a branch was opened recently in Thimphu. Naturally, I went to see what the buzz is all about.

I'm loving it!

Our friend Craig Dalton, a public health physician who's currently teaching at the RIHS (see our acronym dictionary), created this hilarious critique of a McDonald's ad. These commercials are viewed in many Bhutanese homes, courtesy of Indian satellite channels. Thank goodness Bhutan is McDonald's-free.

The hidden benefits of debit cards

I really like the convenience of using my Bhutan National Bank (BNB) ATM card for paying at participating shops. No need to carry around cash, no need to deal with checks. I recently learned of two additional reasons for using the card to pay at these shops. The first is straightforward. The second is slightly more tricky.

• There's a monthly "Swipe and Win" draw with nice prizes (see the amounts in the shown ad). They'll even call you if you win.

• Using your card in this way is the only way to withdraw money from your account without affecting your eligibility for interest. In particular, BNB announced that as of April 1, 2010
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  BNB customers are eligible to receive an interest rate of 4.5% (effective) on saving accounts with a minimum balance of Nu.1,000.00 with no upper limit

  Sounds like a good deal. However, as we have been told at the main branch, to receive the interest you must have 4 or less withdrawals from your account per month. "Withdrawal" includes using the ATM machine, writing a check, or withdrawing directly from the cashier. Surprisingly, using your BNB ATM card at shops does not count as a withdrawal for this purpose!

Online ad for Acer laptop

While reading the Kuensel online today, I noticed that one of the flashing ads was for a laptop. I clicked on the online ad and found a photo and specs, but not the price.

After calling the company, Dot Com Enterprise, I discovered that the laptop for sale is a slightly different model from the one in the ad: An Acer Aspire 4740. The specs are very similar to those in the ad, except for the CPU which is Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz, 3MB L3 Cache, 1066MHz FSB, 35W (see here). The price is Nu. 33,000.

Doing research online before purchasing a computer is still not easy in Thimphu. Very few shops have websites with current information (one exception is Leki Dorji Enterprise). Yet, since most computer shops have a single model in stock (usually one desktop and one laptop), learning about what is available requires visiting each place or at least calling. The ad on kuenselonline.com is therefore a great new online resource.

Got information on new computers available in town? Please email us and we will cover it here.

Netbooks for Nu. 14,999

For those in search of a reasonably priced netbook (a small laptop), we discovered two places in town selling the Simbook Buddy (N450) by the Indian company Simoco. The netbook comes equipped with 1.6 Ghz CPU, 10.1'' screen, 160 GB hard-drive, 1GB memory, 3 USB ports, Wifi and more. You can find the full specifications here. The netbooks are brand new, not refurbished or used.

The two shops selling the Simoco Buddy are Lepcha (Zangto Pelri complex) and a mobile shop on Norzin Lam a few blocks down from the milk booth (contact phone 77236646).

Currently this seems to be the cheapest netbook available in town. Lepcha also sell a Nu. 17,000 Samsung netbook, which I have not tested.

Disclaimer: I have not purchased or used the computer beyond a simple test at one of the shops.

A lost world

I often tell friends that those small things that make up daily life in Thimphu remind me of my home country of Israel in the 70s. Of course, Israel has "developed" since then, at least in the GDP sense. It was US$5B back in 1970, and today the annual GDP exceeds US$200B, an impressive 40-fold increase in just four decades. But what things disappeared along the way? And were these an essential consequence of "development"?

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article today (apologies, but it's in Hebrew) with a laundry list of (arguably desirable) life patterns that were taken for granted 30 or 40 years ago in Israel, and have all but disappeared. Most of these still exist in Thimphu and elsewhere in Bhutan, but some are quickly disappearing.

• Drinking tap water. These days Israelis are addicted to expensive bottled water, although tap water is cheap and safe. Obviously, the plastic bottles create huge environmental problems.
• Clothes lines have surrendered to electrical dryers. What a waste of energy in a a country with more than 300 sunny days a year.
• Small vegetable gardens and fruit trees around houses and apartment buildings. These gave way to development of real estate and manicured lawns.
• Eating dinner at home. Fast forward to 2010: Israelis eat out three times a week on the average, and it's often packaged or junk food. Preparing real, healthy food from scratch is rare.
• Playing environment-friendly, low-tech board games for hours.
• No shopping malls. Israelis spent their leisure time visiting friends and relatives or going out for a picnic. Today families kill time in air-conditioned shopping centers, spending money on branded goods they don't really need.
• No traffic jams. People rode the bus, walked, or biked.
• Public libraries, which served as meeting places.
• Children playing outdoors for hours and roaming around freely. You seldom see this in Israel or any other developed country anymore, although it's such a basic human need. Most children are "locked" inside their homes, playing video games or surfing the Internet. Child obesity and various psychological issues usually follow.