Singaporeans awaiting for an alternative to SingTel’s iPhone price plans might have to wait a while longer, as StarHub announced that they would not be bringing in the iPhone 3G anytime this year.

Basically, the decision not to bring in Apple’s latest in mobile communication is a combination of Apple’s differing priorities towards signing on distributors for the iPhone 3G, as well as the current doom and gloom surrounding the world economy.

Similarly, MobileOne also showed no sign of bringing the iPhone 3G in, contrary to popular word when SIngTel announced that they’d secured first mover rights in bringing the iPhone to Singapore shores. Obviously, this leaves SingTel as the sole distributor of the iPhone 3G here in Singapore.

On the other hand though, another reason why StarHub decided as such could be that Apple’d cut production orders for the iPhone 3G by as much as 40% in the fourth calendar quarter of the year, despite having sold as many as 6.9 million units in the third quarter alone. Some are pointing to that as Apple simply working through existing inventory in light of weakened tech spending worldwide.

Whatever the real reason, this much is clear: Singaporean consumers are stuck with the expensive iPhone 3G contracts/price plans for the time being, with no competing offerings in sight.

Wishful thinking-cap on, might it be that Apple’s simply prepping the market for a 32GB iPhone in time for the upcoming MacWorld expo in early 2009?

Awhile back, the internet was all abuzz over an Apple launch event, with pre-launch rumors swirling around that Apple would be introducing their refreshed lineup of laptop computers, a vague reference to a US$899 item listed in a US store’s inventory, as well as something called the ‘brick’.

As it turned out, the bulk of the pre-launch rumors proved correct. Apple had introduced new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops, as well as an LED-backlit 24-inch Apple Cinema display (priced at US$899 over the United States), while the ‘brick’ proved to be a reference to Apple’s new way of manufacturing their laptop chassis, being milled out of entire blocks of aluminum.

Earlier today, journalists in Singapore had the opportunity to check out the new releases (for the most part) for ourselves, despite the fact that official specifications, images and whatnot were already available online since the launch in other parts of the world a couple of days ago. Nevertheless, this was a hands-on opportunity too good to pass up.

Unfortunately for us though, while the new and refreshed MacBook and MacBook Pro were both available for us to paw over, the new Cinema Display and MacBook Air weren’t.

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So, everybody and their dog have started receiving invites to an upcoming Apple event; October 14th, San Francisco. No prizes for guessing what it’s about. As usual, the launches in this part of the world will be a couple of days later, meaning everyone everywhere else will already have had a go at Apple’s latest way before we do.

Bah, humbug.