Iphone not recognizing SIM card

Since I bought my Iphone about 5 months ago, a few times it would say that there is no SIM card inserted, when in fact there had been one. I would remove and reinsert the card or do a hard shut down and restart and the problem would go away. Yesterday, as I was scanning my applications a error message came on saying it did not recognize a network. Then I noticed the functions on would not work. Basically it froze. So I restarted it. Once the apple logo went off there was an icon of a USB to be connected to iTunes, with no other functions working. I then patched it to my laptop and the error message on the laptop said that there was no SIM card in the Iphone. thinking its a SIM card problem I inserted someone elses SIM in my iphone. Same problem. I inserted my SIM in another iphone. No problem. It was not a SIM card issue. Without the iphone recognizing the SIM card the phone could not even be reset.
I took the phone to the Service provider in Malaysia MAXIS. They said the iphone is defective and had to be taken in for repair. The problem is they will most probably replace the phone, However there policy with Apple they say is that I have to WAIT 6-8 WEEKS for a new set. How ridiculous is that?
The worry I have now is that all my apps that I bought, what will happen to them? All the online games that I have been leveling up for months, what happens there? I could never sync my phone with my laptop when it came to the apps. It just would not sync!
It is disappointing to think that Apple does not have a solution to customer software and program issues.