Australia to get iPhone by June?

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Danny Gorog09 April 2008, 10:45 PM

Australian Mac community website MacTalk says it has received information from several trusted resllers suggesting the iPhone will go on sale in Australia by June.


The author of the piece, Anthony Agius ('Decryption'), doesn't explicitly state his source, except for saying they are 'resellers and friends' so it's still worth tagging the post as 'rumor' in your mind. Also note that Apple doesn't normally 'tell' anybody anything. With that disclaimer out of the way, lets explore the detail.

Firstly, and most intriguingly, the forum post suggests that iPhone will come to Australia with more than one carrier. While this hasn't been Apple's strategy in other markets, it may be something that eventuates in Australia, especially if no telco agrees to Apple's terms. Also remember that Tim Cook, Apple's COO recently told a Goldman Sachs conference that Apple wasn't 'wedded' to a particular iPhone distribution strategy - it was whatever made sense in the local market. As a logical follow on to this point, the MacTalk forum post suggests that the iPhone will be available here contract free.

Secondly, the iPhone launch will coincide with the opening of the flagship Apple store in Sydney. While there's no strict time frame given, June is the likely month (and as you'd expect from Apple, late June). As an aside, the Melbourne Apple store, to be located in Chadstone will probably open at the same time (a friend of mine knows somebody who has already been hired for the store).

Lastly, existing Apple resellers are likely to be able to sell the iPhone. Again, this relates back to the big news from point one. If there's no exclusivity and the phone's available without contract, why not sell it in as many locations as possible? The Australian public is already familiar with the Apple reseller channel, and while the push from Apple retail is coming, two 'official Apple' stores won't give Apple anywhere nearly enough retail distribution.

While none of this information is confirmed it does seem to make sense. We know the Apple Store is coming, we know the iPhone is coming, and we know that the Australian market is much further down the road than other mobile markets. What do you think? Sound off in the comments.


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Dan Warne (Administrator):

I will personally eat my hat if Apple releases network-unlocked iPhones in Australia. That said, Telstra is a particularly nasty company to negotiate with I imagine, and I can't see it agreeing to let Apple ship the phone without all sorts of rubbish customisations that Telstra would demand to steamroll people into using high-cost content services. And given Apple has favoured partnering with the largest incumbent telcos to get rapid share in the market, maybe it decided the best thing to do would be to go it alone.

I suppose it could make sense -- Apple does know that it has a hot product that is going to fly off the shelves no matter what; but at the same time, it might be concerned about the difficulty customers will have with getting connected to the right plan that has generous amounts of data etc. Apple likes to sell "the complete solution". (On the other hand, it hasn't seen the need to sell broadband services with Macs, so perhaps it would be happy to leave this up to consumers.)

Whatever happens, I certainly HOPE this is true -- I hate being locked in to one telco, especially when you have such a fast moving and competitive market in the mobile space in Australia.

10 April 2008, 1:34 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Peter Ortner (New user):

One possibility that nobody seems to have considered is that Apple may either use an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) or create their own MVNO. There would be a number of advantages to this, such as that Apple would have complete control of the users' iPhone experience over the lifetime of the device, and that they wouldn't have to bow to a carriers branding (or other) requirements. This control of the process might encompass billing, customer support, plans and rates and so on.

There are a number of options that Apple have when it comes to running an MVNO. If they choose an out of the box solution they could be running in as little as a month. They can choose to operate certain parts of the business internally, or subcontract out parts of the process.

A lack of rumour about the choice of carrier suggests to me that there's nobody in the retail channel who knows what carrier will be used— the lack of rumour sources may just mean that the typically "leaky" sources don't know. Also, the lack of rumour or innuendo doesn't suggest to me that the devices won't be locked nor that there will be freedom of choice in regards to carriers.

Telstra is an obvious choice of network, because of the superior land mass coverage and EDGE support.

Having said all that, all that I've written is purely speculation and doesn't encompass any information from any source, reliable or otherwise.

16 April 2008, 4:12 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Peter Ortner (New user):

One possibility that nobody seems to have considered is that Apple may either use an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) or create their own MVNO. There would be a number of advantages to this, such as that Apple would have complete control of the users' iPhone experience over the lifetime of the device, and that they wouldn't have to bow to a carriers branding (or other) requirements. This control of the process might encompass billing, customer support, plans and rates and so on.

There are a number of options that Apple have when it comes to running an MVNO. If they choose an out of the box solution they could be running in as little as a month. They can choose to operate certain parts of the business internally, or subcontract out parts of the process.

A lack of rumour about the choice of carrier suggests to me that there's nobody in the retail channel who knows what carrier will be used— the lack of rumour sources may just mean that the typically "leaky" sources don't know. Also, the lack of rumour or innuendo doesn't suggest to me that the devices won't be locked nor that there will be freedom of choice in regards to carriers.

Telstra is an obvious choice of network, because of the superior land mass coverage and EDGE support.

Having said all that, all that I've written is purely speculation and doesn't encompass any information from any source, reliable or otherwise.

16 April 2008, 4:12 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Peter Ortner (New user):

One possibility that nobody seems to have considered is that Apple may either use an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) or create their own MVNO. There would be a number of advantages to this, such as that Apple would have complete control of the users' iPhone experience over the lifetime of the device, and that they wouldn't have to bow to a carriers branding (or other) requirements. This control of the process might encompass billing, customer support, plans and rates and so on.

There are a number of options that Apple have when it comes to running an MVNO. If they choose an out of the box solution they could be running in as little as a month. They can choose to operate certain parts of the business internally, or subcontract out parts of the process.

A lack of rumour about the choice of carrier suggests to me that there's nobody in the retail channel who knows what carrier will be used— the lack of rumour sources may just mean that the typically "leaky" sources don't know. Also, the lack of rumour or innuendo doesn't suggest to me that the devices won't be locked nor that there will be freedom of choice in regards to carriers.

Telstra is an obvious choice of network, because of the superior land mass coverage and EDGE support.

Having said all that, all that I've written is purely speculation and doesn't encompass any information from any source, reliable or otherwise.

16 April 2008, 4:14 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Peter Ortner (New user):

One possibility that nobody seems to have considered is that Apple may either use an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) or create their own MVNO. There would be a number of advantages to this, such as that Apple would have complete control of the users' iPhone experience over the lifetime of the device, and that they wouldn't have to bow to a carriers branding (or other) requirements. This control of the process might encompass billing, customer support, plans and rates and so on.

There are a number of options that Apple have when it comes to running an MVNO. If they choose an out of the box solution they could be running in as little as a month. They can choose to operate certain parts of the business internally, or subcontract out parts of the process.

A lack of rumour about the choice of carrier suggests to me that there's nobody in the retail channel who knows what carrier will be used— the lack of rumour sources may just mean that the typically "leaky" sources don't know. Also, the lack of rumour or innuendo doesn't suggest to me that the devices won't be locked nor that there will be freedom of choice in regards to carriers.

Telstra is an obvious choice of network, because of the superior land mass coverage and EDGE support.

Having said all that, all that I've written is purely speculation and doesn't encompass any information from any source, reliable or otherwise.

16 April 2008, 4:14 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo (User):

If any of this isn't true, Apple's going to have to send out some rumors or tip-offs through the grape vine to prevent any disappointed consumers who were anticipating the 3G iPhone this June. If we don't hear anything, then we can be quite reassured that it's going to happen. Imagine the hatred against Apple if they didn't deliver to this.


10 April 2008, 6:55 PM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

My prediction:
3G iPhone will launch at the opening of the new Apple Store(s). Will likely be sold locked to Telstra, given the interest Telstra had in updating some of it's websites to work nicely on the iPhone.

Unlike Dan, I don't own a hat so I make no promises :-)

11 April 2008, 9:56 AM (1 year ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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