Here comes the iPhone

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 06 May 08 7:55 pm

After months of speculation and rumour, Vodafone has announced it will be selling Apple's iPhone in Australia later this year.

The deal was broadcast in a press release by Vodafone this afternoon.

"Vodafone Australia is enormously pleased to be included in the agreement to sell the iPhone to our customers later this year," said Russell Hewitt, chief executive officer at Vodafone Australia.

"The iPhone has already proved to be extremely popular with customers in other parts of the world and Vodafone is confident that today's announcement will be well received by all Australians who are keen to get their hands on their own iPhone."

However, the telco did not mention whether the deal was exclusive, raising speculation that other telcos would make similar announcements soon.

"What is interesting to note ... is that (Vodafone) haven't announced that they got it exclusively," Gartner Australia telecommunications analyst Robin Simpson said.

"The next 48 hours will be very interesting, because if they don't have it exclusively then we would expect everyone else to be saying 'me too'."

Both Optus and Telstra said they currently have no announcement regarding the iPhone, while a spokeswoman from Apple Australia said, "we have nothing to add".

There is no word from Vodafone on when the iPhone would be released in Australia or whether it will be the highly anticipated 3G version.

Many IT websites have suggested that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce a 3G iPhone at Apple's worldwide developer's conference on June 9 in San Francisco.

Jobs' announcement, and the opening of Apple's flagship store in central Sydney next month, could see a 3G iPhone in Australia sometime this winter.

The iPhone's arrival in Australia is expected to present a huge challenge to other mobile phone manufacturers, including current market leader Nokia.
"It's a huge challenge for them," Mr Simpson said.

"A lot of people are clearly going to hold off upgrading until they see what the actual iPhone is going to be and whether it will be 3G and what other features it will have," he said.

"It's going to be a little bit tough for the other guys over the next few months."

Vodafone's statement said the company also had signed an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone in New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal and South Africa.

AAP

Post by **CraigRat** » 06 May 08 8:45 pm

I hope the other networks will also be selling it, or there will be a lot of disappointed people (in Tassie at least)....Vodaphone's coverage is...well, limited...

(It's a phone.....just a phone, people....)

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 06 May 08 9:55 pm

CraigRat wrote:
(It's a phone.....just a phone, people....)

You say it, but wait until you've used it. I have, and it was good. That's why I got the iPod Touch.

The Spindoctors · Post by **The Spindoctors** » 06 May 08 9:55 pm

CraigRat wrote:
(It's a phone.....just a phone, people....)

You say it, but wait until you've used it. I have, and it was good. That's why I got the iPod Touch.

embi · Post by **embi** » 06 May 08 10:22 pm

I have done so much with the itouch... I am tempted with the iphone now.

Post by **caughtatwork** » 06 May 08 10:50 pm

Not all 3G networks in Australia are equal.

Vodafone use the 2100Mhz spectrum for their 3G in Australia. The same spectrum that is used by Hutchison (aka "3") and if memory serves, Optus.

Telstra use the 850Mhz spectrum.

The iphones that are available overseas use the GSM EDGE technology for 3G which is not all that fast. Somewhere around 512kbps for 3G and 128kbps for GPRS.

If Vodafone uses their 2100Mhz spectrum for the 3G iphones you should get some decent speeds, probably up to about 2Mbps.

If the iphone is HSDPA enabled then you could expect speeds of between 7.2Mbps and 14.4Mbps.

The single difficulty is that with 2100Mhz there is substantial interference from buildings, trees, concrete walls, etc. The spectrum is too high for great signal strength. I believe that's part of why Telstra bought into the 850Mhz spectrum. It gets better signal strength due to the spectrum.

While I think the device is cool, I'd be very interested to see what the technology can achieve in terms of rated download speeds in the Australian Vodafone network before I went and considered buying one.

TeamBeanDare · Post by **TeamBeanDare** » 06 May 08 11:42 pm

Are we able to load software on it?