Optus in the frame for Iphone’s Australian network contract?

Posted on January 22, 2008
Filed Under iphone Australia | 2 Comments

Interesting piece in the Age today about Optus emerging as a possible suitor for Apple in the race for exclusive network and distribution rights of the release of the Iphone in Australia sometime later this year.

From the article:

Thailand’s largest mobile operator, Advanced Info Service (AIS), said it was negotiating a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Asia.

The telco’s chief marketing officer, Sanchai Thiewprasertkul , told the Bangkok Post that AIS was collaborating with Singapore Telecom (SingTel) and Optus to launch the iPhone throughout the region.

Singtel Optus’ sheer size and the fact that they can bargain using pretty much all of South East Asia, rather than just Australia, will present a significant stumbling block to Telstra’s chances of securing distribution and network rights.

Although Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has previously not been keen to jump on the whole Iphone Australia bandwagon, the fact that their arch-nemesis, and subject of their not insignificant rants over the last couple of years might be in the frame could well be enough to bring Telstra, and their significant market penetration, to the table.

Please Apple don’t use Telstra for the Iphone in Australia

Posted on January 18, 2008
Filed Under iphone Australia | Leave a Comment

I’ve been thinking a little more abou the last post I made with the reference to the negotiations between Apple and Telstra for distribution and network rights for the Iphone here in Australia.

God I hope Apple choose another carrier….

The idea of carrier exclusivity of a handset is foreign to Australians. We choose the phone we like the best, then go find out which network carrier will subsidise it the best for us.

The thought of changing network providers just to get our hands on a specific handset will be seen as a joke to everyone in Australia other than Apple fanbois and Uber Geeks. It’s just not how it’s done here.

Apple will do nothing but hurt its Iphone sales in Australia if it chooses Telstra as its carrier. People will just not pay the extortionate access charges Telstra asks for the privelige of owning an Iphone.

Can Apple bend Telstra over an Iphone in Australia?

Posted on January 11, 2008
Filed Under iphone Australia | 2 Comments

Really interesting article in Wired Magazine today about how Apple grand Poobah Steve Jobs bent AT&T over a nice tall pile of dysfunctional Iphones and reamed out a deal which was pretty much a license to print money for Apple.

He’d also wrangled a unique revenue-sharing arrangement, garnering roughly $10 a month from every iPhone customer’s AT&T bill. On top of all that, Apple retained complete control over the design, manufacturing, and marketing of the iPhone. Jobs had done the unthinkable: squeezed a good deal out of one of the largest players in the entrenched wireless industry.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Apple starts negotiations with Telstra for the much vaunted Iphone Australia.

The way Telstra deals with lawmakers, shareholders, and customers alike here in Australia, I imagine the conversation going something like this:

Jobs: So, do you want to be the sole network supplier for the Iphone in Australia?

Sol Trujillo (Telstra CEO): Yep, but we don’t want to pay for the phones, you will give them to us for free, plus pay royalties of ten dollars for every person who buys them from us.

Jobs (to an underling): Who is this wanker?

Underling: He’s Sol Trujillo, he gave himself a $20 million bonus despite over two thirds of Telstra shareholders opposing it.

Jobs (to Trujillo): I think we’ll look elsewhere for a carrier

Trujillo: You look elsewhere and we’ll slap you with so many lawsuits your fucking head will spin.

At this point, Jobs reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a pre-beta version of the yet to be released iDeathbeam and blows Trujillo’s head off. There is celebrating in the streets in Australia.

Iphone to be 3G for Australia

Posted on January 11, 2008
Filed Under iphone Australia | 3 Comments

According to MobileWhack, analysts Piper Jaffray and American Technology Research are saying that Apple plan to release a 3G version of the Iphone in mid 2008.

This would be nice, as discussed earlier, it looks like we can look forward to an Iphone in Australia in mid-2008, so we may go straight to the 3G version with the increased speed and all the other goodness that this entails!

keep looking »