1 post tagged “australia”
This is a great question but is one that will be answered very easily, when you take the following factors into account:
1. Price - The price that the iPhone is sold at, how long the contract is, the price of the service and the terms of the contact will be the major factors in not only purchasing but also using the iPhone
2. 3G - This may be the most important factor in who sells the iPhone.
There are two operating frequencies that 3G use around the world, the
popular 2100 MHz and 850 MHz. The iPhone will obviously be released
with a 2100 MHz chip, and if the speculated 5 Year deal with AT&T
Wireless in the United States is true, it will also be capable of 850
MHz. It will also be a case of whether the iPhone is released as a Dual
Mode 3G 850/2100 MHz phone or if a dedicated 850 and 2100 MHz phones
are released separately.
3. Market Size - Apple will obviously want to go with the carrier that can deliver the most customers.
Based on these three factors, here are the predictions: Telstra or Virgin Mobile
Telstra is obvious because they already have a national 3G and EDGE data networks.
Virgin Mobile will be the "Brand" of choice if Optus wants to pick up
the phone. I personally think the iPhone would sell better with Virgin
and it fits into the pricing in terms of data.
In terms of cost, it will be pretty even.
Virgin Mobile already has a $60 Mobile/1GB Data package, which for a small premium of $10 could go to unlimited.
Telstra does not have generous
data packages, so expect a monthly price at around $70-$85, with a base
call rate plan of $40 a month, or Unlimited data at $30 on top of an
existing contract. This however may be a sticking point for Telstra. As
said, they do not have very good data packages for mobile services at
the moment, with 70 MB currently coming in at $29 compared with Virgin at $10 for 300 MB.
RANKIN
