The latest version of Apple’s much-hyped smartphone will hit Australian shelves on Monday, with tech research firm Ovumm predicting the iPhone 4 can shake off the bad news stemming from its antenna problems.
“Despite recent concerns over reception problems for the iPhone 4, consumer demand for Apple’s smartphone continues to build with each iteration of the device substantially outselling the previous version,” principal analyst Tony Cripps said this morning.
“Much of this success can be attributed to the halo effect Apple has achieved around its products through its extreme focus on usability, design and the tight integration between the devices, applications and services, if not always out and out innovation. This approach has also given the iPad a successful birth despite most observers previously doubting the viability of the tablet category.”
After Telstra and Optus rushed out their iPhone 4 pricing and plans yesterday morning, VHA brought forward the release of its plans and pricing by one day and joined the party.
Three’s pricing can be seen below:
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | |
| Monthly fee | $39 | $49 | $79 |
| Monthly credit* |
$200 of calls to Vodafone & 3 $150 of calls & texts to any network* |
$270 of calls to Vodafone & 3 $350 of calls & texts to any network* |
$450of calls to Vodafone & 3 $650 of calls & texts to any network* |
| Data |
150MB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
250MB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
1GB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
| 24 month contract (instalment per month) | |||
| iPhone 4 16GB | $10 | $5 | $0 |
| iPhone 4 32GB | $14 | $10 | $0 |
| iPhone 3 8GB | $5 | $0 | $0 |
And Vodafone’s pricing structure can be seen here:
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | Plan 5 | |
| Monthly fee | $29 | $49 | $69 | $79 | $99 |
| Monthly credit* |
unlimited calls to Vodafone & 3 $180 calls & texts to any network* |
unlimited calls to Vodafone & 3 $450 of calls & texts to any network* |
unlimited calls to Vodafone & 3 $650 of calls & texts to any network* |
unlimited calls to Vodafone & 3 $800 of calls & texts to any network* |
unlimited**^ |
| Data |
50MB PLUS BONUS 500MB |
500MB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
700MB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
1GB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
2GB PLUS BONUS 1GB |
| 24 month contract (instalment per month) | |||||
| iPhone 4 16GB | $18 | $5 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| iPhone 4 32GB | $24 | $10 | $5 | $0 | $0 |
| iPhone 3 8GB | $12 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
As with the Telstra and Optus deals, generous data allowances are a feature of plans from both companies and both Vodafone and Three have attempted to sweeten their deal with “bonus” data offers of up to one gigabyte a month.
iPhone buyers will now have the unenviable task of trawling through the plans of all four companies to try and sort out the deals that suit them best, although several commentators are already pointing to Vodafone’s $49 deal, which includes 1.5 gigabytes of data, as one of the best available.
The other big iPhone news of the day came from the US, where the US Copyright Office has ruled that the practise of “jailbreaking” an iPhone so it can run software not officially approved by Apple, is no longer illegal.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which campaigned hard for the deal, says the decision will help foster innovation and says “locks” on smartphones were being used by companies to protect themeslevs from competition.
“The Copyright Office recognizes that the primary purpose of the locks on cell phones is to bind customers to their existing networks, rather than to protect copyrights,” said Jennifer Stisa Granick of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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