Australian iPhone Prices Revealed

[Bulakbol]

iPhone 3G price revealed by Telstra

THE Apple iPhone 3G will be available for as little as $279, with plans as cheap as $30, when it is released in Australia next Friday.

The long-awaited pricing announcement came this afternoon as Telstra confirmed it would join Optus and Vodafone in selling the touchscreen mobile phone on July 11.
The announcement will mean three of Australia's four major mobile phone providers will sell the iPhone at its launch.

But many iPhone followers might just be happy to finally put a price on their iPhone dreams.
Telstra announced the iPhone 3G would cost $279 for the 8GB model or $399 for the 16GB model on a monthly $30 plan.

However the iPhone 3G will cost nothing upfront if you choose the 8GB iPhone 3G on an $80 monthly plan or the 16GB model on a $100 monthly plan.
All Telstra iPhone plans will include free wi-fi access at Telstra hotspots and will require a 24-month contract with the carrier.

No further details about the plans were released, though future iPhone users can register their interest in the plans at www.telstra.com/iphone or by phoning 1800-iPhone.
Telstra had been a noticeable hold-out from Apple's iPhone 3G carriers when Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the phone's specifications and Australian availability was announced on June 10.

The telecommunications carrier is the biggest in Australia, with 9 million mobile phone customers, and rumours emerged that the hold-up was due to Telstra's insistence that Apple add Telstra's own Sensis applications on to the phone.

Telstra's consumer group managing director David Moffatt said the company was "delighted to bring this product to (users) on Telstra's high-speed Next G network".
"With iPhone 3G on the country's largest and fastest 3G network, providing coverage to 99 percent of the population, more Australians will enjoy the iPhone 3G experience in even more places."

[soloworx]

I guess those figures are in Aussie dollars. That would be USD 267 and 383 respectively for the monthly $30 plan. If that is the case, Optus in Australia is offering the iPhone at a 30% (estimated) premium compared to AT&T in the US for the same $30 plan. Which begs the argument that Globe or the other 'authorized' carriers around the world (except the US) are not tied down to the $199 - 299 pricing model of Apple/AT&T in the US.