Unlocked iPhone 3G: the plot deepens!

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 17 June 2008 12:10

Business IT - Technology

The federal government's Australian Business Registry says Linelink's main trading location is being in postcode 3806, so we checked Apple Australia's list of resellers. Only one entry matched, and that was for All Systems Go. All Systems Go, an authorised Apple reseller in the outer south eastern suburb of Berwick that also trades as AppleCentre Berwick.

So we rang All Systems Go, and asked if there was any link between that company and Linelink. "I don't think so," was the reply we got from a person in the company's administration section that identified himself as "Oliver."

But here's a positive development: Linelink is no longer taking pre orders for the iPhone 3G via its web site. Instead, potential customers are merely invited to email the firm to reserve a unit without obligation. The prices are still shown as $A775 and $A875 for the 8G and 16G models respectively.

We still don't know whether Linelink will be selling units sourced through official channels (Optus and Vodafone, according to Apple Australia) or if they will be grey imports. Nor do we know how long it will take for someone to work out how to unlock the new handset.

But we can all make some guesses.

As far as we know, Linelink is a reputable business, and it has been trading at least as far back as 1999 when many small businesses had to register in order to comply with the then-imminent introduction of the GST.

But we would be very cautious about parting with any money before finding out exactly what the official prices of the iPhone 3G and any associated service plans are going to be in Australia - and that includes Optus's now-discontinued "holding deposit" scheme.

So, the availability of the iPhone 3G from official - and now unofficial - channels still leaves us with plenty of unanswered questions, and an agonising wait for July 11!