Vodafone cuts iPhone minimum spend - but where's the data?

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 15 July 2008 06:25

Business IT - Technology

We still don't think Optus's deals are all they should be, especially as you can't choose to increase your monthly data quota without also increasing the call cap as well. But Vodafone has still failed to come up with a deal to match - let alone beat - the competition.

In fact, even though Optus is not really offering all that great plans it has won renewed respect from iPhone fans for being in front of its competitors in the data space. It demonstrates that the iPhone has put the focus on data rather than call minutes.

And surely many potential buyers are keeping their fingers crossed that 3 will soon offer the iPhone. 55 three minute voice calls or 600 SMSes for $29 plus 1G of data for an extra $30 (X-Series Gold pricing) would be a better deal for some buyers. Even though 3's $29 voice plan combined with its $29 data plan is quite comparable to Optus's $49 Yes cap in terms of what you get for your money, the important thing is that 3 decouples the selection of voice and data plans, a point that the other carriers have missed.

Maybe they think that would be too complicated for the Australian public, but that's not what we are hearing from potential iPhone 3G buyers.

It seems clear that the iPhone has broken new ground in Australia as the focus of users is as much or more on mobile data as voice call minutes. It's a shame that our carriers - with the possible exception of Optus, which is gaining kudos from the public and media alike - don't seem to have noticed. They're stuck in the same old rut.