iTWire - Has Telstra accidentally confirmed it’s getting the iPhone?

Has Telstra accidentally confirmed it’s getting the iPhone?

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 14 March 2008
Page 1 of 3 Australia’s dominant telco, Telstra, has had its Yellow Pages and mapping division, Sensis, place an online job application looking for a business analyst to help it develop a “cutting-edge search application for the iPhone”. Has Telstra been sprung, and if so, will Apple be happy about it? Register now to win a Canon EOS 500D Uh-oh. Everybody knows how much Apple hates surprises, unless it’s Apple delivering them. Think Secret, a blog site that leaked news of Apple’s upcoming products a couple of years back is now Dead Secret, having closed down thanks to Apple’s litigious ways. So, if Telstra, or one of its divisions, has just effectively confirmed that Telstra will be the Australian telco to offer the iPhone, chances are that Apple will be a bit miffed about it, although if contracts are signed and sealed, there might not be much that Apple can do about it. The news comes from ‘Apple Intelligence’ site 9to5mac, which noticed that Sensis (Telstra’s Yellow Pages, White Pages, mapping and search division) placed an advertisement on the AIMIA (Australian Interactive Media Industry Association) website looking for help to develop an iPhone search application, likely for its existing online properties. These include Yellowpages.com.au, Whitepages.com.au, Whereis.com.au, Sensis.com.au, TradingPost.com.au and others. 9to5mac suggests that Apple and Telstra will be bringing the iPhone to Australia with the iPhone 2.0 firmware, due in late June, if the Sensis ad find is anything to go by. Of course, as 9to5mac points out, Telstra has had nasty-ish things to say about Apple in the past, notably the famous ‘stick to your knitting’ comments by Telstra Operations Chief Greg Winn not long after the iPhone was first previewed at Macworld 2007. But then in late October, the picture had changed, with Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo saying to local newspaper the Daily Telegraph (after the iPhone had sold 1.4m units in record time) that Telstra had begun negotiations with Apple and would be interested if the iPhone delivered "an enhanced experience for Telstra's customers". The same article quoted an unnamed Telstra spokesperson confirming that "We have been testing the iPhone as we would any device that comes into the country”, while making clear that “no decision had been made”. We contacted a Telstra spokesperson this evening who told us that they "don’t know yet which carrier is getting the iPhone in Australia, nor when it will be available", that "Sensis' aim is to make our leading mobile applications available to everybody, regardless of what phone they have or what carrier they’re with", and that "as a result, we actively plan and develop mobile applications for a wide range of new devices, including the iPhone, which is a great device, with some impressive capabilities.". The spokesperson also advised that: "In other markets we’ve seen big uplifts in the use of mobile applications by iPhone users and so we are making sure we are well placed to have our applications such as Yellow Mobile, Whereis Mobile, Citysearch Mobile and Sensis Search meet the needs of users". All of this simply means that Telstra is being careful not to officially confirm anything, and are suggesting that Sensis is just proactively developing an iPhone search app, because in theory the iPhone is coming to Australia and they want to be prepared - but I guess we all need to draw our own conclusions. So, what does the Sensis ad say, and what are some reactions to the fact Sensis are dipping into the iPhone pool? Update: We've also managed to get an additional response from Sensis over claims their search experience is below par. Please read onto page 2. << First page < 1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>