TAG | Telstra 3G iPhone announcement to come 26th June? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 20 June 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 3 The news that has leaked on why Telstra didn’t figure in pre-launch announcements that it would also sell the iPhone have been squarely placed on Telstra and Apple being unable to agree on Telstra software to be bundled with the iPhone 3G. And Telstra, being the biggest telco in Australia, is no different – and like Apple usually gets its own way. But Telstra and Apple are like an irresistible force meeting and immovable object. Something had to give. Someone had to win. It looks like Apple did, at first, with Telstra missing out on all the juicy pre-launch speculation on whether Optus or Vodafone will have the best prices, the best coverage, the most generous voice and data plans. Or the worst. And with Telstra “out of the game”, it seemed odd. Especially when the iPhone 3G is currently the biggest game in town. So the news that Telstra will indeed sell the iPhone 3G after all, after an announcement by Sol Trujillo that will make it official sometime “next week”, make us wonder where this announcement will take place. The obvious answer is at the opening of Telstra’s new T[Life] store in Melbourne on Thursday, June 26. Telstra have been telling us all to "watch this space". Surely this will be the space to watch! Not only have I been invited to attend this store opening event, which makes it real, the Telstra T[Life] site clearly states at the very top of the browser windows – above the address bar – “T-Life – Telstra store opening – cnr Bourke and Swanston St, Melbourne on 26th June”. Note however that the site doesn't yet state anything else beyond the T[Life] logo. Given that T[Life] stores are a blatant rip off – in a very, very good way – of Apple’s retail stores, with the futuristic design, the “Genius Bar” area clone, the plethora of devices on display to test out and trial before purchase, and staff who are supposed to be helpful and knowledgeable – theT[Life] stores are a very big deal for Telstra. The Melbourne store opening is an important one. Important enough for someone like the CEO of Telstra, Sol Trujillo, to attend and open in person. And why wouldn't he want to open it with a double bang – the first being the store itself – and the second, bigger bang being the announcement that Telstra will officially be selling the iPhone 3G, too? It makes sense to us. And given that Telstra’s 3.5G HSDPA network is 14.4Mbps capable, with a number of 7.2Mbps class devices already on sale, including Telstra and BigPond wireless modems, and the i-mate Ultimate 9502 Windows Mobile smartphone, the other big one is the... iPhone 3G. According to Zibri of Ziphone fame, the iPhone 3G is using the Infineon SMARTi-3GE chip (link is a PDF). This chip works at “up to” 7.2Mbps speeds. This means a Telstra iPhone 3G will likely work at speeds from around 500Kbps to 3Mbps and up to 5Mbps. And where does that leave Optus and Vodafone? Please read on to page 3. |
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