No, the iPhone's not illegal in Australia

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 26 February 2008 12:52

Your IT - Mobility

Mobile phone retailer Fone Zone already owns the Next Byte chain of Apple resellers, and it doesn't seem an insurmountable obstacle for the successful carrier to appoint Apple resellers as its agents as part of the deal.

And if that works from a legal perspective, why shouldn't the iPhone deal be struck between Apple Inc and the Australian carrier (as it most likely would be), leaving Apple Australia free to become a reseller for the carrier? So when you ring the Apple Store, you'd actually be purchasing the phone from Telstra, Optus or whoever, with Apple merely acting as its agent.