Mystery box lands in Australian Apple stores - with 3G iPhone inside?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 06 June 2008 21:29

Your IT - Mobility

MacTalk itself quotes its source as saying they believe that: “the iPhone contained within is for promotional purposes, ie. after it's official unveiling at WWDC next week, the iPhone will go on display with a sign saying 'look how cool I am - you can buy me on this date'. That date still looks like it will be June 19, coinciding with the opening of the flagship Sydney Apple Store.”

MacTalk broke the “rumour/news” in early April that Apple would sell the iPhone in an unlocked fashion in Australia, would sell it though multiple carriers, and would allow multiple Apple authorised resellers to sell the iPhone in addition to it being sold via the official Apple store and through carriers.

So far, MacTalk’s prediction of more than one carrier being officially able to sell the iPhone in Australia has come through, with Vodafone and Optus already having announced they will sell the iPhone “later this year”.

However the other two major telco players in Australia, Three Mobile and Telstra, have not yet made any announcements, although many hope that both of these carriers will also be able to officially sell the iPhone locally.

MacTalk argues that it was arguably “the first” to predict an iPhone sold without an exclusive carrier model and says that its initial claims have been all but proven correct – with the only missing piece of the puzzle being official confirmation from Apple.

Ah well. Only three more sleeps to go, and we’ll know one way or the other.

Here’s the photo that MacTalk have posted at their site. Do visit the MacTalk story and have a look through the 20 pages of commentary - and a larger version of the picture below.

What do you think is in the box? Jack? A 3G iPhone? Advertising materials? A brick? A Nokia?