Telstra vs Optus: iPhone 3G, revenues and you

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 14 June 2008 10:41

Your IT - Mobility

Clearly, pressuring Apple to do anything it doesn’t want to do is very tricky. And perhaps it was simply too difficult or expensive for Apple to do a quad-band iPhone 3G right now.

But it’s definitely messy, not just for Optus and Vodafone, but Apple too. Even Telstra is in a mess – it’s not selling the iPhone when it is the best placed, coverage-wise, to do so.

Why didn’t Telstra go with 900MHz 3.5G equipment if Optus is saying that 900MHz is the new standard for rural and regional 3.5G coverage? Maybe the 900MHz standard and equipment weren’t ready at the time, but whatever the issue there, plenty of companies have rolled out 850Mhz compatible equipment – even Apple with the iPhone 3G.

If what Optus and Vodafone are saying about 900MHz is true, why didn’t Apple go with 900MHz in the iPhone 3G? Clearly Apple thinks 850MHz is more important, at least in the 2008 version of the iPhone 3G.

And the company that would, in theory, be the most generous with voice and data plans – Three Mobile – isn’t selling the iPhone either, despite the fact it is selling the iPhone in Hong Kong and Macau.

Blimmin’ heck. If you thought the WWDC and the introduction of the iPhone 3G by Steve Jobs would answer all the questions, it hasn’t. Like an episode of the X-Files, or Heroes or any other modern show, the end of an episode is no guarantee all of the questions will be answered.

Tune in again, same time, same bat channel next week, loose strings still to be tied up, to be continued... this maddening wait for answers comes courtesy of Apple, Telstra, Vodafone, Three Mobile and Optus. Thanks!