Online Aussie store offers unlocked 3G iPhones for $775-$875

Stephen Withers
Monday, 16 June 2008 14:38

Your IT - Mobility

An Australian web store is taking pre-orders for iPhone 3G for $775 and $875 depending on the model. Is this offer on the level? Has the store spilled the beans on iPhone 3G pricing?

Melbourne-based Linelink Data Communications has begun listing the iPhone 3G and is taking pre-orders ahead of the July 11 release.

The prices shown on the company's web site are $A775 for the 8G model and $A875 for the 16G version.

That's a far cry from the $US199 'equivalent' pricing promised by Apple CEO Steve Jobs when he revealed the second-generation iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month.

But it must be admitted that US price was for a phone on a two-year contract.

Furthermore, it seems that Linelink will be selling grey market iPhones, because a footnote on its web site reads "All iPhone 3G will be unlocked by us if possible at time of shipment!"

(Linelink already sells unlocked and "Australianised" first generation iPhones at $A639 for the 8G version and $A679 for 16G.)

So customers could end up around $A800 out of pocket and lumbered with an iPhone that they can't use in Australia. That doesn't seem much of a bargain to me.

Since the iPhone 3G has yet to be released, there is no known way to unlock the handset. Given the success various groups have had with the original model, it seems plausible that the new version will also be cracked in time.

Even if they can be cracked, where will the supplies come from? Please read on.