No Telstra iPhone surprises on July 11?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 17 June 2008 09:41

Your IT - Mobility

Well, Smartcompany quoted Tim Smeallie, a telecommunications analyst for Citigroup, telling the AFR “it was likely Telstra would offer the device eventually, but that Telstra’s applications would likely have to be added manually, adding to the cost.”

What cost? Just let consumers download the applications themselves, or have a Telstra employee download them when the phone is being activated in store. That said, having an employee do it in store takes up time, which adds to cost.

But it should be up to the consumer what applications get pre-loaded by telecommunications companies on the iPhone even though they don’t get that choice with other Telstra devices.

If they don’t want the otherwise presumably free WhereIS or Sensis app, they don’t need to download it. And if the app is any good, Telstra iPhone customers will flock to downloading it.

Smartcompany notes the obvious when they say that Vodafone and Optus haven’t yet announced pricing for the iPhone but will do so soon.

An interesting tid-bit is the info that Optus only has 20% of its customer base using 3G and is hoping the iPhone 3G helps to boost that figure substantially.

No doubt Vodafone and Optus hope that the iPhone 3G ignites interest in other 3G phones in general, with the iPhone but the catalyst to more minutes, more data and more monthly charges.

So, it seems that Telstra might still put an iSurprise out of the hat before July 11. The Smartcompany and AFR articles might put a bit of doubt on it, but why would Telstra let Optus and Vodafone get all the iAttention if they can iAvoid it?

I bet they give in before July 11 and join the iParty!