Vodafone officially announces Australian iPhone prices - leak was accurate

Adam Turner
Thursday, 10 July 2008 07:12

Your IT - Mobility

After yesterday's blunder, Vodafone has officially released its Australian iPhone plans and the news is still not good.

Vodafone's official Australian iPhone plans appear exactly the same as the plans accidentally published yesterday expect for the addition of $0 upfront options. The plans start from $189/$309 upfront (8GB/16GB) on a $69 capped plan with 250MB of data. The highest plan offers the 8GB iPhone for $0 upfront, or $89 for the 16GB plan, on a $169 capped plan with 1GB of data. Several capped plans the appeared online yesterday are no longer listed.

The only change is the addition of monthly handset pricing for all plans, which means for example that customers on the $69 capped plan can pay $0 upfront and then $7.88 per month for the 8GB model or $12.88 for the 16GB model.

Vodafone was roundly criticised in the media yesterday for its poor value iPhone plans, which are considerably more expensive than Optus whilst offering the same monthly data limits. Many commentators expected Vodafone to undercut Optus' plans and offer considerably more data per month. Vodafone Australia has some of the country's most generous mobile data pricing for some of its products, such as 5GB per month for $39 with a USB HSDPA modem. Instead Vodafone's Australian iPhone plans reflect the poor value seen in Vodafone New Zealand's recently announced iPhone plans.

Vodafone's iPhone plans lack a pre-paid option, which appears to make Optus the only Australian operator to offer the iPhone pre-paid from day one - charging $AU729 and $AU849 for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively.

Today's official announcement from Vodafone dismisses speculation that yesterday's accidental pricing release may have been a marketing ploy to gauge reaction to the plans before officially announcing them. Both Vodafone and Telstra have come under fire for withholding information on iPhone plans until the last minute, making it difficult for consumers to make an informed choice.

Today's Vodafone announcement leaves Telstra as the only iPhone supplier not to release full details of its iPhone pricing plans. Telstra has revealed that 8GB/16GB iPhones running on the Next G network will sell from $279/$399 upfront on $30 per month, 24 month plans. The 8GB/16GB iPhone will also be available for $0 upfront on an $80/$100 plan.

With less than 24 hours before the iPhone goes on sale, Telstra remains tight-lipped about how much data customers can use each month. CONTINUED