Aussie iPhone fans still in queues!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 18 July 2008 16:43

Your IT - Mobility

Just as is happening in the US, Aussie iPhone fans are also queuing up in front of the Apple store to buy iPhones that have sold out from telco stores. Still, there’s a way to jump the queue if you’ve got the cash to spare!

In Australia, the telco with the best iPhone voice and data deal is called Optus. Its prices are better than those from Vodafone, and much better still than those from Australia’s dominant telco, Telstra, whose charges are so high they make Rogers in Canada look relatively decent.

At least Australians have a choice, however – those poor Canadians only have one GSM/3G provider, whereas Australia has four, and three of those are signed up to sell the iPhone to anyone that wants it.

So, given that Optus is widely recognised as having the best plans, it’s no surprise to find Optus claiming to be the Australian winner in the iPhone sales wars.

Another fact that bears this out is the queue in front of Australia’s first and only official Apple store in Sydney’s CBD, although at least two more Apple stores are due to open later this year.

The queue was reported to have 40 people waiting in line earlier today, and they were all queuing up for one thing: an iPhone with an Optus voice and data plan.

Turns out that anyone wanting an iPhone from Telstra or Vodafone could waltz up to the front of the queue and get one immediately, which certainly speaks volumes about consumer preferences.

Funnier still is the revelation that the Telstra store right across the road from the Apple store had no-one queuing at all, essentially because of the sky high prices Telstra charges for data, something that is vital to any iPhone user.

Telstra is the choice of some users, however, while Australia’s fourth 3G telco, 3 Mobile, could find queues of its own come the day it too can sell the iPhone...

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