Waiting for a 'œVirgin' iPhone before taking the plunge?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 28 July 2008 16:59

Your IT - Mobility

If you’ve been hoping that Virgin Mobile would soon sell the iPhone, partially because it’s owned by Optus, and partially because it has cheap data rates, rumours suggest it could soon happen.

Been waiting to pop your cherry and commit to an iPhone, but didn’t necessarily like the plans or data charges on offer?

Then Optus subsidiary Virgin Mobile might come to the rescue with an iPhone 3G connected to some of its existing plans, which include being able to get 300MB of data for AUD $10, and 1GB of data for AUD $15.

Of course, until Virgin Mobile makes the announcement, the facts are that it’s all speculation, no matter how strong the rumours reported by ZDNet Australia, its sister site CNET and users of those sites forums.

Given that Optus sells the iPhone and owns Virgin, you’d think that Virgin would have a pretty good chance of slipping between the sheets to join Apple, Telstra, Vodafone and Optus for some of its own iPhone action.

It’d be quite a fivesome... although if truth be told, I’d much prefer to see six players in action, as it’s just not the same without 3 Mobile and its own brand of pricing party tricks to make things a lot more interesting for consumers who like the watch, call and surf on their iPhones.

So, if you haven’t yet decided to dump the iPhone chastity belt because you want to see how the pricing plans evolve or if other plays join the game, the move from Virgin mobile could well be the one to catch your attention and get you to say “I do” to a post-paid or pre-paid Virgin Mobile iPhone plan.

But should you buy an iPhone 3G now, if you haven’t already, or just wait further?