With all the recent stories about the alleged 3g handset being released in Australia, along with two or so hints that Telstra it could all well possibly be true. Because even if you are only familiar with the macrumour/9to5mac community news ring you must be familiar with the fact that they broke the iPod touch story, the Macbook Air story and that's only in the last couple of months. For sure the 3g handset will be released in June, but in Australia? Nonetheless:
It's true that handsets are subsidised within Australia, but that is offsetted not by charging the customer extra in some dodgy hidden clause, but by signing the customer into a contract for a certain period of time in which the company makes it's money back by having the customer use their network for the previously mentioned period.
However, particular handsets have in the past only been available to certain networks (as was the case with 3 Mobile and their 3g line, as well as Telstra and the fledgling HipTop or Sidekick for Americans) so it isn't a stretch to say that the iPhone could be linked to one network.
So finally, I daresay the release of the iPhone in Australia was based upon negotiations between Apple and the three main Telcos (Telstra, Optus & Vodafone) but just as when the 3g network was initiated in Australia, we did see all three of those banding together to fund a 3g network to compete with their newest competitor so it still remains in the air!
Telco manipulation
With all the recent stories about the alleged 3g handset being released in Australia, along with two or so hints that Telstra it could all well possibly be true. Because even if you are only familiar with the macrumour/9to5mac community news ring you must be familiar with the fact that they broke the iPod touch story, the Macbook Air story and that's only in the last couple of months. For sure the 3g handset will be released in June, but in Australia? Nonetheless:
It's true that handsets are subsidised within Australia, but that is offsetted not by charging the customer extra in some dodgy hidden clause, but by signing the customer into a contract for a certain period of time in which the company makes it's money back by having the customer use their network for the previously mentioned period.
However, particular handsets have in the past only been available to certain networks (as was the case with 3 Mobile and their 3g line, as well as Telstra and the fledgling HipTop or Sidekick for Americans) so it isn't a stretch to say that the iPhone could be linked to one network.
So finally, I daresay the release of the iPhone in Australia was based upon negotiations between Apple and the three main Telcos (Telstra, Optus & Vodafone) but just as when the 3g network was initiated in Australia, we did see all three of those banding together to fund a 3g network to compete with their newest competitor so it still remains in the air!