Despite misgivings, Telstra likely to launch 3G iPhone in Australia in June
By John Pospisil
It was only last year that Greg Winn, a top executive with Australian telecommunications company Telstra, was blasting the iPhone, and telling Apple to stick to its knitting. Now, if the latest rumors are to be believed, Telstra will be distributing the iPhone in Australia, and may be launching it in late June. Though there is some evidence that Telstra won’t have the iPhone to itself.
Telstra is Australia’s largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services; mobile services; and dial-up, wireless, DSL and cable Internet access.
Back in February last year, Telstra’s Chief Operating Officer and second in charge, Greg Winn, said that "Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that’s not their knitting.”
At the time Winn pointed out that rival mobile phone makers Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, ZTE and others would be coming out with mobile phones that offer the same or similar functionality as Apple’s iPhone. Winn was even dismissive of the iPhone’s much-raved-about touch screen.
However, evidence is mounting that Winn may have changed his mind.
In March this year, Sensis, a division of Telstra, advertised for an iPhone developer. According to the ad, which was published on the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association web site, Sensis was looking for a business analyst with a technical front-end user interface background to assist in designing cutting-edge search applications for the iPhone.
While some pundits used this as evidence that Telstra would be selling the iPhone, Sensis corporate affairs spokesperson, Danielle Horan, claimed that Sensis did not know which telco would be handling the iPhone.
"We actively plan and develop mobile applications for a wide range of new devices, including the iPhone, which is a great device, with some impressive capabilities," Horan told the Sydney Morning Herald at the time.
According to Horan, Sensis was simply making sure that it was well placed to have its applications, such as Yellow Mobile, Whereis Mobile, Citysearch Mobile and Sensis Search, available on the iPhone.
However, according to a rumor currently doing the rounds, a Telstra customer service call center staff member inadvertently told a caller that Telstra would be distributing the iPhone.
If, and I mean if, this were true – that would indicate that the Australian launch of the iPhone is imminent, and this seems to tie in with other rumors doing the rounds.
According to MacTalk, Australian Apple resellers have been told that the iPhone will be launched in the last week of June, and more interestingly, that there will be more than one carrier handling the iPhone and that customers will not be locked into a contract.
With reports suggesting that a 3G iPhone is coming in the next month or so (Telstra is in the process of migrating its users to its 3G network), and the opening of the first of the Apple-owned Apple store opening in Sydney in June, it seems likely that the iPhone will be launched in June to coincide with the opening of the new Apple store.
If the rumor reported by MacTalk is true, than it would appear that Telstra won’t have the iPhone pie to itself, which would mean that Australian iPhone users will have a level of choice that isn’t available in many other places around the world, where users must use a specified carrier (unless they unlock their iPhone).
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