Low-cost monthly repayments are good, but 24-month plans seem mandatory. Plus, why we're worried about Telstra's iPhone plans.
Vodafone has confirmed to media (but not published for the average consumer) that the pricing details leaked to its Web site early yesterday morning were essentially correct, with the cheapest 250MB plan starting at $69 per month, up to a maximum $169 per month 1GB plan.
One factor that Vodafone did confirm that it's doing slightly differently to the other iPhone providers is offering a very low-cost monthly repayment option on its lower cost iPhone plans. If you take up the $169 cap, you can score an 8GB iPhone 3G for "free", but the lower caps require an upfront payment for either model.
Vodafone's offering a Mobile Payment Plan option, where essentially the upfront payment is spread over 24 months of a contract, adding between $2.48 and $12.88 to the monthly plan cost.
In practical terms, though, those that pay the upfront cost will still be locked into a 24 month plan, leaving Optus as the only carrier to offer anything less than two years as a mandatory option.
Meanwhile, Telstra's remaining uncharacteristically quiet on the details of its iPhone plans in terms of overall value, but has announced where you'll be able to score an iPhone on Friday.
In total, fifteen Telstra stores nationwide will have launch stock, and for once, they're not all in Sydney -- indeed, Sydneysiders will have only the flagship Tlife store in George Street to sate their iPhone lust.
Desperate New South Welshmen might want to start driving to Dubbo now, as it's the only other NSW Telstra iPhone location, along with three in Victoria (all in Melbourne), two each in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and one South Australian and ACT location.
PC Authority enquired with Telstra as to the delicate matter regarding what the stated prices would actually buy you, only to be told to that a pricing announcement was most likely either "tomorrow afternoon or very early morning of launch".
Meanwhile, allegedly accurate pricing documents leaked at the Australian Macworld forums (http://www.macworld.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=1212) suggest that Telstra's plans for the iPhone won't be anything more than their regular plans and prices, which, if accurate, would mean you'd start out with a measly 5MB of data allowance (both up and downstream) per month.