No sooner does T-Mo Austria pre-post an iPhone 32GB SKU then Vodafone Australia sees them and raises the dreaded End-of-Life (EOL) on the iPhone 16GB. MacTalk says:

Why is this interesting to us? Well it just adds further fuel to the fire that there will be a new iPhone very, very soon. What mixes us up is the fact the 8GB isn’t EOL, but the 16GB is. Perhaps a 32GB and 8GB model will be around, the 8GB being the value option for the price conscious set.

Our bet is that the 16GB will be replaced with a 16GB next gen iPhone, joined by a 32GB model. Whether the 8GB iPhone 3G becomes the low-end option or not is anyone’s guess…

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Raining Rumors: Vodafone Australia Saying “Eru!” to iPhone 16GB

Apple’s newly appointed vice president of Internet Services (iTunes, and now App Store and MobileMe), Eddy Cue wastes little time getting his name in the press (at least compared to how long it took Big Media and Apple to get the service in place!). Says Cue, via Apple PR:

“Movie fans in Australia and New Zealand can choose from a great selection of over 700 films for purchase and rent on the iTunes Store. iTunes provides an incredibly easy and fun way for people to discover and enjoy movies, and has quickly become the world’s most popular online movie store with customers renting and purchasing over 50,000 movies everyday.”

No word yet on whether these are 24 hour rentals like in the US, or 48 hours like in Canada and the UK, but presumably HD will remain Apple TV exclusive just like the existing regions. (And it’s not like Apple blessed us with a 720p display — or even 480p — in the iPhone 3G anyway… I’m just saying…)

Any Australians or New Zealanders out there eager to get their movie on? Let us know what you’re buying/renting first!

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iTunes Movies Come to Australia & New Zealand!

Thanks to reader, Adam R. who wrote in to let us know Australian rates have been revealed, and his Blackberry can now “go the way of the dodo”.

First up is Optus who’ve announced both pre-paid and post-paid plans. Pre-paid Turbo Caps start at AUS$30 for an AUS$30 “mycredit”, AUS$110 “mybonus”, and AUS$30 “mytime money” — but no “mydata”. At AUS$100 you get 100/800/100 and Plus 1GB “mydata”. On these plans, and 8GB iPhone 3G will run you AUS$729 and 16GB, AUS$849. Not confusing enough for non-Ozzies, plan rates weigh in at AUS$0.78/min. for national calls,AUS$0.35 per “Flagfall” call, and AUS$02.2/KB weekdays and AUS$1.1/KB for “iZoo Browsing”.

Read on for Post-paid, Telestra’s first statement, Canadian craziness, and some Swedish relief!

Optus’ Post-paid is just as impenetrable for me, with Cap plans ranging from AUS$19 for 100MB, AUS$50 of calls/SMS (and more?), and AUS$0.47 per 30 seconds (?) for national calls, to AUS$179 for 1GB and AUS$1500 of calls/SMS (and more??), and AUS$0.35 per 30 sec. national calls (?!). Both plans have AUS$0.35 “flagfall” per call rates, and AUS$0.25 per SMS.

But it gets stranger! On post-paid, you pay off your iPhone over the course of a 12 or 24 month contract. AUS$51 or AUS$21 for an 8GB or AUS$61 or AUS$26 for a 16GB on the low end, AUS$23 or AUS$0 for 8GB or AUS$33 or AUS$0 on the high.

(Seriously, if an Australian reader can explain that to us like we’re 5th grader, we’d really appreciate it! Crikey!)

Telestra’s Australian rates, and Swedish and Canadian updated after the break!

Here’s Telestra so far:

The Next G™ iPhone 3G™ plans start at $30 per month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8GB model and $399 for the 16GB model. Customers will receive the 8GB iPhone 3G™ model at no cost with the $80 plan and either the 8GB or the 16GB model at no cost with plans starting at $100 per month. All plans include free Wi-Fi access at Telstra hotspots and require a 24-month contract.

Mind boggling voice and data rates to be detailed later, I assume?

UPDATE: Global TV in British Columbia aired a report on Rogers and the Canadian backlash:

Meanwhile, Canadians continue to protest, with major national and international news outlets picking up the story of GSM monopoly Rogers iPhone plans, and rumor has it there may be some more movement on their part sometime prior to launch:

Customers are not restricted just to the 4 iphone bundles that were announced & are able to select from most of our other voice & data plans. We do not have an unlimited data plan, although we are looking at potentially tweaking some of the data plan bucket sizes. More to follow. Bruce M. Mann Vice President Investor Relations Rogers Communications Inc.

Maybe it has a little something to do with the CDMA competition embarrassing them by offering truly reasonable data rates ($30 unlimited!) on their iClone iPhone competitors, like Telus for the HTC Touch Diamond and Bell for the Samsung Instinct?

Sweden, of course, has already seen Telia cave to public outcry over their iPhone plans (which were crazier than even the Canadians):

Swedish iPhone carrier Telia has revised its service offerings for the soon to be released handset. Instead of modifying the plans for the iPhone 3G, the carrier has chosen to allow users to pick from its existing plans for other mobile phones, then add a 199 SEK (roughly $33) unlimited data option.

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Updated! iPhone 3G International Update: Australia Plans & Prices, Canada Stumbles, Sweden Crumbles?

Crikey! Add 3G speed to the list of beer-brewing, croc-hunting, and bum-booting that Australians claim to do better, stronger, and faster than just about everyone else in the world. Or so an anonymous Telstra exec would have us believe:

“We know what is coming we have seen the new device and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA. By Christmas this phone will be capable of 42Mbps which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world.”

Hard to believe anyone outside the Jobspod has seen the actual device (remember AT&T hadn’t even seen the first gen model until Macworld 2007), so this one sounds fishy from the get-go.

Also, 42Mbps is jaw-dropping, face-smacking fast, and would pretty much require the next-next gen, tippity-top end HSDPA technology, known as HSDPA+ or HSDPA Evolution. Right now Telstra maxes out at around 14.4 and while they reportedly claimed they will reach 21 by the end of 2008, that’s a far cry from delivering twice that in half the time, which is what making the rumored June iPhone 3G launch would require.

I’m calling shenanigans. What do you think?

Read Via

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3G Rumors: iPhone 3G to Support 42Mbps HSDPA+ Evolution?!

Thanks to eagle-eyed reader Janric for the tip:

Globe’s Head for Consumer Wireless Business Ferdinand Dela Cruz announced today that Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel, and Optus have signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Australia later this year.

Philippines is new, Singapore is now confirmed, and given that Vodafone has already announced Australia and India, this would make it the second and third confirmed non-exclusive territories after Italy.

Score board says:

Okay folks, who’s next?

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iPhone Risk: Australasian Explosion

Figures. Right after I go to all the trouble of cut and pasting together an April iPhone Risk Roundup, Vodafone goes ahead and announces 10 more countries, more than doubling the amount of countries having, or set to have, the iPhone! Apple Insider goes on locations:

“Later this year, Vodafone customers in Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey will be able to purchase the iPhone for use on the Vodafone network,” the carrier said in a statement without providing further detail.

A look at our newly overpopulated score board:

Vodofone, of course, owns Verizon in the US, which is rumored to have taken a pass on Apple’s iPhone, leading to the current AT&T exclusivity deal. Back with a vengeance much?

Like the Canadian detail-free announcement from Rogers, it’s also likely these deals will involve the as-yet-unannounced-but-widely-expected 3G iPhone, though given the rest of the world’s 3G-centricity, it certainly should. Also unknown is whether these will be the exclusive deals involving revenue sharing and pressure towards unlimited data plans Apple pioneered with the initial iPhone launch last year.

What do you think?

(PS – Apple, help a blogger out and release more of your little flag circle icons. Those things don’t Photoshop themselves, b’okay?)

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iPhone Risk: And Then There Were 17!

No, that’s not spring in the air, that’s the rumor frenzy ramp-up to Apple’s June World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), and here’s the aptly titled MacRumors with a mother load:

A MacRumors reader ran across a very unusual .Mac web page yesterday and was kind enough to forward it on. The page contained promotional images for Apple products [...] including teasers for iTunes 8, a 32GB iPhone [in Australia!], and a WWDC launch date (June 10th).

Turns out, not so much. The images came courtesy of one of MacRumors own forum members (though MacRumors continues to maintain they were associated with a legit @apple.com account).

In general, a 32GB iPhone, at least for the current generation product, would require a 32GB NAND chip for the single slot (due to the cell radio and other components, unlike the iPod Touch which boasts 2 NAND slots, the iPhone only has room for 1 — hence iPod Touch always offering twice the memory). If true, it may explain the price cuts on the 8GB models. iTunes 8 would only require some boosted features (App Store support?) and Apple’s marketing desire to bump the rev a full number. Australia rumors have been building for a long time now, of course.

Also included were the first MacBook and MacBookPro case revs, going to aluminum and iMac-style black on aluminum respectively. (Both of which have also seen rampant rumor ramp ups — say that ten times fast!)

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iHulk Smash Puny Rumors: 32GB iPhone, Australia, iTunes 8 (+ Laptops!)

Ars Technica brings word that Australia may just be giving Singapore, the Netherlands, and Mexico a run for their international money in the great race towards the 7th official iPhone launch.

If rumors are to be believed, resellers have been told to say g’day to an UNLOCKED 3G iPhone down-under come the end of June. This would bring our current score to:

Without an Apple retail presence or strong carrier-branded stores, resellers are said to be key in getting the device out to market in Oz, and Apple COO, Tim Cook did say they would be open to different business models, but UNLOCKED?! And 3G in June?

Personally, I hope this is true as unlocked may be the only way we’ll get an iPhone in Canada any time soon (though 3G will do little good if it’s $1K a month…), but I’m taking this with a kangaroo-sized grain of salt for now… What do you think?

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iPhone Risk: Australia’s Apps, Mate!