Midnight Optus launch for new iPhone

Optus has announced it will be opening three flagship stores at midnight on Thursday to kick off the first day's sales of the iPhone 3G S.

Lara Bingle
(Credit: Vodafone Australia)

According to the telco, the stores to be opened will be in George St, Sydney; Bourke St, Melbourne; and Queen St, Brisbane.

The news came as Vodafone released its pricing for the updated Apple phone, which will be available seven hours later at 7am on Friday morning online and from selected stores. Vodafone's launch of the device will feature celebrities such as Lara Bingle and Giaan Rooney. Vodafone said that tens of thousands of people had already registered their interest.

Vodafone will be offering the phone for free on its $69 iPhone cap on a 24-month contract. That deal includes $400 worth of talk and text as well as free Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls in the evening and on weekends. The data limit for that deal is 1GB. Those wanting a larger download limit can go with the 24-month $114 cap, which includes unlimited calls and 2GB data. There are two contract levels in between that have varying amounts of included talk and text. Business customers can nab the phone on the corresponding $69 and $114 single business caps on 24-month contracts.

Vodafone customers would not be charged a monthly access fee to use their iPhone as a modem, otherwise known as tethering, but they can buy extra data for that purpose from August 2009, 1GB for $24.95 and 2GB for $29.95.

Prepaid customers will be able to buy the 8GB iPhone 3G for $759 upfront, the 16GB iPhone 3G S for $929 upfront and the 32GB phone for $1129 upfront. Those buying and registering an iPhone and mobile number before 31 August will receive $500 flexible credit. Those buying the phone on a 24-month contract online before 30 June will also receive an extra $100 credit.

New company VHA will also offer the iPhone 3G S through the 3 mobile brand, from July.

What could be Telstra's pricing for the device has also been aired, with Mactalk yesterday also posting rumoured costs for a Telstra sourced device. MacTalk said the outright price for the old 8GB iPhone handset was $718. The new 3G S 16GB handset would be $880 outright and the 32GB model $1042.

This would put its pricing below that of Vodafone's. In the past, Telstra's pricing has been higher than the other carriers.

Optus had already released its pricing.