In a case of better late than never, Optus-owned Virgin Mobile is now offering the Apple iPhone 3G, and for cheaper than its competitors in Australia.
Virgin Mobile's Australian website lists the iPhone as "available now" and indicates two iPhone specific post-paid contracts. The lower of these plans includes a full subsidised 8GB model phone plus AU$520 in standard calls and messages credit, and 1GB of data for AU$70 per month over a 24-month term.
At launch Optus was widely perceived as having the best value iPhone plans, however, its most comparable post-paid price point offers a "free" 8GB iPhone for AU$79 per month and includes AU$500 worth of calls and 700MB of data.
Since the release of the iPhone 3G in Australia three weeks ago, two of the current iPhone stockists, Telstra and Optus, have altered their original iPhone plans to increase included services, and iPhone-less competitor 3 Mobile has announced new SIM-only plans with bundled data allocations to attract customers who have bought and unlocked iPhones from the other network carriers.
I called the helpdesk to upgrade to an iPhone and they said they only had the 8gb in stock and I'd have to wait until they got more 16gb in. I then went to the Virgin store in Pitt St Mall, Sydney and got a 16gb over the counter. White only but that's cool.