Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Category: telcos

  • Will the iPhone see Australians embrace mobile Internet?

    Reports the iPhone has triggered a rise in mobile Internet use in the US raises an interesting question on its effects on the Australian market.

    Early this year Three Mobile touted their own report which found Australians were reluctant to do surfing the net on their phones due to the risk of copping a monster bill.

    Sadly this belief is quite fair when you see some plans charging up to $3,000 a Gb if you go over a 5Mb monthly allowance.

    While Optus has sweetened their plans slightly by offering better usage allowances on their iPhone plans, all the providers have done little to improve their mobile phone data offerings.

    This stingy attitude to data by the Australian mobile operators is going to continue to cramp the growth in the Australian mobile Internet market.

    Until one of the players drops their restrictive plans and outrageous excess use charges Australians will quite rightly shy away from embracing mobile web surfing.

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  • The Australian iPhone release

    iphoneApple’s announcement the iPhone will be released in Australia through Optus and Vodafone sets the stage for a good fight in the mobile phone sector over the next twelve months.

    Leaving Telstra out of the deal is going to put a lot of competitive pressure on the big T, but their advantages in brand name, market position and mobile coverage gives them plenty of scope to fight back.

    Another interesting angle on this is the pricing. The $199 and $299 US dollar prices will probably translate to around half the price of the comparable Blackberry and a third of the Nokia smartphones. This is really going to make the incumbents sweat.

    So we’re going to see some terrific deals over the next few months and the carriers and handset manufacturers jostle for space in the market.

    If you’re looking at buying a mobile phone the best advice is to wait a month or two.

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  • Telstra’s $0 plans

    Telstra’s new bundled plans offering a free laptop with their wireless plans is a good move to improve take up of wireless Internet.

    It’s surprising none of the providers haven’t offered these deals sooner given entry level laptops are cheaper than mobile phones and these plans have proved an resounding success in the mobile industry.

    As with all these deals, the devil is in the small print. You may be getting a “free” laptop but the cost of the wireless broadband will easily make up for this. The total price of the plan over the 36 month contract is $3,564 which would buy you a lot of laptop.

    36 months is a long contract and we can expect to see prices drop and better deals appear as the other companies respond.

    Also, a $700 laptop is a pretty basic beast many business users will find doesn’t meet their needs.

    Overall, this is an interesting deal that’s going to radically change the business market. However I’d recommend most users sit and wait to see what other deals become available.

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