fone zone to sell iphone after all vtg code

Absolute bargain of the ASX with EBITA of 18 million yet a mkt cap of 30 million???

This should help.

Telstra to sell 3G iPhone Font Size: Print Page: Print Michael Sainsbury and Stuart Kennedy | June 19, 2008

IN a case of better late than never, Telstra, the gorilla of the telco market, will come to Apple's iPhone launch party but may lag its rivals by almost two weeks with the handset.

Telstra will join Optus and Vodafone in launching the new 3G version of Apple's new iPhone in July and Telstra chief Sol Trujillo may make an announcement next week.

Vodafone and Optus will begin selling the iPhone on July 11 and the much hyped widget will likely drive plenty of feet through Apple's new CBD Sydney retail store which dwarfs Telstra's new concept store directly across the road. Apple's shop opened this evening, with Apple tragics coming from as far afield as San Francisco to witness the event.

Telstra stayed quiet as its rivals wracked up marketing points by standing in the glow of the local iPhone launch, but will now go ahead and sell the device according to people close to the company. The telco is targeting a date of July 22, they said.

Telstra retail chief David Moffatt and a team of his senior executives were given a preview of the new Apple store last week, sources said.

While the old iPhone, which was never sold here, was designed for the low bandwidth US telephony market and only works on GSM networks, the new version can operate on the much higher bandwidth 3G networks that Telstra, Hutchison, Vodafone and Optus are building out in Australia.

It also operates on the rare 850 Mhz frequency which Telstra's NextG network uses.

Local carriers have already been swamped with online generated interest in the device. Vodafone's pre-registration website for the iPhone has attracted about 40,000 visitors daily since opening the site early last week, while Optus has stopped accepting advance deposits for the gadget iPhones, as it can't keep up with demand.

"Due to an overwhelming response, we have removed the deposit-taking mechanism from the www.optusiphone.com.au website," said an Optus spokesperson earlier this week.

Telstra has persistently refused to comment on the iPhone. "Watch this space ... nothing's changed," Telstra spokesman Peter Taylor said today.

So far there is no word on whether Australia's fourth mobile network Hutchison's "3" will sell the iPhone.