Despite the communication announcing the new Optus App Store’s arrival, there’s precious little actual information about it, other than the fact that there’s over 1000 apps available now, and that you can charge the app purchase to your bill. There’s no word on whether the content for this menacing threat to App stores is universal across the different platforms or whether apps are device specific. There’s also no word as to just how much applications will cost, and what percentage Optus will take, or how developers go about getting their programs on the Optus store.

If you’re brave enough to boldly go where only Optus employees have gone before, you can access the store by clicking the App icon in Optus Zoo on your phone, or texting app to 966 (so long as you’re an Optus customer, of course).

The phone will set you back $399 up front, and you can get on a prepaid plan for as little as $30 a month, which gets you “unlimited* data with access to BlackBerry email, IM, social networking & Internet browsing”. The asterisk means it’s not actually unlimited at all, but restricted by “fair use” policies – I know, kind of misleading, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good deal for people wanting to develop a Blackberry addiction without a contract…

[Optus]

Fortunately the virus is little more than a prank and not actually malicious. It only affects jailbroken iPhones with an SSH daemon installed. It preys on the fact that many users haven’t actually changed their SSH password from the default Alpine.

Whirlpool user JD managed to track down the guy behind the virus and interviewed him on his blog. There are instructions on how to undo the rickroll if you’ve been victim to this virus, as well as a post dedicated to how to prevent future viruses hitting you through the same security hole.

Despite the somewhat questionable method of doing it, ikee has at least done one good thing in reminding us all of the importance of changing default passwords. If you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone, you should probably change all your passwords now. In fact, today’s probably a good day to change all your passwords for everything, just in case – because next time, it might not just be a picture of Rick Astley on your home screen…

[Whirlpool and JD's Blog – Thanks Craig!]

What’s even weirder than halving your data allowance after 12 months is that the contracts for the new plans are only 12 months.

So obviously, Optus wants you to sign another contract at the end of that initial 12 months is over. But in all seriousness, is that something anybody’s going to do?

The deals themselves are on par with other telcos – $15 gets you 1GB of data, $25 gets you 2GB, $35 gets you 4GB and $55 gets you 7GB. The E160e modem is $99 up front as well. It’s just a shame that after that initial 12 month contract is up, Optus wants to bend you over and… well, you know…

[Optus]

At a bare minimum, you’re looking at an increase of $2, because the starter package has gone up to $42 (from $40). Platinum subscriptions have added $4 from $106 to $110, while Platinum HD have gone from $131 to $135. The HD add-ons ($10 for HD Sport, $10 for HD Explore and $15 for both) have been consolidated into one package called HD, which is $16.

Aside from that though, all that’s really happened is all the packages have been renamed.

The HD package though, is slightly different for your $16, you get the HD channels that correlate with the other packages you subscribe to. So if you’re on basic, you’ll just get Discovery HD, Fox8 HD and National Geographic HD. If you also subscribe to the Sports channels, you’ll get the HD sports channels as well. Although it would reach a point fairly quickly when you’d just be better off with the Platinum HD package, I’m sure.

Finally, Foxtel have added some new iQ and iQ2 packages. Starting at $72 with an iQ (not iQ2) and ranging up to the $135 HD Platinum pack with an iQ2, each package offers a selection of channel packages and a DVR.

You can check out all the new package details here.

They put four iPhones to work testing the big four: Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Three, running 150 individual speed tests in locations from Manly to Homebush, Annandale to North Sydney, and points in between.

The outcome?

Telstra blows away the competition with speeds almost double the next best network, while the best value data network Three delivered the slowest results. Indeed, Three’s best single result was slower than Telstra’s average.

Whether you’re just curious or need to confirm what you may already know about your chosen carrier, you can read the full report and download an Excel spreadsheet detailing the speedtest results here: The ByteBlog.

If you’ve conducted your own testing and it confirms or conflicts with those obtained by Seamus and his team, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Here’s Telstra’s response to Conroy’s ultimatum for separation:

Telstra remains committed to working with Federal Government
September 15 2009 – Telstra Chief Executive Officer David Thodey today responded to the Federal Government’s proposed regulatory reform package.

“While we are disappointed the government has felt it necessary to introduce this legislation, Telstra remains committed to working with the government to find a solution that is in the best interests of the industry, the nation, Telstra and our shareholders,” Mr Thodey said.

“It is Telstra’s view that many aspects of this package are unnecessary and need never be implemented if a mutually acceptable outcome can be reached on the National Broadband Network.

“Telstra supports the Government’s NBN vision. We are willing to discuss options around separation.”

Telstra will carefully examine the package over the coming days, he said.

“At all times, our approach to regulatory reform and the NBN will continue to be driven first and foremost by the need to protect the interests of our shareholders,” Mr Thodey said.

The NBN has been given the strongest possible board and management focus, including the establishment of a dedicated Board sub-committee, chaired by the Chairman of the Board, Ms Catherine Livingstone, and an NBN engagement team, led by Group Managing Director Mr Geoff Booth.

Telstra has done a large amount of work to ensure we have the best possible understanding of the complex and challenging issues around separation and NBN.

“We are actively and constructively engaged with Government.” Mr Thodey said. “Much remains uncertain, but we will continue to provide updates whenever it is appropriate to do so.”

Naturally, Optus weighed in on the discussion:

Optus welcomes landmark decision on regulatory reform
Optus today welcomed the landmark decision by the Federal Government to reform the regulatory environment governing the Australian telecommunications sector.

“The Federal Government today made an important step in reforming the telecommunications sector with its proposed changes to the regulatory regime. It is a landmark decision that has the potential to change the entire telecommunications landscape forever, resulting in considerable benefits for all Australians,” Paul O’Sullivan, Optus Chief Executive said.

The Government’s draft legislation closely mirrors the model Optus put forward in its submission to the Government’s regulatory reform discussion paper on 3 June 2009. Optus has long advocated for a regulatory framework built around four key pillars including: structural separation; open access principles; cost-based pricing; and ACCC oversight.

Maha Krishnapillai, Optus Director Government and Corporate Affairs said, “We are encouraged by today’s announcement and believe that the proposed reforms will address many of the issues which have adversely impacted competition in the Australian telecommunications industry over the last 12 years. We look forward to examining the draft legislation in further detail over the coming weeks.”

“The Government has made its intentions clear. It is now up to the parliament, Telstra and the rest of the industry to ensure this long overdue reform becomes a reality,” Mr. O’Sullivan said.

As did iiNet:

iiNet Welcomes Telecommunications Regulatory Reform

15 September 2009 – iiNet, Australia’s third largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), has welcomed the Federal Government’s planned reforms to telecommunications regulations saying it will encourage competition and benefit customers.

While still examining the full detail of the reforms, iiNet’s Managing Director, Michael Malone, said requiring Telstra to separate and streamlining the competition regime were critical to the future of Australia’s telecommunications industry.

“The big winner from these reforms is the Australian consumer who will be able to gain access to fast, affordable and competitive broadband services,” Mr Malone said.

“It should provide greater certainty for the telecommunications industry and encourage investment, innovation and jobs.

“iiNet is well placed to continue our strong growth under the new world that will be created by the National Broadband Network and these regulatory reforms.

“We are a market leader in product innovation, customer service, content provision, backed by a strong brand, and will be able to compete on a truly open high speed network.”

So the question now is whether anybody cares? We probably won’t actually see any pricing reforms for a while yet, and while it’s always nice to see Telstra slapped around a bit (especially after the arrogant way Trujillo ran the company), what we really want to see is cheaper broadband (and ADSL2+ at my local exchange for ISPs that aren’t Telstra)…

[Conroy vs Telstra on Giz]

The ‘My Account’ app is available from the app store now as a free download. It will let post-paid customers view their unbilled usage for eligible iPhone plans, view their last four bills, or pay their bill by credit card. Pre paid customers also get the option to view their balance, view up to 100 of their most recent transactions or recharge their account via credit card or recharge voucher.

The app also doesn’t count towards your data cap when you use it on the Optus network (as opposed to overseas), which is something the other 3rd party options can’t offer.

[iTunes Link]

Is it just because they have way too many left over from last year and they’re trying to get rid of excess stock? Or are they paving the way for something new? Actually, it’s almost definitely the former, but this is an Apple post, so I just thought I’d throw in some random speculation so I’d fit in with all the other online news sites.

If you’re interested, the clearance sale will run “while stocks last”.

[Optus – Thanks Sonny!]