There's not a whole lot of info on this just yet, but turns out that Vodafone's deal with RIM to distribute the Storm in Europe actually extends out to Australia as well.

From an email with the Storm's global press release:

"Please note that pricing and availability details are not being announced at this time and will be announced closer to launch, later this year."

[Blackberry Storm on Giz]

Vodafone just launched the Blackberry Storm on their site (HUGE BOMBSHELL ANNOUNCEMENT), complete with a 3D image that offers a full view of the phone and a link to the Storm's spec sheet. Other than that, not a whole lot new here, just seems to (more or less) confirm what we already suspected. [Vodafone]

Read More »

It looks like the mobile data wars are starting to heat up, with Vodafone today dropping the price of their mobile broadband offerings.

For 20 bucks (or $19.95 for the pedantic among us) over 24 months, you get 1GB of data over Voda's 3G network, plus it will cost you $5 per month for the USB Internet stick. That price is $10 a month less than the previous offering.

If you're a data hound, you can get 5GB for $39.95 a month, with the USB modem included for free over 24 months. That's down $10 on previous pricing as well.

Considering Vodafone pops you on their 2.5G network when you run out of 3G (rather than charge you roaming fees on Telstra's network, a la 3), this is a pretty solid deal, and potentially the best offering on the market at the moment.

[Vodafone]

Subscription music services have struggled to take off in Australia. Nokia's offering is PC only, while Sanity's attempt is so ludicrously overpriced and restrictive that you may as well be smoking hundred dollar notes. But - from the details outlined in the press release at least - Vodafone's MusicStation (a collaboration with Omnifone) offering actually looks like it's not only usable, but downright value for money.

For just $2.75 per week (or $11.95 per month), you get unlimited tracks downloaded to your mobile phone. There are no data charges for the downloads, and the downloads happen in the background, so you can queue up 1000 songs and it will just download while you walk around.

All four music labels are on board, as well as most of the local independents, for a total of over a million tracks at launch. It will be available on nine handsets at launch, but Vodafone plan on adding to that figure quickly. To start with, the MusicStation Service will be offered on the LG KU990 Viewty, Nokia 6121 classic, Nokia E65, Nokia N73, Nokia N95 8GB, Sony Ericsson C902, Sony Ericsson W880i, Sony Ericsson W890i, and the Nokia 6210 Navigator.

Read More »

RIM held the official Australian launch of BlackBerry Bold today. Considering that we've seen it all before, there wasn't too much to come out of the event, except that it will officially be launched on Telstra, Vodafone and Optus, starting mid-August. 3 is apparently also testing the device, although whether they'll release it is still yet to be seen.

As far as pricing goes, the networks are all still pretty quiet on what they'll be charging - the exception is Optus, who today announced the phone will cost $10 per month on a 24-month contract when partnered with their $79 BlackBerry plan.They've even set up a web page dedicated for users keen enough to pre-register their interest.

Read More »

Lara Bingle, Bianca Dye, and Lote Tuqiri walked into a bar. They learned to use iPhones. They swanned about, looked the goods, and made it feel like a party. Vodafone may have been last out of the gates, with a crowd of something similar to Telstra (around 100 at doors open), but it offered a little more panache than the rest.

As token as celebrity appearances can be, these guys actually did seem to give some time to people in the queue, showing off the iPhones they had in hand.

Here Lara, Bianca (mid stroke), and Lote flank the first Vodafone iPhone owner, Dominic. All Brett Howell got was Fuzzy. Best caption wins a ROFLOL.

Here's the quick round up of the state of play right now:

- Optus still has 100+ to get through the queue, and have probably moved through 150 or so. They had a slow start due to the media circus, but are getting it going now.
- Optus is doing a good job of keeping the hordes happy. Plenty of coffee and hot chocolate, they've been doing cheeseburger runs, and even have 2-minute angels on hand giving out massages.
- At last check, there were 5 in the T[life] queue, 25 in the Apple Store queue, and no one at Vodafone.
- Our safe guess is that anyone at Apple Store is there for Optus plans, but don't have pre-reg. If they wanted Telstra or Voda, they'd be queuing elsewhere -- remember Apple Store is last to open.
- Voda is the hardest to 'count', as they don't have any one store going ahead of the rest.
- Apple Store has raised black curtains on the ground level. One level one we can see the iPod sign has been replaced with an iPhone sign across the back wall.
- We managed a quick peek through the curtains and the only thing we could see was the screensavers have been changed from iPod ads to iPhone 3G ads.

Evenin' folks. For those with goldfish memories, I was captain of this ship until late last year. Tonight, I'm back to give Nick a hand while he's being Mr "I'm so important I get to go be the first of the first in New Zealand". I'll be hitting the Sydney queues from about 10.30pm and then keeping tabs on the progress outside Optus, T[life], Vodafone, and Apple Store. The name of the game is whether we can take a straw poll on (a) just how many people actually care enough to come out tonight and (b) which network is going to actually sell the most units. My bet's with Optus, what with offering the closest thing to plans that actually show a thin margin of respect for the way a customer might want to use this 'device'.

Maybe if we stop calling it a phone these networks will better understand what it is we think is so damn good about this thing!

Back later from the queues... if you're out in the lines, I'll be skulking around in a big white hoodie. Feel free to say Hi.

Read More »

With Vodafone offering 5GB of mobile broadband for $39/month, we were hoping for a vaguely competitive iPhone offering.

When they posted pretty poor plans for a short while yesterday, we hoped it was a mistake.

We're sorely disappointed. The plans have been resurrected today and consumers aren't the winner: Optus is.

Read More »