We’ve been hanging out for the iPhone for, like, forever! Even though we were told that we wouldn’t be seeing it officially released in Australia until some time this year, the past 12 months have been an agonising wait for Apple’s handset.
And that’s why we’re ready to pounce on this rumour and hope that it’s true — The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Thailand’s biggest network, AIS, is in negotiations to bring the iPhone to the whole Asian (and Pacific) region. Apparently AIS is working with SingTel and Optus to make our dreams of owning a locked iPhone a reality.
Seeing how AIS is partially owned by SingTel, the company that just happens to own all of Optus, there could be some meat to this rumour. If it is true, though, and if it happens before a 3G iPhone is released, we’re going to be stuck on Optus’s standard 2G network — only Telstra has the 2.5G EDGE network available in Australia.
The other thing is that Telstra have openly stated that they have been in negotiations with Apple to be Australia’s iPhone distributor. So what does it all mean? Essentially that we’re no closer to really knowing when we’ll see the iPhone released in Australia. We just hope it happens soon…