Telstra silent after 'losing iPhone deal'

By Marcus Browne on 16 June 2008

As Telstra's rivals prepare for their 11 July 3G iPhone launches, the national carrier remains silent over speculation that it derailed a deal with Apple to resell the device.

Telstra had arranged a substantial 3G iPhone order with Apple before negotiations broke down between the two parties due to disagreements on whether a Telstra iPhone would come preloaded with Sensis content, an anonymous source told The Australian Financial Review.

A spokesperson for the telco today refused to comment on the report, saying that Telstra had "nothing more to add" on the iPhone at this stage.

Guy Cranswick, media platform and channels analyst for research group IBRS, believes that any possible dispute between Apple and Telstra could be classed as a "classic cyber-territory issue".

"The negotiation over the content issue would come down to whether or not Apple thought it possible to achieve all of its marketing and sales objectives without Telstra," he said.

"Given its position in the market, Telstra would be an important partner for Apple to have on-board, but Apple has always been very intent on keeping total brand integrity as well," added Cranswick.

Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

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Topics: whereis, telstra, sensis, mobile, iphone, google, deal, content, apple, optus, launch, 3g

Vodafone Australia claims iPhone coup

Comments (21)

adsmell commented on 22/06/2008 11:24

Surely everyone remembers the 'Stick to your knitting' comment made early on by telstra (http://www.theage.com.au/news/biztech/telstra-to-apple-stick-to-your-knitting/2007/02/15/1171405363291.html). I didnt quite understand this - were they trying undermine the probable success of this thing to try and keep oblivious customers tied to their rip off services on the hardware they choose??
It would be nice if Apple flatly refused to offer it to them after this this somewhat baseless early claim.
Dylstra commented on 19/06/2008 00:10

I'm in the same boat as Graham. I live in rural Australia with patchy Next G coverage at best. My only hope for an iPhone is Telstra offering it. And then getting the Next G network to work as well as the CDMA one did...
Izaiah commented on 18/06/2008 22:57

I have had the unfortunate experience of being a Telstra dealer for the past 12 months, previously being with another n3wer telco. Since working as a dealer I have to admit that the company is the most annoying to work with for a few reasons: 1. ignorant of customers and market wants and needs 2. ridiculous and meaningless infrastructure and jargon 3. claims to be the most superior network in Australia. I qualify my statements by saying that Telstra does nothing for making data or calls realistically reasonably priced, they 'improve' outdated systems with 'better' systems like Siebel that take up twice as much time to use, and yes they have the biggest footprint 3G network, but the arrogance of the company to charge the $$$ they do for such a crappy and meagre experience makes me pity those who must use their insane rip-off services, and those poor, poor fools who have no idea there are much better services out there. I am ashamed to sell Tel$tra product$ and $ervice$.
mwiles commented on 18/06/2008 21:11

Telstra have a duty to their shareholders to provide the most profitable phone for carriers to the Australian market. If they don't on launch 1000's of people will move to Optus or Vodaphone. The Telstra board should all step down.
Tom commented on 18/06/2008 18:09

I wonder if Telstra figured out that the Apple released the iPhone SDK, so it could have made as much Sensis content as it wanted.
Telstra Shareholder commented on 17/06/2008 21:56

As a Telstra Shareholder and a customer in a regional Australian area I will be outraged if Telstra does not support the iPhone on their NextG mobile network.
1) the iPhone will generate more revenue from data
2) the iPhone will attract more customers who want to make use to the iPhone features - which are streets ahead of any other mobile phone available.
3) if Telstra doesn't support the iPhone on NextG then Telstra risks loosing existing customers as they defect to Voda and Optus just so they can use an iPhone
4) loading Telstra applications onto iPhone should be a non issue... it should be up to the customer if these applications are to be installed or not. Telstra should not be forcing products on their customers. If they want to encourage customers to use these products then make them available for free from the App Store and offer customers a data credit if they download them.
mattye77 commented on 17/06/2008 16:35

kyrbykia - nice one, but you missed out on sentances. haha!!! BB11878 that is the funniest post i've seen for a while. you must be a looser. :-P
cn commented on 17/06/2008 15:38

if they cannot secure the iPhone and is availble on another network with an unlimited data service (similar to Telstra's Hiptop service) i'll be jumping ship straight away.
Joey Jojo commented on 17/06/2008 13:30

n3mi: "telstra doesn't even know what an iphone is.."

CNET, i'm trying to find the "Report a comment that doesn't add anything to the discussion" button but i just can't find it! :)

n3mi - Really! Telstra does know what an iPhone is, they are in the middle of negotiations to on-sell the iPhone, this article is speculating that Telstra may have blown the deal...for now. Doesn't mean they will NEVER sell it. It just means that they were not able to announce on June the 10th that they would be selling it from July 11th. With 3 weeks to go, they could still make it in time!
n3mi commented on 17/06/2008 12:57

telstra doesn't even know what an iphone is..

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