Vodafone — Tag

Rumour had it that Vodafone were rethinking their iPhone plans, and today it was announced that they did. You can now get an iPhone for just $40 per month, with a cool $699 for the phone first (8gb). How nice of them. Could be much better still though (i.e. unlimited data).

It is making me want an iPhone again. But first, I think I’ll get a Macbook.* Then I’ll wait to see Telecom release their deals, rumour has it that Telecoms GSM network will be officially launched in November with the iPhone in tow. Some iPhone users will see the Telecom network available for selection under the Network option too.

Meanwhile, I am quite content with my current Sony Ericsson W850i, except a couple of days ago when I went to hunt for drivers and found that it had been practically been completely wiped from the website. Shucks.

Back on to Vodafone, they are heavily advertising their $1 for 10MB “casual” data plan. Hooray I say, cause I use Opera Mini on my W850i to check up on Tweets and emails and the quick check up on Wikipedia. They are even advertising on some websites where you’d benefit. Interestingly, this includes YouTube. You’ll get a nice Flash ad next to the video saying that you can “carry your favourite clips in your pocket” for only $1! Sweet! Ummm, no. In fact, if you hit YouTube mobile, you’ll get a nice warning from the Google folks telling you to only enter with an unlimited plan!

* Yes, you read that right… I am going to get a Macbook. Sometime late next month hopefully.

Everyone was anticipating to pay $100+ every month to get the iPhone goodness, and well, they got it.

But the cheapest plan is $80. It includes 120 minutes, 600 texts (unknown if this also includes txts to Telecom mobiles) and 250MB of data.

The next plan up is $130, 250 minutes, 600 texts and half a gig of data.

The most expensive, coming in at a whopping $250, has 600 minutes, 600 texts and one gig of data. It is this plan that the iPhone is $199, 8gb. With the cheapest plan the iPhone (8gb) is $549.

I guess these were anticipated. But ludicrous. With Vodafone NZ hyping up the data plans by releasing no information about them until today, they can expect a bit of a backlash. It has already started happening on the GeekZone forums, and GPForums. Silly Vodafone. Now we wait for the international iPhone plan tables to updated and see where we fit in the scheme of things.

And yeah, I’m thinking I’ll just stick with my current phone now.

The moment all us gadget geeks have been waiting for is finally upon us! Vodafone NZ have announced their announcement (heh) of iPhone plans for tomorrow at 10am.

In the same announcement, they dropped that prices will start from NZ$199 for the phone in a 2 year contract.

That was a bit of surprise (it was expected for the price to be around $300, as US$199 is ~NZ$270), but would we be getting equally good news tomorrow?

The Kiwi tech blog world will asplode around 10am. Yes, I’ll still be near a computer at the time.

I must say I was pleased. Just before heading out to Australia I had this song running through my head, and I just had to get it out (Run, Run, Run by Goldenhorse). It being a New Zealand band, and me not having it, and lately discovering I can download full tracks to my phone, I decided I had mightaswell purchase it. I was a bit put off by the price ($2) but figured that I am paying for the convenience of downloading it now. It was quick and painless to buy the song and then download it onto my mobile – you just use the web browser on the phone itself.

My SonyEricsson W850i though has a little trouble accessing the music, it seems to take a while to read the track before it can actually play it, but I’ve survived.

Last night I was once again having New Zealand music go through my head and decided to make a couple more purchases. It sent me a text this time telling me I could download the track at the store. I thought I’d check it out when I get to a computer next. Here’s the bonus, you can download the tracks to your computer as well without making an extra purchase (as a DRM’d WMA, but you can get around that).

To be honest, I’d rather purchase the CD. On the other hand, it’s a nice service to get that song swimming in your head out of there.

Via Spare Room, it has been revealed that you can listen in to details on an 021 (Vodafone) phone number, change plans, buy SupaPrepay addons and more all by knowing the 021 phone number.

This comes a couple of months after the Telecom security scare, where you could change your Telecom mobile to any number to intercept texts, send texts or call using another persons account.

• See how the loophole works here

Two big purchases overnight. Can’t keep up!

Late last night, it was confirmed that Vodafone (NZ) had purchased local ISP iHug for $41 million. iHug is the third largest, and provides telephone, satellite and broadband services. This is an interesting step for Vodafone, as the only way to enter the market with a bang is by buying one of the largest in that market. With the advent of local loop unbundling starting here early next year, I suppose that a co-operative wired and wireless world is brewing in Vodafone’s head.

• Juha has full details.

Well, one giant had been in a certain market for a while, but failed to catch up. It has been confirmed that Google purchased YouTube for US$1.65 billion. Now, we must remember that Google was perhaps one of the first companies to have shared video and searching, but it quickly got overtaken by the start up. Google Video has only recently put YouTube style features in.

It does seem to be that if you want to make a bang in a market, you just buy into the largest company of that market.