Vodafone has positioned it’s iPhone 4 plans immediately between Telstra and Optus, slicing up the Australian iPhone 4 market in with differentiated value options and price points.
Vodafone’s iPhone 4 pricing announcement came after both Optus and Telstra announced their Australian iPhone 4 plan prices, giving the telco the last mover advantage in a move akin to Vodafone’s iPad plan announcement which blew away both Optus and Telstra for value. In this instance however, rather than go for outright price leadership, Vodafone has delivered a range of iPhone 4 plan price points which fill the gaps between Optus’ and Telstra’s plan range, plus extend down to $29 per month cap plans if customer pays an additional $18 month ‘handset fee’ for an Apple iPhone 4 handset.
Vodafone have confirmed they will offer the iPhone 4 to business customers on Vodafone’s Single Business Cap plans, starting at $29. However we would recommend business users look seriously at Optus’ iPhone 4 business plans when deciding who to go with.
Vodafone’s iPhone 4 pricing sweet spot at $69 splits both Telstra and Optus who offer plans at $59 and $79, at this price point the iPhone 4 16Gb is free on Vodafone and offers comparable data allowance to Optus (much more than Telstra’s iPhone 4 plans).
In pricing their iPhone 4 plans Vodafone have done something peculiar, all of the Vodafone’s plans come with ‘bonus’ data ranging from a ‘bonus’ 500Mb on the $29 Cap iPhone 4 plans through to 1Gb ‘bonus’ data on Vodafone’s $49 iPhone 4 plan and above. This move to include ‘bonus’ data in their caps appears to be so Vodafone can avoid having to create a whole new cap plan structure for the Apple iPhone 4, but to remain competitive with the data quotas Optus include with their iPhone 4 plans. Vodafone treads a fine line here, their ‘bonus’ data continues for the life of the iPhone 4 contract with Vodafone, but could easily be seen as unfair to other Vodafone customers using smartphones such as Android or the soon to be released Windows Phone 7 phones.
