On Friday iPhone 4 arrives on shelves across Australia. It’s the most advanced iPhone yet.

Based on our pre-registrations of interest, it’s also the most hotly anticipated iPhone yet.  The customer excitement isn’t that hard to understand when you think back to how the iPhone changed the mobile landscape forever.

In 2008, Australia’s first iPhone (the iPhone 3G) was a revelation. It introduced us to design elements that would reshape our view of what a mobile phone should do.

The App Store, touch screens that worked without a stylus, gesture-based touch control, intuitive web browsing that made using full internet pages possible on the small screen – these were just some of the breakthrough features that the iPhone perfected.

And these innovations led to new ways of using our phones. Customer use of social networking, web search, music, instant messaging, news and video exploded.

Next G network figures bear this out. For example, Telstra iPhone customers:

• Browse four times more web pages than the average Telstra smartphone user.

• Are three times more likely to use Facebook, eight times more likely to access news sites like The Age and eight times more likely to Google search.

• Subscribe to Mobile FOXTEL from Telstra around twice as much as the average Next G mobile user.

Customers loved it. Mobiles had become true internet devices — not just tools for talk and text.

Smartphones need a smart network
The iPhone’s ability to bring the mobile internet into customers’ hands also brought the quality of mobile networks in to sharp focus. As iPhone adoption soared, some Australian networks buckled under the load. Customers reported slow page loads, extended buffering while streaming online media and age-long waits as they tried to update their social networking profiles. For many it was a mobile internet experience closer to dial-up than mobile broadband.

Telcos with foresight invested in their networks to stay ahead of the demand for data. For instance Telstra has now invested more than $2 billion in the Next G network to best ensure customers get the speeds, coverage and reliable access to online services they paid for.

Speed matters. You just have to look at what happened when the iPhone 3GS launched on the Next G network to appreciate this.  The speed jump (data speeds are around twice as fast on iPhone 3GS than on iPhone 3G when teamed with a capable network) contributed to a 40 per cent increase in data use. In short, the faster access speeds coupled with iPhone 3GS’s more powerful processor made the mobile internet on iPhone even more responsive and the total experience for customers even more compelling.

iPhone 4
It’s only been two years since iPhone 3G launched in Australia. But in that time, so much has changed. While other handset manufactures have been catching up (capacitive touch screens, app stores and advanced web browsers are now mainstream) iPhone remains a leader.
The great news is that the iPhone 4 is Apple’s most advanced model yet. The display (it has four times the pixel count of previous iPhone) is stunning. New features like multi-tasking and HD video recording will also really appeal.

The iPhone 4 also introduces faster upload speeds that are around twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS. This makes it faster to do things like send emails, upload pictures to Facebook and to synchronise data. Only Telstra’s Next G™ network is engineered to support these improved upload speeds which are available in all capitals and selected regional areas.

Telstra iPhone 4 pricing

We’ve listened to our customers. They told us they want great value pricing — as well as a great network. The iPhone 4 will be available at a lower upfront cost (compared to when we launched 3GS) and will be available on our new great-value cap plans.

For instance, customers can purchase the iPhone 4 16GB at no upfront cost on a $79 Cap Plan or above, when signing up to a 24 month plan, and this offers a great combination of standard national calls, text and picture messaging – up to $750 per month – to customers on any Australian network plus 500MB included data to use in Australia.

Here’s a snapshot of the plans available (this is the original table. The data allowances will be revised from July 30. See table below)

Revised data boosted plans for iPhone 4, iPhone 3G S until 1 November 2010

*Included monthly value can be used for Standard National Voice, SMS and MMS calls to any Australian Network.

Further pricing details will be launched over the next couple of days.

^Bonus data offer available 30 July-1 November 2010 unless extended by Telstra. Offer available to new or re-contracting customers who purchase an iPhone 3G S, iPhone 4, HTC Desire or Nokia N97 mini on a Next G™ Cap Plan or Ultimate II Plan ($55 or above) for 24 months. Offer not available on Business Plans. Offer only applies to data included on customer’s plan and to additional data purchased at time of connection. Unused data expires each month. Usage excludes content and international roaming charges. Bonus data allowance applies for the full term of the customer’s eligible contract plan. If the customer’s eligible contract plan is cancelled, the bonus offer will cease to apply.

Telstra will be giving customers a chance to get in early to purchase iPhone 4 by opening selected Telstra stores at 12.00 AM Friday, July 30. The full list of stores opening at midnight is available at online here.

More information:

• iPhone 4 media release from Telstra
• Telstra Business Plans for Apple® iPhone® 4

Over to you. Will you be getting iPhone 4? Has the iPhone change the way you view and use your mobile phone? Do network speeds and reliability make a difference to the way you browse the mobile net and update your social networks?