[freakyterrorist]

Does this really surprise anyone? The cheapest you can buy an iPhone (4 outright) is $450AUD and contracted plans with newer iPhones start at around $50-60AUD per month. Android are outright starting at $49 and available at all spend levels on plans.

To be honest what's surprising is it took this long...

[codeka]

> To be honest what's surprising is it took this long...

I agree. I think this goes to show just how much Australians are willing to pay for technology in general. It's a shame that we get shafted on a lot of technology/electronics but the fact is that people are willing to pay.

[jbarham]

Speaking as a Canadian transplant to Australia via the US, the Australian mobile market is actually quite competitive compared to the US or Canada.

There are more operators relative to the population, there are more shorter-term plans (i.e., 1 year vs. 2 or 3) and the monthly rates are decent.

[dorian-graph]

Most plans are 2 years.

[JuDue]

Optus and Telstra both allow you to choose your payback plan and rate? So yearly is always possible, even if not seen on the posters.