This is the one tech issue that has had the world buzzing over the past week. After filtering through hundreds of blog posts, forums,a nd news articles, Headwires brings you a summary of local release information so far:

Availability

The iPhone will be released in 22 countries around the world on the 11th July 2008. Australia is one of those countries, and thanks to time differences, will be one of the first markets in the world where it will be available.

The iPhone will be released on the Vodafone and Optus networks. Rumours that Three and Telstra will also be distributing this phone are unconfirmed. As yet, it is also the official line that the iPhone will NOT be available from Apple stores or resellers.

Each of these networks had originally offered pre-registration.

- Optus was first, offering current customers ($50) and non-customers ($100) a change to put down a refundable deposit to save their place in a priority queue. Those placing these deposit weren’t tied into purchasing the phone through Optus, with the deposit automatically refunded 1 week following launch. This registration opportunity has since lapsed, with registration numbers issued known to top out at around the 10,000 mark.

- Vodafone only recently offered pre-registration at http://store.vodafone.com.au/iphone/. They are not asking anyone to put money down, but they haven’t detailed what ‘pre-registration’ actually gives people access to.

Pricing

The iPhone has initially been promoted as being available for a low upfront cost, and then subsidised by phone networks on plan.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at WWDC 2008 that the 8Gb iPhone will be available for a maximum of US$199 (on contract) in ‘almost’ all countries around the world. This translates to approximately AU$220.

Headwires is reluctant to introduce too much speculation on this subject, but nevertheless ‘Whirlpoolian‘ Zoiks as put together a great analysis of pricing details released around the world so far. This also has some speculation of potential Australian prices based on international costings.

Australia is one of the only market in the world where an official distribution network has also announced the iPhone will be available pre-paid. Optus has announced in news press that they will be offering the iPhone in this way.

Features

The best place for information on this would be the official AU Apple site. As more information comes across the wires, we will endeavour to publish them here.

Opinions

Is the iPhone the most fully featured mobile phone in the market?

Not by a long shot. It was not the first touchscreen, it was not the first mobile phone with music player capabilities, nor the first with integrated GPS, the camera is sub-standard in quality for phones in the same competitive set, and it doesn’t include other extras you’ll see on phones in that range like radio or a user replaceable, removable battery.

Is the iPhone the ‘first’ to bring anything to market?

In saying that the iPhone is not as fully featured as other phones, they do need to be credited with having a massive influence on the direction of mobile phone technology.

They have been the main driver of manufacturers looking to include sexy touch screen technology. When i say ’sexy’, i mean to differentiate that with what was available in the past. Touch screen mobile phones have been around for years, but with the UI (user interface) technology that Apple have been working on, they have encouraged many imitators amongst their peers.

While other manufacturers have included the possibility to download music or applications directly to their phone, the seamless ecosystem Apple has between the iPhone and the iTunes store definitely takes this experience to the next level. This will allow users to download music and applications directly t

The web browsing experience is also something that could very quickly supercede the WAP experience, with the pre-loaded Safari browser able to view normal HTML web pages as they should appear.

It has also been mentioned that they are not the only manufacturer to include a music player feature on their handset. However, it would be nigh on impossible to argue that Apple, over the years, has developed the most appealing and intuitive music player experience in the iPod, and they have transferred this experience over to the iPhone.

Is the price it worth it?

Considering the features, most definitely! In the iPhone, you have an iPod, mobile phone, portable video player, web browser, PDA, photo viewer, and more in the one unit. This is considering the hypothetical outright price will be anywhere between the $700 and $1000 marks for the base model.

Should I get an iPhone

This depends on where you are in your own mobile phone lifecycle. If you recently picked up a Nokia N95 8Gb, then no the difference is not big enough to give up what is already a great handset. However, if you’re looking for a new phone, if this fits your budget, and you’re also a iPod/iPod Touch user, I would recommed having a good hard look at getting one. Headwires will be getting one in as soon as we can and will report first hand experiences soon!