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Look, we all know the 3G iPhone is coming to Australia. The writing is on the wall; it’s inevitable. It’s been confirmed by multiple carriers. It’s happening at WWDC 2008 with almost 100% certainty. However, in the midst of all of the iPhone 3G rumors, I think that a very important point has been missed. I think there’s something big happening behind the scenes, something that might shake-up the Australian broadband & carrier landscape in a huge way. Let me explain.

Ever since I intially posted about this topic back in 2007, this question has been rattling around in my brain. How is Apple going to do this? Can an iPhone work in Australia? If you’re not from Australia, you’re probably wondering, “What’s the big deal? Why is Australia different from anywhere else?” Well, here’s the big problem, shortened down to 3 words: our broadband sucks. It sucks the big one. It’s expensive, it has data caps that are overly restrictive, it’s too slow and it doesn’t go out to enough people. You think a 250gb limit is a bit rough? You ain’t seen nothin’. It’s not just normal broadband that sucks either, mind you, mobile broadband is even worse.

This doesn’t gel well with Apple’s traditional approach to the market. They are pushing two things for the iPhone in a big way, which just don’t work here. Let’s examine.

1. It’s a way to get content in your pocket.

Apple wants you to buy stuff from iTunes. Not just music, but TV Shows and Movies too. It wants you to load this stuff into your iPhone and enjoy it. It wants the whole experience to be seamless and easy. But how does this work in an environment where data caps (typically less than 10GB a month) are the norm? And how does this work in a country that doesn’t have any video content (save for a few music videos and pixar short films) in it’s iTunes store at all?

2. It’s a way to get the internet in your pocket.

The iPhone has consistently pushed for unlimited (or as close as it can get) mobile data in every country it’s available in. The apps on the iPhone tie into this constant data connection in a way that makes half the stock phone applications useless without it. Maps, Stocks, Weather, Mail, Mobile Safari. All of these things need mobile data (or WiFi), and they need it in an unrestricted way. Apple does not want you checking a data cap while you’re using the iPhone; it detracts from the whole experience. How does Apple get unlimited data in a country where everyone is not using it because it’s too damn expensive?

Aussies, It Can Work. Here’s How.

Apple stores are making their way to us this year. The Sydney store is being built as we speak. Melbourne stores are in the works too. Interestingly enough, the Sydney store will be open just after WWDC finishes. Steve Jobs is probably going to come over to open it himself. Will he come with a 3G iPhone in his hand? Almost definitely. But what else will he bring to Australia?

The Secret Is In The Carriers

Exclusivity is dead. Optus & Vodafone (& carriers across the world) have made that abundantly clear in the last couple of weeks. I fully expect Telstra to announce any day now that they are carrying the iPhone too. These are the guys who enforce these data caps we all suffer under. Why do they enforce these caps? Because data piped in from overseas is too damned expensive. But… what if it wasn’t piped in from overseas?

Locally Hosted iTunes

Think about that heading. Apple bring all of their content over here, and plonk it on to some Optus servers (for example). Optus announce that anyone buying an iPhone can access and buy any content in the iTunes store, and not a single kilobyte of that data goes toward your monthly data cap. Does the thought of buying content from iTunes suddenly become a lot more appealing? Does the thought of signing up for Optus broadband suddenly become a lot more appealing?

Thing is, it’s already happening. Telstra do this with a lot of their services, like the Bigpond File Library, Gamearena and it’s hosted gaming servers. Would it really be that much more of a stretch to imagine this could extend to iTunes? You might be thinking, “But don’t Bigpond already do Movies and Music? Why would they double up?” I agreed with you, until I saw this pop up in my feed reader. Does Big W’s innocent catalogue hold a clue to the bigger picture here? Is Bigpond winding up their download services in anticipation of something bigger?

Mobile Data, Redux

In return for the massive drawcard of iTunes content, I believe an carrier would be much more willing to serve out unlimited* mobile data to iTunes customers. This would solve the whole problem of mobile data on the iPhone.

*not really unlimited, but you get the idea.

AppleTV Is Finally Properly Useful

Normal (non-tech) consumers have all kind of been scratching our heads at this device. We’ve got no TV Shows or Movies in the iTunes store. What can this thing do? Music? Stream video podcasts to my TV? Play a slide show from my iPhoto? Whoop-de-freaking-do. With this breakthrough, this device finally unlocks it’s full potential in Australia. TV Shows, Movies, and (oh lordy), even Movie Rentals would be possible.

The Big If

This whole crazy theory of mine hinges on whether carriers that are signing up to deliver the iPhone in Australia are willing to wheel and deal with Apple on other issues. If they are willing, we could see a massive change to the digital media scene in Australia. If not, well, it’s back to BitTorrent again.