very interesting commentry on the iphone situation from Sydney Morning Herald Blog, well worth a quick read!

It appears the site will be next.

TMiF

And yes, you were lied to. Bad customer experience is worse than saying ‘we are in discussions with them at the moment’ because as this site shows, a bad experience gets out on the web and every can see it when looking for 3 iPhone Australia…

They should of briefed their staff better.

Clearly 3 wasn’t able to get the priority to be launching it on 11 July. (And I’ve read various theories about that.) And they don’t want customers leaving because they can’t wait a month or so to get the iPhone on 3. Yes, sure, they could have created an online signup form. Just like everyone else’s. Yawn.

I think the petition is meaningless as a petition. But as a way to generate more buzz around an online expression of interest process and to get free PR and to give their customers a chance to express their enthusiasm, impatience, whatever it’s at least original and kind of clever.

What’s going on exactly? I’d love to know as I too am a 3 customer and I’m not inclined to switch. It’s true that it comes across as a bit dodgy, and I can respect your being cross about that. But if in other respects you’re happy with 3’s coverage and prices then don’t be in rush to cancel your contract in a huff over a little marketing ploy.

I think you can be sure they’ll get the phone. Probably in August like they originally said. And when they do, the prices are going to be wildly better than what you could do on Optus or Vodafone. Check out the detailed analysis here*, and see what a great deal you have as a 3 customer and are likely to enjoy when the iPhone eventually reaches 3.
*http://forums.mactalk.com.au/53/49396-depth-look-3g-mobile-data-rates-australia.html

Perhaps it is a marketing strategy, perhaps not. But it is a very poor one if it is, it only casts doubt and makes them seem desperate. If they had the phone, I would’ve thought a better approach would’ve been to have a “Do you want the iPhone? Fill out this form!”. Instead, it makes Apple look like the bad guys which can’t help their business arrangement. Apple are very secretive - the last thing they would want is to see a company who they are dealing with publicize it in this way.

By the way, I strongly suspect the petition is a marketing ploy by 3 Australia. They fully expect to get the iPhone (why wouldn’t they) and this petition is to get customers “invoved” in the process. Granted, it is a ballsy strategy. I would have opted for the “we have better value phones” strategy, but whatever.