Optus plans midnight iPhone launch party

July 9th, 2008 by AAP Tagged with: apple, iphone, optus, telstra, vodafone

Optus has announced it will hold a launch party for Apple's iPhone starting from 10pm on Thursday night in its George St, Sydney store.

Optus will begin selling the iPhone to registered customers at the store at 12am, with the rest of the country getting access to the much-anticipated device at 7am (AEST) on Friday.

Apple release the iPhone internationally on Friday, and thanks to its place in the international time zone, Australians will be among the first in the world to purchase the much-anticipated gadget.

Optus spokeswoman Melissa Clare said the launch party in Sydney would begin at 10pm (AEST) on Thursday night, with MTV's Gaustina Agolley, or Fuzzy, hosting the event.

"There will be a celebration, there will be Fuzzy from MTV, she'll be there, there will be free coffee and food, and giveaways," she said.

Anybody will be able to buy the phone on Friday morning, but Optus will give priority to those that have registered.

Ms Clare said the iPhone would retail at $729 for the 8 gigabyte phone, and $849 for the 16 gigabyte model.

Telstra will also sell the iPhone on Friday morning, but has yet to release details of any in-store events.

Mobile phone carrier Vodafone will also supply the device in Australia.

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that Vodafone will hold a 200-person iPhone launch at Regimental Square in Wynyard, Sydney, in addition to other events in capital cities around the nation.

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