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There’s been a lot of complaining about the ongoing costs of the Apple iPhone 3G in New Zealand. The iPhone has a relatively low ‘headline’ price of $199, but only when attached to an expensive calling plan. People are expressing outrage at this.

Let’s get real. Ever since mobile services were launched in this country, networks have subsidised handsets (i.e. telephones) off the monthly line and calling charges. The iPhone is no different. Vodafone has made it clear what it costs to buy the handset without a plan (about $1,000 depending on model) which is up there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a high-end phone.

Staying real, let’s look at the issue facing New Zealanders wanting to make mobile calls. It’s got nothing to do with the cost for the latest bit of shiny kit. It’s got everything to do with the cost of mobile calling in this country. We pay over half as much again as the OECD average. That’s got to be due to the effective monopoly that Telecom and Vodafone have enjoyed until now.

Perhaps the iPhone plan costs announced after the marketing hype while serve as a way of highlighting our expensive calling charges. But it’s those calling charges that are the problem, not the handset cost.

This is supposed to change. Telecom are to launch a network that will compete directly with Voda’s 3G network – you should be able to buy a handset for one network and take it to the other network. And the third market entrant, New Zealand Communications, is *still* waiting in the wings. Please, guys, get on with it!

Adam Gifford has a good take on this over on the Herald.

Because I’m on holiday with my family.

I had the best of intentions of writing a crisp, focussed, piece about technology and culture – iPhone pricing in New Zealand, maybe – but I’ve spent time with my nearest and dearest instead. And that’s no bad thing.

See you next week!

Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about a treaty called ACTA about which its hard to find any information. ACTA is being negotiated now by countries including New Zealand, and it has the potential to curb people’s privacy and their rights to use the Internet. MED has issued a call for submissions on what New Zealand’s negotiating position should be, although it has delayed answering an OIA request for more information until after the deadline of next Monday.

Does this affect you? Quite possibly it will if some well-funded lobbyists get their way. It’s clear that some want this treaty to impose DMCA-style laws across the world. This would effectively stop innovation in its tracks except when it was done by big companies. And the last New Zealand copyright law change pandered to the interests of the big players at the expense of the rest of us. (Read to the bottom of the linked page.)

Read on for my speaking notes, and for the address to send you emailed submission to. Or, listen to the podcast.
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Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about censoring the Internet.

Back when the Net was a lot younger, someone famously said that “the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it”. He was wrong, of course – some countries’ citizens can’t read about material their governments don’t want them to, or not without technical workarounds that are beyond many Net users.

And, even in liberal democracies like New Zealand, there are limits to free speech on the Internet. If you publish objectionable material – child porn and the like – on the Internet here, expect to be prosecuted.

Read on for my speaking notes or listen to the podcast and hear what I really said.
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Very nearly full, anyway. When the core protocol of the Internet, TCP/IP was designed, 4 billion addresses seemed like a ludicrous maximum. It would have been hubris to have designed more in, after all. Oops…

I talked about to this today on Radio New Zealand National. Read on for my speaking notes or listen to what I actually said.

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A few weeks ago I blogged and talked on air about how Vodafone had decided to lock the phones it sells in New Zealand from now on, so they would only work with the Vodafone network, unless you paid Voda another $50.

Today, I’m delighted to be able to say that Vodafone has changed its mind.

Apparently it’s because of customer response. There was a storm of protest from customers who couldn’t see how this was good for them at all, and the Commerce Commission agreed with them.

Well done everyone who complained, and well done to the people at Vodafone for listening.

Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about why the two main parties are falling over each other to offer to buy us all decent broadband. Read on for my notes and links or listen to the podcast.
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Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about Vodafone’s announcement that it will be locking the mobile phones it sells from now on. This is a bad move for consumers in the short run – but it may in the long run break Vodafone’s and Telecom’s hold on the retail phone market. Read on for my speaking notes or down load the podcast. (more…)

Today on Radio New Zealand National I talked about smart phones – what one is and how to choose among the different platforms. Read on for my speaking notes or listen to the podcast.
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There’s a really interesting article on the web site of the US Government’s National Security Agency all about the breaking of the Enigma, the German wartime code. I’ve talked before about the contribution of Alan Turing – this article sets it in a wider context. Unlike this disgraceful Hollywood outing, it appears factual. Recommended if you are interested in codes and the people who break them.

I found the pointer to this article on security expert Bruce Schneier’s blog.