{update – From July 11th2008 you can now just go to a Vodafone store and get an iPhone 3G. And a contract.}
Want to buy an iPhone in NZ?
Well – the quickest way to get your hands on one is down on Queen street at Parallel Imports.
You can also buy them online from the Parallel Imported store – software unlocked and ready to go with Vodaphone. They cost $1299, which is a bit over double the US$399 retail price before unlocking, detachment from AT&T and GST. Probably $3-400 too pricey for me, but then again I’ll walk past a few times today.
(Luckily the Nokia E90 is out of stock – so I can rest assurred that my current phone is still not available in NZ. It is also outrageously expensive.)
I found 5 iPhones on SellMeFree, but all 5 are listed by people with zero feedback. Zero feedback and bleeding edge technology reeks of scam – stay clear. One person even has his email and phone number in the listing, which is a bad bad sign – showing lack of policing by SellMeFree..
eBay has plenty of phones, but you get dumped into the US site after keyword searching, and it is hard to filter out the ones that will ship here, the ones that will work here and the non scammers. So go back, hit ‘advanced search’ and show only those that accept PayPal and will ship to NZ. I got 713. The prices are in the US$400-$600 (buy now) range, with the cheaper ones being the 4GB model. That’s a much better price, and there seem to be some giant sellers in the game that will accept PayPal and ship (only to) PayPal confirmed addresses. PayPal gives fraud protection for these guys, so you are relatively safe. It is a pain (and can take time) to get a PayPal confirmed address though.
and of course Trade Me sadly doesn’t have any iphones. grrr.
Lance Wiggs 
Hey Lance
Check this out http://sandy.terapad.com
It’s that 3-4 hundred cheaper, it’s unlocked and full of good stuff.
I can attest to the fact that it all works and it’s gorgeous. you’ll never want a Nokia again.
/brenda
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You seen this yet?
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/09/24/schiller-on-iphone-unlocks-and-incompatibility/
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Hi Lance,
Just to let you know – we’re calling each of these sellers individually and confirming their legitimacy. The lack of feedback and ratings is testament to our age (we’ve only had auctions live since April), but you will find many of our users have large positive trading records with TradeMe. We’re comfortable with the level of disclosure these sellers have about the status of their iphones and don’t worry about emails and web addresses in their ads – we allow a lot more free form in our seller listings than other sites, so people often take that advantage to promote their site, email or useful pieces of information for buyers.
All the best,
Josh Borthwick
GM
sellmefree.co.nz
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You do have to be careful about where and what you buy online especially when it comes to things that are a little pricey. Do you know if they will be an official launch for the iphone in NZ?
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Tosh Computers (Tauranga) stock 8GB iPhones at $899 – competitive for NZ. Next best thing to picking one up in the US.
http://toshbuy.com/product_info.php?cPath=6&products_id=95
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How to get an iphone
1. Sign up for a U.S. delivery address with BuyUSA or Shipbuktu.
2. Order online from U.S. Apple Store (NZ credit card will work fine) 8gb US$399 new + tax or US$349 + tax refurbished
3. Wait patiently for you phone to arrive.
4. Download latest unlock from ziphone.org
5. Plug the phone into your computer.
6. Launch itunes.
7. Start ziphone
8. Click unlock. 5 minutes later you have an unlocked
Vodafone compatible iphone.
Yes it does work. Just completed the process today.
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Aaron – awesome. So how long did it take?
I see they were $1299 on Queen street today – a complete rip-off.
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Found out about ziphone yesterday. Just happened to have a fresh iphone handy. So thought what the heck.
Ziphone just released the latest unlock for version 1.1.4 today. So downloaded for free from their site.
Had to upgrade my phone firmware to 1.1.4.
Then the unlock literally took five minutes. A whole lot of weird code scrolls on the screen. Then it says “your done”
Insert the Vodafone sim and your away.Tested fine for calls in and out as well as wireless browsing on home network. A single new phone would set you back nz723 delivered to your door including gst and shipping fees.
Suspect this will be bad news for the resellers using turbosim and similar methods to unlock.
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