"We're very happy with the result for Optus - we think we've captured by far the lion's share of the iPhone sales because we do have the best pricing models," Optus director of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai told reporters in an interview.
Optus is offering the iPhone at no upfront cost on a $79 cap plan for 24 months, or for a monthly fee on cheaper plans.
By contrast, Vodafone is charging customers an upfront fee for the handset, while Telstra's call and data limits will be much lower than its rivals.
Krishnapillai said the iPhone was a data device rather than a phone, which Optus' pricing reflects. That would change customer usage patterns, the way mobile plans are priced and the amount of information networks will have to handle, he add.
Mobile companies in Australia are looking for ways to increase revenue with existing customers, particularly through data services, as there are now more mobiles than the population.
"Data devices are all about accessing information while you're on the move - that hasn't flowed through to the broader population or the business community yet," Krishnapillai said.
"It changes how you price things because its about data weight rather than cents per minute phone calls and it changes how networks are configured."
Krishnapillai said he had never seen such strong demand and marketing for a product as for the iPhone.
"I've never seen a marketing hype like that in my life," he said.
Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, stopped pre-release sales of the iPhone two weeks before its official release in Australia on July 11 to ensure it had enough stock.
Optus is offering iPhone customers $550 worth of calls and 700 megabytes (Mb) of data each month on the $79 plan.
Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile service provider, will offer the handset on a $69 plan but with an additional one-off charge of $189. that will include $350 of calls and 250 Mb of data per month.
Australia's biggest telco, Telstra, won't have an upfront charge for the iPhone on its $80 plan but will include $70 of calls and five Mb of data.
"We've led with very aggressive data pricing," Krishnapillai said.
Source: AAP NewsWire