It’s a little late for the hero, especially considering it’s cheaper overseas with the current AUD as others have said. I might buy a Dragon if they sell it (Though I really should make my Vodafone Magic last longer…) but they’re going to have to be more competitive with the price.

“This is the first attempt from HTC at a direct-to-market sales effort”
No it’s not. I bought a Hero in the U.K. in early august, when it was first relased, completely unlocked.

aussie here – care factor zero, really much too late

with droid, dragon, x10 and GooglePhone coming – i think i’ll wait

Agree with the above comments. Will be interesting to see how this is taken up. Generally best deals in OZ are when u buy on contract and get the hanset included in the deal. Nice to see more options though. My HTC Dream (G1) was the only option back in April when I needed a new phone.

Unfortunately, with a RRP of $800 it’s still cheaper to buy from overseas due to the strong Aussie dollar atm. I ordered my Hero from Handtec for about $640AU including postage and the car upgrade pack.

This is a big move by HTC but the jury’s out on how it will go. They’re obviously trying to get more brand recognition out, but the problem they’ll face is that Aussies are addicted to free or cheap phones with contract lock in. Not sure how a big outright push will go. If nothing else it’ll mean the small % people who DO prefer outright purchases and then taking the phone to their carrier of choice now have an easy (and warranty safe) way to do this.

Kudos to HTC. Hope they don’t piss off the carriers (not that I care) and the phone sells well.