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According to a 3 spokesperson, "although we did set up the website petition, it was originally because of constant calls and emails from our customers- it certainly was not an idea hatched by our marketing department as some reports have insinuated".
The spokesperson was also quite adamant that certain media reports that this online petition was just a marketing stunt, were "plainly and totally wrong", and claiming that they where "surprised" at their customers response.

 Furthermore, the spokesperson noted that after the online petition "was live for only 30 minutes, we have already had 420 names".

And although the spokesperson did not have the exact figure for how many original iPhone requests they received, it was "a significant number from memory".

The Apple iPhone, which goes on sale on July 11 through Vodafone & Optus, is rumoured by some analysts to become as big if not bigger than the iPod.

And as to whether other telcos, namely Telstra will be getting Apple's hot new gadget for sale remains to be seen, but other companies, such as 3 are hoping that eventually, they too will be getting a pieced of the action.