Introduced into Australia last month the Diamond is expensive at nearly $1,000 or $80 a month on a Telstra 24 month plan. Despite early agreements HTC has not yet made a phone available for comparison up against the "sold out" iPhone or other Windows based phones.
In discussions today with several Telstra resellers and Telstra shop operators the common consensus was that the HTC Diamond was expensive and "Will struggle to get sales up against the iPhone and the Blackberry".
One Telstra store manager said "The HTC Diamond is up against both the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry. It is not seen as being a trendy phone because it is not known. Both the Blackberry and the iPhone are hot and trendy. If this phone had been launched months prior to the iPhone it would have got traction now they are going to struggle. Telstra likes this phone and will push this phone because it is able to run the Telstra applications unlike the iPhone which does not have a lot of Telstra applications".