Got this off another forum, hence why there is no URL to the story.
iPhone not so multimedia friendly
Asher Moses
July 15, 2008 - 3:47PM
The Age
Most of the TV, movie and other multimedia content offered by Optus, Vodafone
and Telstra over their 3G networks is not available on the iPhone.
The iPhone 3G, which debuted around the world on Friday, is being billed as the
ultimate multimedia handset and one of the main benefits of upgrading to a 3G
service is the ability to access a range of content provided by the carriers.
However, most of this is not available on the iPhone due to incompatibilities
with the device, the carriers said.
The issue is compounded by the fact that the cost of accessing the web on
Australian iPhone plans is far higher than in countries such as the US, where
the iPhone comes with unlimited web browsing.
As a result, Australians accessing online video and music content from their
iPhone over the open internet are likely to be hit with high excess usage bills.
Mark McDonnel, telecom analyst at BBY, said Apple was purposely limiting the
device's ability to access the carriers' content in order to force people to buy
the content from its own iTunes and Apps stores.
"Of course, Apple has its own platform and it's a question of whether people
want to adapt to fit their content onto the Apple platform, so I don't see the
technical barriers as insuperable but they do impose costs and delays," he said.
Those on the Telstra network can access Yellow Search, Sensis Search and WhereIs
Mobile from a BigPond Mobile Icon on the iPhone, but Foxtel Mobile and BigPond
TV are not supported.
"The device does not support flash so video services our customers have come to
expect on Next G such as Foxtel Mobile or BigPond TV will not work on the
iPhone," Telstra spokesman Peter Taylor said.
"Our entire focus has been on getting the iPhone ready for sale on Friday and
like all carriers we'll be looking at more content options going forward."
On Optus, iPhone users can access Fox Sports and Sky News clips as well as a
variety of internet sites such as eBay, Facebook and MySpace, but none of the
carrier's ringtones, wallpapers, music downloads or mobile TV channels, which
include MTV, Ministry of Sound, Nickelodeon, ABC, CNN and SBS.
Optus spokeswoman Melissa Clare said some of this content "will be launched
soon", while others were not supported by the device or were not yet formatted
for the iPhone.
Vodafone users are the worst hit by the iPhone compatibility issues as none of
the Vodafone Live portal - which includes mobile TV, music downloads, ringtones,
wallpapers, games and news - can be accessed from the iPhone.
"The iPhone 3G's [web] browser, Safari, is an HTML browser - Vodafone Live
operates on a PML browser, which isn't compatible with the HTML browser,"
Vodafone spokesman Greg Spears said.
"We're investigating what the workarounds may be for bringing live content to
the iPhone."
iPhone not so multimedia friendly 
Linear Mode
