Optus will be the first Australian mobile carrier to distribute the iPhone at midnight on Thursday, followed by Telstra and Vodafone early on Friday morning.

Optus will open its George Street store in Sydney at midnight on Thursday. On Friday morning, the day of the iPhone 3G's official debut, Optus will open a number of its stores two hours early at 7am for eager early adopters itching for their iPhone fix.

Melissa Clare, Optus's corporate affairs manager, said only deposit holders who were Optus customers would be able to collect their handset at the midnight launch in Sydney. On Friday, deposit holders would get priority service but anyone could come and buy an iPhone.

Clare said Optus would not hold midnight launches in Brisbane and Melbourne but would have events on Friday morning at the Chadstone store in Melbourne and the Queen Street store in Brisbane. Other participating stores around both cities would also be open for business early Friday morning.

Telstra is understood to be planning an event on Friday morning at its TLife store in the Sydney CBD. It has yet to confirm whether it will hold events in other cities.

Vodafone has contacted City of Sydney council for permission to hold a 200-person iPhone event on Friday morning at Regimental Square in Wynyard.

City of Sydney spokesman Josh MacKenzie said: "The application was received yesterday and the World Youth Day Coordination Authority has confirmed a permit under the World Youth Day Amendment Regulation 2008 is not required. It is expected the event will be allowed with appropriate conditions."

A Vodafone spokesman said similar events to the one planned for Sydney would be held in all capital cities. A full list of stores would be available tomorrow.

Clare was tight-lipped about activities planned for the Optus midnight launch in Sydney but said a celebrity MC would be on hand.

Optus is offering a plethora of post-paid plan options depending on the model (8GB or 16GB), the length of the contract (one or two years) and whether the customer wants a cap plan or a pay-as-you-go plan.

A tool for comparing mobile phone plans can be found here. The iPhone pricing details are added as they are announced by the carriers.

Telstra's two-year iPhone plans start at $30 a month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8GB model and $399 for the 16GB model.

Those who opt for an $80 a month plan will receive an 8GB iPhone at no cost, while those on the $100 a month plan could get either the 16GB or 8GB models at no cost.

Telstra has yet to announce a detailed breakdown of its iPhone plans and refused to say whether it would sell the iPhone on a prepaid basis.

Vodafone has yet to announce its pricing plans.