History of Apple Inc.
The first version of the iPhone became publicly available on June 29, 2007 in selected countries/markets. It was another 12 months before the iPhone 3G became available on July 11, 2008. Apple announced the iPhone 3GS on June 8, 2009, along with plans to release it later in June, July, and August, starting with the U.S., Canada and major European countries on June 19. This 12-month iteration cycle has continued with the iPhone 4 model arriving in similar fashion in 2010, a Verizon model was released in February 2011, and a Sprint model in October 2011, shortly after Jobs' death.
Vodafone New Zealand
The first iPhone 3G released on 11 July 2008 was sold by Vodafone in Auckland, New Zealand to 22-year-old student Jonny Gladwell at 12:01 am NZST. The iPhone 3G was only available to customers on the Vodafone network. 3G coverage for iPhone 3G was limited to major urban centres, as the phone operated on 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz bands; Vodafone's 3G network uses 900 and 2100 MHz. (The 850 MHz 3G band is used by Spark NZ). 900 MHz capability was added from the iPhone 3GS and subsequent models of iPhone.