Briefly: Samsung Note 3, Gear arrives; iPhone 5s, 5c; Vodafone joins 700 MHz auction

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 phone and the Galaxy Gear smart watch are now on sale in New Zealand. If you just want the giant screen, stylus-driven Note 3 phone you can get it from either Telecom NZ or Vodafone for $1200. For the next month, the $450 Gear watch, which only works with the Note 3 is available from Telecom NZ.

Vodafone will start selling it on November 10.  For now Telecom NZ has the black version of the smartwatch. Another colour, oatmeal beige, will be in the country from the end of next week.

• Both Telecom NZ and Vodafone say they will offer the Apple iPhone 5C and 5S models when they arrive in New Zealand on October 25.
• Vodafone has officially applied for Commerce Commission clearance to buy 700 MHz spectrum rights. Under the auction rules Vodafone can bid for three 2×5 MHz blocks. If the total isn’t sold first time around, carriers can bid for an extra 5 MHz block. Vodafone says it will initially bid for 15 MHz, but will go for 20 MHz if the extra block is available.
• Telecom NZ’s Gen-i division says its information security controls have been assured by Ernst & Young to meet the ISAE 3402 standard. Gen-i is the first NZ IT company to make the grade. The company says the assurance means customers can know their data is protected by “robust, secure systems and practice”.
• Trading in Xero shares halted ahead of an announcement about a capital raising.