Following the opening announcement from Telecom earlier this week, Vodafone has revealed its pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S III, the latest competitor to the almighty iPhone set to go on sale next week.

Although the company will offer a few promotional handsets for free on its Smart Data 90 plan, the standard minimum for customers who don't want to pay for the device will be a 24-month contract on the $120 per month Smart Data 120 plan.

Vodafone's ace is a promotional competition to win a $270,000 space travel prize, although we haven't been able to get hold of the company's media team to confirm the details of this offering. We'll post an update when we know more.

Update: A Vodafone representative says every New Zealand buyer of the Galaxy S III will be entered into the competition, which includes travel expenses to the launch location and two days of space training with ‘a leading and trusted provider'. Entries will be open from May 31, when the Galaxy S III goes on sale, to July 15; pre-orders officially open tomorrow, and Vodafone's website will be updated with more details then.

Meanwhile, TechDay has received our Galaxy S III review unit, and we'll be posting a full assessment soon.

Update 2: Vodafone has announced that it will be offering two entries to its space travel draw for people willing to line up for the Samsung Galaxy S III on Wednesday night.

The device will go on sale at 12:01am on Thursday May 31, at Vodafone's Queen Street store in Auckland and its Riccarton store in Christchurch.

Customers will be entertained with device demonstrations, moon hopper races, and spot prize draws, as well as free coffee and snacks. The company is expecting hundreds of customers to turn out for the release.