Susan Taylor and Wojtek Dabrowski Reuters Saturday, June 28, 2008
CREDIT: Apple Corporation CEO Steve Jobs REUTERS/Kimberly White
OTTAWA/TORONTO (Reuters) - Rogers Communications Inc, owner of Canada's biggest wireless carrier, announced pricing plans on Friday for Apple Inc's 3G iPhone, prompting an outcry about prices from angry customers.
The sleek, multimedia device will hit Canadian stores on July 11. But soon after Rogers unveiled its plans, a protest website began collecting signatures and comments that its creators plan to send to the company on the day of the launch.
"This plan is a joke compared to other countries," wrote one complainer, while another wrote: "What a rip off!!!"
Canadians have long bemoaned high cost of wireless service compared to those in the United States, and many blame lack of competition in a relatively thinly populated country that stretches across six time zones.
Aside from Rogers, only Telus Corp and BCE Inc are national carriers, and Rogers is the only one of the three with the GSM wireless technology that the iPhone uses.
Rogers and its Fido wireless unit said they were offering voice and data plans ranging in price from C$60 ($59) to C$115 ($114) a month for the iPhone, a price that includes unlimited Wi-Fi access at Rogers and Fido hotspots.
The top-end C$115 plan will buy 800 weekday minutes for voice calling and unlimited time at evenings and weekends.
It will allow users to send 300 text messages and have 2 gigabytes of data usage -- something that Rogers says is enough for about 1 million text e-mails, or 16,000 Web pages, or 7,000 photo attachments.
By comparison, U.S. carrier AT&T has said it will offer unlimited 3G iPhone data plans for $30 a month in addition to voice plans that start at $39.99 a month.
The iPhone combines Apple's ubiquitous iPod portable music player with a smartphone that can receive e-mails wirelessly and let users browse the Internet.
Prices for the phone are almost the same in Canada and the United States -- C$199 or $199 for the 8 GB version or C$299 or $299 for the 16 GB version.
But Rogers requires a three-year contract while AT&T is asks for a two-year commitment only.
Its exclusive deal to bring the iPhone to Canada has been a winning stroke for Rogers, whose stock rose 2.3 percent on April 29, the day of the announcement. Some analysts said that news was more important than the strong financial results the company released that day.
On Friday, Rogers shares rose 38 Canadian cents to close at C$39.52 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The iPhone has been tagged as a potential challenger to Research In Motion Ltd's 3G BlackBerry Bold, which will roll out globally this summer and cost between $300 and $400.
There will be those who buy the phone because they want the phone, and they'll pay whatever the price is. Apple must have been party to the discussions around Rogers' pricing plans; not that Apple has any control over Rogers decisions in that area. One would wonder what they think of the plans. Apple though is in a bit of a quandry; they know that Canadians want their phone, and they can't wait for another GSM carrier to come on the scene.
We'll see how iPhone retailers will do July 11 and after. Americans will line up in droves to get the new phone me thinks, but me also thinks you won't see the same thing up here. And if it does fizzle out up here, and regardless if Apple was ever involved in the Rogers/Fido pricing plan structure stuff, it would be interesting to see what Apple's next move would be with Rogers.
The second coming of the Jesus Phone, and we just figured out who the antichrist is: Ted Rogers.
A friend of mine works at a Rogers store and they and all the stores in there chain are pre-selling the Iphone by filling out the paperwork for the contract and paying the price of the phone. Each contract is numbered and they go by the numbers based on how many come in each shipment. At my friends store there is already 500 sold. And through the chain of stores close to 40 thousand have been sold
40 thousand idiots in Canada so far... good to know people have extra money to throw away on something such a blatant rip off. All I can say is I hope they found out how much they are getting screwed AFTER they are locked into the contract. iPhone = Cool, Rogers = Satanic Greed
my theory: rogers dings the S*** out of those who CRAVE his iPhone, will pay ANYTHING for it. then Ted turns around, takes the profits and buys the Buffalo Bills who will play out of the Rogers iPhone Stadium.
"There's a sucker born every minute".....PT Barnum (1810-1891) AND Ted Rogers (1933-present )
Oh and can we expect NEWS1130 to do 'streeters' on July 11th outside Rogers Wireless talking to gleeful iPhone buyers like it's the Second Coming?? I'll bet they do....nothing like ownership-driven news drivel. LOLOL
my theory: rogers dings the S*** out of those who CRAVE his iPhone, will pay ANYTHING for it. then Ted turns around, takes the profits and buys the Buffalo Bills who will play out of the Rogers iPhone Stadium.
"There's a sucker born every minute".....PT Barnum (1810-1891) AND Ted Rogers (1933-present )
Oh and can we expect NEWS1130 to do 'streeters' on July 11th outside Rogers Wireless talking to gleeful iPhone buyers like it's the Second Coming?? I'll bet they do....nothing like ownership-driven news drivel. LOLOL
Translation: I'm a bitter ex-Rogers employee...blah blah blah...Ted sucks...blah blah blah...radio is dead...blah blah blah...etc. etc. ad infinitum.
A friend of mine works at a Rogers store and they and all the stores in there chain are pre-selling the Iphone by filling out the paperwork for the contract and paying the price of the phone. Each contract is numbered and they go by the numbers based on how many come in each shipment. At my friends store there is already 500 sold. And through the chain of stores close to 40 thousand have been sold
I wonder how many of those folks signed up for an iPhone ahead of the release of these data plans. And how many of those people want to wriggle out of it now.
Rogers HO has advised all Rogers Wireless outlets they can no longer take names and money in advance and hold phones on reserve.
This is nothing unexpected by Rogers. They gouge their customers BECAUSE THEY CAN. However, I can also say that Telus and other cell service providers in Canada also screw their customers BECAUSE THEY CAN.
CRTC or competition bureau or some other body needs to step in and stop the gouging.
Home
Calendar
Search
Register
Login
Logged
Male
