News

Rumor: Apple Spanks Rogers for iPhone 3G Pricing

Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 11:05 AM - by

Canadian consumers are visibly upset over the price plans Rogers will offer for the iPhone 3G, and now it looks like Apple might be a bit miffed, too. It appears that the Mac and iPhone maker might be diverting iPhone inventory originally intended for Canada to Europe as part of a move to show its displeasure with the high-priced contracts Rogers attached to the combination iPod and smartphone, according to Smithereens.

Citing unnamed insiders, Smithereens claimed that stores in Canada may receive only 10 to 20 iPhone 3G units for the product launch on July 11, and that some stores have been firing staff members they brought on board for the roll out event. Stores are being warned to "exercise caution not to over-promise" product availability.

The iPhone 3G service plans Rogers will offer include 800 week day minutes and a 2GB data cap for CA$115 a month. For $60, subscribers will get 150 week day talk minutes and a 400MB data cap.

Customers have been upset enough about the pricing schemes that over 40,000 have signed an online petition denouncing the rates and data caps. The Web site hosting the petition, RuinedIphone.com, plans to deliver a printed copy of the petition, signatures, and comments to Rogers.

Since Rogers and Apple aren't commenting on what might be happening behind the scenes, no one is confirming whether or not inventory is really being diverted away from Canada, if Apple is posturing to pressure Rogers into changing its pricing, or if the rumor is unfounded. Even if the rumor proves to be false, it still underscores how upset potential Canadian iPhone customers are with the Rogers iPhone 3G price plans.

Apple's iPhone 3G is set to go on sale in about 20 countries on July 11. It will offer 3G wireless data, include a built-in GPS, support Microsoft Exchange, and more.

12 comments from the community.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:26 pm

If only this will provide Ted Rogers and his over priced, over rated and underwhelming company to make a change... I doubt it. One of the worst companies in Canada.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1805 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:28 pm

Could it be that Apple is saying "your prices are so high that we expect demand to be far smaller than in other countries". They could be diverting iPhones away from Canada because they don't expect them to sell.

A slight, and somewhat subtle difference from the 'Apple Spanks Rogers' headline.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:28 pm

geoduck wrote:
Could it be that Apple is saying "your prices are so high that we expect demand to be far smaller than in other countries". They could be diverting iPhones away from Canada because they don't expect them to sell.

A slight, and somewhat subtle difference from the 'Apple Spanks Rogers' headline.

Yes. That's exactly what Apple is saying to Rogers - who have a monopoly on the market in Canada.

Seriously though, Jobs warned Rogers about this prior to the announcement of their plans. He's just following through.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1805 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:49 pm

.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:13 pm

Well, Bell Canada is also a very big dog in the mobile world in Canada. However, they will not be selling the iPhone 3G. I'm still mystified by this...

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jul 07, 2008 2:54 pm

Guest wrote:
Well, Bell Canada is also a very big dog in the mobile world in Canada. However, they will not be selling the iPhone 3G. I'm still mystified by this...

Bell can't sell it because they don't have GSM - only CDMA technology.

Rogers and Fido (who is owned by Rogers) are the only GSM capable carriers in Canada.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:30 pm

...and Fido is wholly owned by Rogers. Ergo, there is only one GSM-based carrier in Canada. Nice, eh?

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:58 pm

Guest wrote:
...and Fido is wholly owned by Rogers. Ergo, there is only one GSM-based carrier in Canada. Nice, eh?

Yeah... can you say "HOSED!"

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cmurray said:

member since 14 Aug 2006 with 2 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:54 pm

The whole world is watching. Don't let Rogers make a laughing stock of Canadians.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1805 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:00 pm

No that's the job of Bob and Doug McKenzie.

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KitsuneStudios said:

member since 25 Oct 2001 with 2479 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:07 pm

It's really awful. AT&T guys pay $70/month for 450 minutes to anywhere in America, 5000 evening and weekend minutes, and unlimited Data, if you sign up for a 2 year contract.

Here, It's a Three-year contract, $75/month (Well, $82.45 after mandatrory "System Access Fees" and 911 extort... er, "non-government service charge" ) for 300 local minutes (Long distance charges apply), and a whopping 750MB in downloads. (Fifty Cents per megabyte up to 60MB, then three cents a megabyte after. BOHICA!)

Apparently there is an "Unlimited Mobile Browsing" plan, but it appears to be locked through the Rogers site and only accesses specific partner services. Given that only "Rogers Compliant" applications are eligible for this sort of access, and both "Opera" and "Firefox" are on their list of non-compliant applications, I seriously doubt this service will be at all compatible with the iPhone.

The entire site is filled with so many gotchas, weasel words and jargon that I expect Admiral Ackbar image macros to pop up every 2 minutes. Once you dig through it all, it looks not only like they're screwing us openly, but that they're intent on screwing us covertly at the same time.

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iJack said:

member since 13 Jun 2001 with 288 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jul 08, 2008 12:00 am

Let's show 'em! Let's invade Canada!

(Just kidding, bothers and sisters.)

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