Rogers Confirms iPhone, Canadians Rejoice
It took them long enough! Rogers has finally announced that it negotiated a deal with Apple to bring the coveted iPhone to Canada. Details are limited at this point but Rogers states that the popular Apple handset will be available to its subscribers "by the end of 2008". Does this mean that our friends north of the border can expect the 3G model? Probably. We all recently saw that the Toronto Star reported Rogers intends to launch the iPhone by July, which is right around or just after the time the 3G iPhone is expected to be released. The only piece of the puzzle that hasn’t been addressed is the trademark dispute with Comwave, owner of the "iPhone" name in Canada. This isn’t the first time that Apple has had to buy the name of course. Cisco’s iPhone line was Apple’s roadblock here in the US and we’re sure they came out ahead in the end although specific details of the settlement were not released.
Not only don’t we have an exact date yet, but we still don’t know what kind of data plan Rogers will have for the iPhone. One can only hope it will be better than it is now
Yeah…now time to save up the pennies for launch date!
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Good news for our buddies up north.
PS: Love that show Holmes on Homes from Canada. Dude makes Bob Vila look like a real wus.
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Great.. Roppers will get to rape us with the iPhone as well. Thanks a lot Apple ! :s Instead of releasing this thing unlocked so that we could stick our old Fido SIM cards with the old cheap plans, we’ll have to buy the iPhone from Robbers and pay $$$ upon $$$ to Ted.
I really hope the 3G iPhone will be easy to unlock as this is ridiculous.
Adi
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No no no, Canadians will not rejoice. F*** Rogers and their ridiculous plans and their ridiculous prices.
T-Mobile for Canada in 2009!
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Wheee a fashion phone for Canada!
My hope is that this telegraphs some changes in data pricing for my S60 N95-3. I want affordable data.
Not holding my breath though.
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We’re probably still stuck with a oh so generous $40/8MB data plan. And our bills are still like $1000/month. But at least we are now screwed in STYLE…yippee kayay!
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That’s right people…I called it. I spoke with my contact today at Rogers and the data plan issue has been brought in line with what is available in the USA (yeah! no more $1500 monthly bills!) and I will say again that the Iphone WILL BE 3G and released within the next 30 days. I will have one in my hands the first day it is available if not a few days early. I will post more info as it becomes available to me.
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Apple announced on Monday Jun 9, the faster and cheaper iPhone — with new capabilities, including GPS tracking. The new price, down from $399 US, likely means the iPhone will be subsidized, either by Apple or phone carriers, and include a term contract.
The maximum price on the new eight-gigabyte iPhone, which will run on faster third-generation or 3G cellphone networks, will be $199 US. A 16GB version will also be available for $299 US. A spokesperson for Rogers confirmed the prices but did not specify what length of contract consumers would have to sign.
If the phone is subsidized then teh typical MSL would be in-place to prevent users from gettign a good deal when buying the phone an activatign it on another carriers network.
MSL
(Master Subsidy Lock)
A numeric code (password) that prevents a user from accessing certain technical settings of a phone. It is specifically designed to prevent a phone from being reprogrammed to work with a different carrier (service provider).
This is what is usually meant when a phone is referred to as “locked”. There are also “unlocked” phones that can be reprogrammed to work with a different carrier.
The reason for this system is the way phones are often sold. Many phones are sold below cost, (at a loss to the carrier,) with the expectation that the money will be recouped in the cost of the monthly service plan. The up-front loss that is later recouped is called a Subsidy.
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