Ted Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rogers Communications Inc. today issued the following statement:
We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year. We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned.
Source: Rogers Communications Inc.
We can’t tell you any more about it right now… because it’ll be the next-gen iPhone Steve Jobs introduces at WWDC. (Also, we’re trying to figure out just how much more we can extract from our already-vastly-overcharged customers via our Big Ass Canadian monopoly that no other sane capitalistic country would even come close to allowing.)
Everyone assumes it will be the new 3G iPhone that us Canadians are getting soon. My money is on Rogers now only offering the current iPhone, 2.5G on reduced rate plans. That way they can say they have the iPhone, but can run it on their old technology without such a revenue hit. If you want to use Rogers 3G, then iPhone won’t be available, but other higher priced access plans will be on other devices.
You read it here first.
whew..my Xmas list is done
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Years of minimal market share? Almost, before Jobs returned.
The relentless onslaught of various and assorted i-Pod-Killers? No.
A decade of illegal Mac Clones and Psystar? No.
CopyCat iPhone killers? No.
Partnering with Rogers? Very likely.
Question:
What could signal the beginning of the end for Apple?
@ MDN Take: Spot on!
Here’s to hoping that Robbers, AKA Rogers, may just be kicked into shape by Apple.
@ 84 “it will have to be called an iPhone/iTéléphone, by Apple/Pomme, eh?” no, logo and trademarks do not apply, but your razor wit is amazing! a$$hat
@ FUDsucker “… almost $4.00 a gallon for gas …”
With gas currently at $1.25 per liter in many places in Canada, that converts to $4.73 per U.S. gallon. Dumbass.”
You fail to account for the overall increase in gas prices between the US and Canada… the fact is that in 2003 gas here in S.F. was $1.75 per/gal now it is $4.25… prices in Tornoto, Canada were at $0.91 per/litre in 2003 and now are only $1.25 per/litre…. so who is the “dumbass” Mr. FUD!
MW= blood As in the US trades blood for oil.
1. Rogers is one of the most disliked companies in Canada (Air Canada might give them a run for this title)
2. Canada has a tiny population relative to the US and many part of Europe. As such there will be fewer people paying into the cell tower infrastructure. This means that the monthly cost for a cell plan is going to be higher than in the US and Europe.
@funny clowns….no need to be insulting to 84 Mac guy as he was just trying to be funny….not like your spelling of Toronto, home of the Toronto Maple Laughs.
There are twice as many Latinos in the States as there are people of all ethnicities combined in all of Canada. Hopefully we will all be speaking Spanish here soon (on our iPhones, naturally) and running the French outta town on a rail.
and the anglais, too.
@Lee….nice spanish sounding name…..
heh. Former Californian, actually. Aspiring Canadian. Studying French, even … but well over half of the rest of the immigrants in the school are Latino. That’s a fact.
Well I won’t be buying an iphone even though i’d like to have one. Its nice how RIM’s Blackberrys work on all networks and they don’t tell you what carrier you have to use, I like that.
I’ve been waiting for this for soooooo long!!! I even switched to rogers from bell in anticipation. I wouldn’t exactly cite rogers as being a monopoly even though they own the only GSM network in Canada. I say that because Bell and Telus aren’t much better in their pricing schemes. It’s an industry wide problem up here, not just Rogers’ fault. Would’ve been interesting though had telus won the bid for fido a few years back.
Rogers is pure evil. My hatred of Rogers is greater than my love of Apple. I’ll try jailbreaking an iPhone instead. I’ve already seen a couple of Jailbroken iPhones around the UFT campus…
“2. Canada has a tiny population relative to the US and many part of Europe. As such there will be fewer people paying into the cell tower infrastructure. This means that the monthly cost for a cell plan is going to be higher than in the US and Europe.”
This is definitely a point often overlooked by critics of Rogers and other Canadian cell phone companies; Canada has one of the lowest population densities in the world (230th). Australia is 235th, and from what I’ve heard, they have almost as bad cell phone/internet coverage and prices as Canada, if not worse. Coincidence?
This said, there are plenty of areas in Canada which are just as densely populated as areas in the US where you get significantly cheaper plans. Plus, they also have to cover less area since they only really cover in & around cities and towns, not out in the wilderness or unsettled land (which is most of Canada). So I wouldn’t be surprised if someday things got reasonable, at least in & around larger cities.
Looks like Apple is foregoing subscription profits for product saturation. Their new revenue plan is to make money from the Apps Store coming in June. What does this mean? Simply that they are opening up the iPhone worldwide and carrier-free.
@Name – jail break all you want but it will only work on Rogers/Fido in Canada. Jailbroken phones on the UFT campus would still be on Rogers (who owns Fido as well). So unfortunately you won’t be able to use an iPhone in Canada.
Having said that, it might be interesting if Apple modifies a version of the iPhone to work on other non-GSM networks.
Rogers does not have a monopoly.
TELUS
Bell, Virgin
Fido
are just a few others. There are more.
@ Gone Nuts,
We pay $8,23 per US Galon in Europe! What is your problem? Keep that in mind whenever you or our US friends talk about the price of energie.
Rogers IS a frickin monopoly.
They own Fido, and Virgin runs on Bell.
If you want a GSM network, there is ONLY the evil Rogers wankers.
I use stinking Rogers with my unlocked iPhone (really its easy even for idiots, just use iLiberty+).
Also Canada is becoming a little f**ked -up with weak governments and uptight 1950’s style people back in power.
Whatever happened to adventurous Canada?
Oh yeah, that was just Trudeau…..
Oligopoly would be appropriate, Rogers does not have a monopoly. The CRTC would see to that.
“if you want a GSM network”
Wanting something that one company offers does not make that company a monopoly.
Depending on when this is released, Im going to have to pay a whole lot of money to get out of my Telus contract – $340 likely if it gets released in June, but I’m going to have to do it.
Although Telus does have an option to transfer contracts to friends and family. We shall see. Exciting news though.
@Billy the fish
Ne’er a truer word said………..eh?
Adventurous and the current gov’t is like matter and anti-matter.
@84 mac guy:
“Oh, and by the way, since it is Canada, it will have to be called an iPhone/iTéléphone, by Apple/Pomme, eh?”
No actually, since it is a name. MacDonalds is called MacDonalds in French Canada, just like Ski Doo is called Ski-Doo in the english parts of the world.
@the rest who bitch and complain about the do nothing government.
cough cough Iraq.
I sure felt a great sense of pride when our Government leader at the time said no to that totally unethical immoral and terroristic invasion of the US by Iraq. We may have our faults, but we still have a moral foundation, unlike the AENUS terrorist countries.
Once again as I have said, iPhones will be popular, but it is a cold country. I prefer to be inside toasty warm on a Mac then using a cel phone. Hopefully Ma Bell and Telus will also pick up on the iphone as well. Gotta love competition.