“Apple’s website says the new iPhone 4 works with micro-SIM cards that are used by carriers around the world, meaning that international travellers could use their phones with providers in other countries,” The Canadian Press reports. “The new iPhone will also sold by major Canadian carriers including Rogers, Telus and Bell.”
MacDailyNews Take: Multiple carriers in one country. What a concept.
The Canadian Press reports, “The iPhone 4 is due to be released June 24 in the United States and by the end of July in Canada.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “db” for the heads up.]
Hence the ATT contract breaking penalties…
This is the direction…
Finally! I hated the stupid 3 year contract baloney and over priced plans. Now with my new Skype in number, multitasking, and a data plan for $40… I’m good to go!
You lucky bastards!
I’m one of the lucky Canucks that’ll be free to choose which company I want screwing me over with their data rates! Yes!! But since it’ll be my first iPhone (replacing my iPod touch), I’m still going to cough up for it.
Can`t wait to get mine
How much???
Just wait, dear Merkin friends, don’t be so envious just yet–Rogers, Telus, and Bell will collectively find _some_ way of screwing us nonetheless… even if Apple is trying to do the right thing…
MDN word: “term,” as in “Hey! Keep your contracts to term! Us Telco execs need new Porsches!”
@Jeff, UK will sell it for about $900 Dlls unlocked (32Gb), so I guess that price will be similar in Canada.
Bell/Telus realized that their CDMA network was on the loosing end of the market place and invested to co-build up the HSPA network…thus allowing them to get the iPhone. Rogers never had an exclusive to the iPhone, just the only network to be able to run it at the original launch.
Being a Bell customer, I’ve VERY happy that Bell can carry this and I don’t have the exclusive issues in the US.
My guess is that the US won’t get a second carrier until AFTER SBC, I mean AT&T;, locks up as many new users as possible with new contracts. This is one time it’s best to not be an early adopter if you have AT&T;issues.
This is great since in December of last year Rogers restricted all smart phone upgrades to a minimum two-year loop. In other words those of us who enjoyed upgrading to a 3GS after only year with our 3G will be out of luck this time around. While this solves that – we can buy the four this year and get an upgrade to the 4G next year – obviously our current SIM cards will not fit in the mini-SIM slot – anyone have any ideas how hard it will be to get Rogers to upgrade the SIM card to one that will work with the 4?
Well, we got 2 of our 4 iPhones upgraded. If Apple offer the same deal in the USA, do you think there will be some rally pissed early adopters. Sounds like that $600 I paid for my first iPhone. I suggested online that Apple cut the difference and give the people that paid more Apple gift cards. Apple wins because there s only about $.75 of real cost for every $1 on card if used. If used, they would spend more than was left on the card.
How will Apple fix this one? I will get back to you if Apple unlocks the iPhone4 later this year in the USA. I have to think about it some.
The bastard carriers in Canada have previously said that even if you took a factory-unlocked phone (e.g. from one of the few countries that previously forced an unlocked phone option) and got service from one of them, they’d STILL lock you into to a multi-year contract.
That’s totally bullshit because you’ve already paid for the full cost of the phone, no subsidies needed, so not only were you NOT getting any rate discounts for having already paid for the phone outright, they wanted to lock you in for a full 3 years too!
Has the carriers’ positions actually changed since this announcement?
So I can pop over to Canada and buy one? Something tells me sales will be off the hook just over the border… bring all new meaning to “make a run for the border”.
What’s going on here. I thought Canadians were a bunch of socialists that hated a free market and competition. Oh, wait, it’s the US that has developed incompatible parallel networks, locks users into long-term contracts, makes them guess how much they’ll use ahead of time and screws them over with overage fees. Yeah, that capitalism.
I am pretty sure the SIM part of the SIM card is the same, I ‘think’ you should be able to just cut it down to size.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GSM_Micro_SIM_Card_vs._GSM_Mini_Sim_Card.svg
jeff
Who’s going to try first?
Actually it is a pretty good deal considering the mandatory 3 year contracts we have up here.
So, will a Canadian iPhone4 will work in the US? With a Canadian Plan? A US plan with Sim Card change? If so, why not get the iPhone4 from Canada so it is unlocked?
I am Canadian!
I asked all three carriers, Rogers, Bell and Telus, what their rates were for an unlocked iPhone and they all said I could get the same plan as the subsidized iPhone or I could go elsewhere.
So, it is cheaper to get an AT&T subsidized iPhone in the USA and go back to Canada and pay roaming charges to AT&:T.
The iphone I want (two cameras) and lots of apps.
512mb ram
Its a good thing you cant see it but right now,
I AM DOING MY HAPPY DANCE
If you go to
http://store.apple.com/ca
and click on iPhone at the Canada online Apple Store, it costs $549 for the 8GB iPhone 3GS. iPhone 4 is shown as “Coming soon” with no pricing. Therefore, (not counting any affect from exchange rate) a $99 subsidized U.S. iPhone 3GS costs $549 if it is not tied to a service in Canada.
So it’s not like you can get an unlocked iPhone 4 for $199 in Canada.
Not as sweet as it sounds. Bring your own phone to Rogers and they still charge you the same rate (on a 3-year term minimum) as someone that walks out of the store with a new phone… it’s bull crap!
@ken1w, no one expects unlocked phones to be the same price as a subsidized one, but as I and others have pointed out it’ll be up to the smaller independent carriers like Wind to actually offer a fair ubsubsidized prices, because the big three and thee subsidiaries sure as hell won’t
@ mossman
> no one expects unlocked phones to be the same price as a subsidized one
Oh, I think there are plenty of people who don’t appreciate the true cost of an iPhone (or any mobile phone), if there was no subsidy from the wireless carrier. In the U.S., a 16GB iPhone costs $100 MORE than a 16GB iPad, with no contract (and $300 more than a 32GB iPod touch).
Since there are no prices specified in this MDN headline or article, I added some “perspective.”
With ‘silent collusion’, or ‘unspoken rules’, no secret meetings are required.
Oh, before any of you Rogers, Fido, Bell or Telus astroturfers come in here — I’m looking at you ‘rayn’, get back to work — chastising all of the ingrate ‘retards’. Mange la merde!
Understanding how the cell phone business works, is as difficult to understand as figuring out how to eat back bacon.
MW: free. Canadians don’t want FREE cell phone service. But, with three year contracts, we are being hosed, and you KNOW it.