April 29, 2008
iPhone To Appear To The Faithful
Now, normally our coverage of anything Rogers is best downed with a tall glass of Haterade, but Toronto's technophiles and status-hungry business execs have reason to give thanks today to the Evil Empire, for the most anticipated gadget of the last gazillion years is to finally land in our fair city: Apple's iPhone.
In a curt press release this morning, Rogers announced that a deal had been conclusively inked with Apple and the device will go on sale later in the year. “We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned," said President and CEO Ted Rogers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has a notorious disdain for pre-release product leaks, and will likely announce details on pricing and availability at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in June. The WWDC will also see the debut of third-party games and applications for the iPhone, as well as a new 3G version of the iconic handset.
Whether or not one falls victim to Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field, the data-hungry iPhone's debut should be good for consumers, considering Canada's preposterous data plans. Bell and Telus started offering unlimited data options late last year in an attempt to stem iPhone-related customer defection, since Rogers' GSM standard is the only technology currently compatible with the iPhone (however, Telus is allegedly considering an expensive switchover to GSM, while Ottawa has given spectrum approval for a new GSM carrier).
The addition of the iPhone to the Rogers network not only forces Rogers to upgrade their system to accommodate the iPhone's non-linear Visual Voicemail feature, but to offer a substantially better unlimited data plan. Of course, unlimited data plan actually means unlimited* data plan, in the same way that Rogers can advertise a $20 "Mega Value Plan" that actually starts at $27.45, pre tax. The company considers itself a "premium" carrier that isn't interested in offering true unlimited data (they audaciously claim that such plans are a "barrier to adoption" for new customers), and you could be tied into a contract for three years for the mere privilege of using an iPhone. We may not even see a true unlimited plan like the ones offered south of the border, since Rogers is currently the only game in town for the lustworthy iPhone, and boy, do they know it.
According to RBC Capital Market analysts, the iPhone could fetch 150,000 new subscribers to Rogers this year and about $100 million annually. Considering the blatant contempt by which they've treated everyday Canadian customers, we're loath to give our mobile carriers any more hard-earned coin, yet it could very well be the iPhone that brings a little Stockholm Syndrome back to the domestic wireless market.
Photo illustration by Marc Lostracco.
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Unlimited data plan or nothing, please.
I've disabled EDGE on my iPhone since I picked it up last year in September, and won't support any plan unless it's truly unlimited.
By the amount of coverage, you'd think the iPhone was designed and built in Toronto by a team of Hidden Cameras members, Conrad Black and Bob Kinnear.
I would find it hard to even contemplate an iphone with Rogers unless it was attached to a truly unlimited data plan and that's just not going to happen is it?
If I was still living in the UK I could get an iphone with a $70/18 month plan that includes 600 minutes, 500 text messages and truly unlimited data. They also give you free access to over 7500 wireless hotspots across the country since mobile web is crappy at best.
Imagine if Rogers made a deal with One Zone to give users free wifi downtown. That would be nice of them.
I've seen a lot of unlocked iphones on the streets of Toronto already. Maybe Bell can offer a cheeky plan for unlocked iphone users that undercuts Rogers :)
This interesting internal job listing suggests that Waterloo-based RIM (of BlackBerry fame) could be planning iPhone apps in the future. Or something. RIM has said that they're not worried about the iPhone, despite its second-place status in the U.S., yet a possible upcoming BlackBerry looks strangely familiar.
Although better data plans would be nice from Rogers, please note that the iPhone (and the iTouch) have WiFi. On my iTouch I use a real email client (OS X Mail) that syncs all my email sent and received from my iTouch with my Macbook at home (and vice versa), and I do all this on WiFi.
The iPhone is much, much more than a cell phone that sends and receives data through the wireless system.
Cheers,
Tuds
The National Post is suggesting that Rogers might offer a $35/month data plan (on top of an existing contract) with a max of 100–200 MB data, which is totally insufficient. As Tuds suggested above, you can turn off the EDGE data access and just hop on an open WiFi point instead, so you don't have to deal with that nonsense. If you can find an open WiFi point, that is. I haven't had too much problem finding open WiFi downtown on my iPod Touch—lots of default "linksys," "Belkin" and "default" installations out there, especially in areas with apartment and condo buildings.
The WiFi ability of the touch or iphone is nice but when you're on the move it highly unlikely it's going to be useful and if you're somewhere with a hotspot, like a cafe, it might have some use (though you're going to be paying for it) but it's certainly not worth the price to me for such occasional usefulness.
Most of the time I hit WiFi at home or office, where I already have access to web, synced email, etc on much more practical devices.
The whole point of incorporating all this stuff into a phone is so you don't have to pick your spots to for access. As cool as the iphone is a Blackberry is still streets ahead of the it for practical use.
"...while Ottawa has given spectrum approval for a new GSM carrier."
This is factually incorrect. While it is LIKELY the spectrum auction will yield a new cellphone carrier on a GSM network, others many also choose to roam on a CDMA network given the cheap wholesale roaming charges Bell/Telus will offer.
On a slightly tangental subject T-Mobile were filming a commercial just down the street from me last week. No-one there seemed to know if it was for the US market or not, which you'd think they would.