Rogers set to carry the iPhone in Canada?
The rumors are flying, but so far it's looking good for our Rogers / Apple / poutine fanboy friends up north. Will Pate, after hearing a rumor of the iPhone being headed for Rogers Wireless sometime in 2007, dug into the matter a little bit, and got this response from Rogers: "You were wondering about iPhone..Lots of speculation out there. Beyond the fact that Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada, we have not issued any statements as to whether or when the iPhone would be available at Rogers." And there you have it, completely vague, but near tacit assurance that Rogers will indeed be carrying the iPhone, since it happens to be the only GSM gig in town. At least that's what our iPhone-addled brains are reading into the situation, we suggest you draw your own conclusions on the matter.
Filed under: Handsets, Rogers Wireless, Apple, iPhone OS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kevin @ Jan 22nd 2007 11:10PM
Dear Valued Customer,
We are proud to announce that the Apple I phone will be supported by
Rogers. Watch www.rogers.com for the release date.
...
Yours truly,
Ecare Customer Service Representative
Rogers Customer Online Service
Original Message Follows:
------------------------
*** Your Cellular General Inquiry ***
Subject --> Your Cellular General Inquiry
Comments --> iPhone.
I expect that Rogers it the natural choice in Canada for Apple''s new
GSM
phone. Can you confirm this and do you know if your launch would be
close
the the US June date.
Thanks,
Kevin
Tito @ Jan 23rd 2007 2:55AM
This supports what I've been thinking for a little bit.
Apple develops iPhone, with GSM, but without 3G.
Apple then announces it's siding with Cingular/AT&T.. Why no 3G? It doesn't make logical sense.
...unless they originally wanted to go with T-Mobile which doesn't have 3G yet, but T-Mo turned them down? If that were true, Apple still needs to get their R&D back, and it would cost more to convert it to CDMA for Verizon, so the logical second choice would be Cingular. Especially since they don't give 2 flips about their customers and will rather put out a garbage phone to their customers just because it will be popular. They've done it before.
Why does this strengthen my inner wonderings? Well, Rogers picked up the Sidekick 2 way back when, and that was T-Mobile only.
I haven't been able to dig up any other evidence besides speculation, but I'm wondering if T-Mobile turned them down because of either the price point (very possible), and/or the reliability of the prototype models (T-Mobile has been known in the past to turn down certain devices if it doesn't meet their standards, no matter the 'cool' factor)
Dylan Neild @ Jan 23rd 2007 1:25PM
Article would have been better without the 'trying-to-be-funny-but-really-just-sounding-like-a-typical-ignorant-yank' poutine comment.
Chris @ Jan 23rd 2007 2:30PM
Agree with #3...i hate reading crap like that on the yank "internets"....
i.Fido @ Jan 23rd 2008 12:44PM
Rogers NEVER picked up the Sidekick 2. It was only FIDO that carried the Sidekick/hiptop line, and they did that before Rogers took over. Since then, Rogers has cancelled Fido's hiptop line completely. Probably for the same reason we don't have an iPhone: $20 Unlimited data plans...
Iphone Aware @ Apr 29th 2008 8:24AM
This is now confirmed.