Did Rogers try the patience of Jobs?
(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10)
Loading ...No one’s returning phone calls right now, not Rogers, not Apple. This does not surprise me, but it’s certainly frustrating.
What I’m looking for is confirmation of and comment on recent published reports that a) Apple has diverted a “significant amount” of its initial 3G iPhone shipment from Canada to Europe, leaving only 10 to 20 phones per store for Rogers; and 2) that Canadian Apple Stores won’t being carrying the iPhone, leaving Rogers and Fido to sell their overpriced plans themselves.
The original source is reputable — Apple Insider – and, in support of Point 2, if you visit Apple’s online store and click on the “Where to Buy” tab for the iPhone, only Rogers and Fido come up as options.
At least 70,000 people have signed petitions demanding lower rates from Rogers. When last week I wrote that I didn’t expect any response from Rogers, I wasn’t overestimating the carrier’s monopoly position. But maybe I was underestimating Apple’s sensitivity to image.
Apple’s cachet since the first iPod days has been that it is the coolest, most user-friendly technology in its market. It is neither cool, nor user-friendly, to flog an overpriced service plan at your retail outlet. And subversiveness is cool, too. Giving the rug under an unco-operative partner a tug shows Apple in a good light from a consumer prespective; Steve Jobs, they’ll say, has sympathy for the little guy.
Coincidentally, Rogers sub Fido is offering a special “promotional rate” for subscribers who sign up before Aug. 31, charging $30 a month for 6GB of data on a three-year contract.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it, whether or not pressure from Cupertino had anything to do with the Scandinavian Climbdown, in which Sweden’s Telia Sonera and Norway’s NetCom both backed away from hugely expensive service offerings in the face of user petitions.
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