How Badly do Canadians Want an iPhone?
Now that the dust has settled on Rogers’ voice/data packages for the 3G iPhone, the question is how badly do Canadians really want the iPhone, and how many of them are willing to pay for the privilege?
Casting aside the entry-level $60 plan as a non-starter (150 voice minutes during the day is a joke), the iPhone will cost you at least $100 after taking into account network access charges, caller-ID, 911, 411 and taxes. If you want to use the iPhone as a Web browser to take advantage of 3G, you’re probably looking at $150 to $200/month.
That’s the bottom line.
It’s not perfect but if you’re into the iPhone and being among the first on your block to have something shiny and new, that’s what it is going to cost.
So, how badly do you want one?
For those of you pissed at Rogers for not being as user-friendly as they could be, check out RuinediPhone.com. At last count, 25,422 people had signed a petition saying “No” to Rogers. Meanwhile, the Globe & Mail has a story (July 2) about how AT&T concedes that although it’s getting some complaints about its iPhone packages, the reality is the iPhone is red-hot so consumers will climb on the bandwagon.
Update: AT&T has unveiled its pricing for the new iPhone. TechCrunch is unimpressed because the $199/$299 price-tags for the 8GB/16/GB models is only available to new subscribers. The voice/data plans ranges from $69.99 to $129.99, including unlimited data.
July 1st, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Although the plans suck big time, the deal breaker for me was the 3 year contract. I would LOVE to have internet access from my phone, but I’ll stick with my 1st gen iPhone with WiFi only.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 am
The AT&T deals are exactly what I wanted to see from Rogers. AT&T is still charging too much money and I honestly think that none of these carries understands how to leverage and market the iPhone and thus fall back on the old belief that it’s a cell phone.
My assessment so far about these carries is that they are treating their clients as sheep. However, Rogers seems to prefer to treat their clients like “pigs to slaughter”.
I wanted 2 iPhones for my house, now I’ll have none. Rogers is simply out of touch with reality.
July 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Hi Mark,
This is a really interesting case study of social media at work as the conversation volume amongst customers is huge right now.
I have read a few posts (and know a few users) who have indicated that ruinediphone.com has been blocked by Rogers such that any Rogers high speed customer can not access it.
Have you heard this Mark? To me, this would be the big story here. Rogers should be joining the conversation and transparently engaging with their customers, not censoring or blocking access to conversations they don’t like.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Marcel,
I think the guy who runs ruinediphone.com had a problem with his Web host - maybe have had to do with the face the site got a huge surge in traffic.
What’s been particularly surprising about the iPhone pushback is how ineffective Rogers has been in terms of responding and being part of the conversation.
Mark
July 5th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
[...] further than the furor over Roger’s recently announced iPhone pricing plans. (Globe and Mail, Mark Evans, Jim Courtney, Jon [...]