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Rogers’ Blackberry Customers Should be Upset
By Mark Evans | July 8, 2008
News Update: Apple Insider is reporting that you won’t be able to purchase an iPhone at an Apple store in Canada, apparently because Apple is pissed at Rogers about its data plans. This story must be “news” because TechCrunch is on it as well.
And now back to our regular programming….
Amid the furor over Rogers declining to sell the iPhone with consumer-friendly packages (e.g. unlimited data plans, a contract less onerous than three years), it has been interesting to hear little, if anything, from Rogers’ Blackberry customers.
Truth be told, they should really be the ones pissed off when you do an apples vs. apples comparison of Rogers’ packages. Granted, the Blackberry is a different apple from the iPhone but for the sake of argument let’s agree they both fall into the same smartphone bucket.
Let’s take a look at Rogers’ iPhone four packages:
And now, let’s take a look at what the equivalent packages cost Blackberry owners - many of whom have their bills paid by their employers. These calculations are based on Rogers’ Right Fit voice plans and its Blackberry Data Plans.
Plan #1: $15 for e-mail, $25 for 250 day-time (non-weekend) minutes, $30 for 300MB of data = $70 $55
Plan #2: $15 for e-mail, $35 for 350 day-time minutes, $50 for 500MB of data = $100 $85
Plan #3: $15 for e-mail, $60 for 650 day-time minutes, $60 for 1GB of data = $135 $120
Plan #4: $15 for e-mail, $85 for 1000 day-time minutes, $80 for 3GB of data = $180 $165
(Note: Apparently, you don’t have to pay the $15/month e-mail fee if you have a data plan. This would make prices $55, $85, $120 and $165 respectively - still much higher than the iPhone plans.)
Granted, the calculations may not be totally bang on because there are always special deals, bundles, etc. but it’s pretty clear that Blackberry users pay significantly more than iPhone users will be charged for roughly the equivalent service.
Now you can see why Rogers can’t be overly-aggressive with its iPhone pricing. If it goes too far, its army of high profit-margin Blackberry users will revolt and demand lower prices.
So, when you think about it, Rogers has very little wiggle room about how it prices the iPhones. As much as people want to criticize Rogers, the reality is some of the blame should be directed toward Blackberry users, who have been paying hefty bills without thinking much about it - mostly because most of them never see a bill at the end of the month.
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