Filed under: iPhone
Oh Canada: iPhone not coming anytime soon
Poor beleaguered iPhone fans in the Great White North are apparently in for a long wait. In a Globe and Mail article, the CFO of Canada's lone GSM provider Rogers Communications is quoted as saying: "The truth is we aren't very far with Apple.... They're concentrating on this launch and the U.S., and when they decide to turn their mind to other markets, we'll be in line."Well at least this suggests that Rogers will eventually carry the iPhone. We earlier mentioned a report that they "had not announced their intentions to carry the iPhone." So our friends up north will just have wait, but at least there's reason to hope.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bruno said 10:21AM on 6-19-2007
Or, GASP! You can buy one in the US if the Apple Store in Canada won't be carrying it. I suppose a couple of features, like the visual voice mail won't work of course.
While Rogers owns the sole GSM network in Canada, there are other providers selling access to that network, MVNO style.
Mobile service pricing in Canada is of course a huge rip-off and most carriers still charge the falsified $7 per month "Spectrum Licensing Fee" on TOP of their advertised prices.
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south said 10:29AM on 6-19-2007
if it's a success in the US, then other markets will follow quickly. except Australia, which will probably see its first iPhone sometime around 2013.
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B deR West said 10:55AM on 6-19-2007
@#1: Unless you want to spend an exorbitant amount of $ unlocking the phone, you'll have to use it with AT&T for 90 days or six months or something. I don't know the exact length of time, but Cingular's policy for providing unlock codes required customers to be "in good standing with the company for XXXX amount of time"
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Rick said 10:59AM on 6-19-2007
I knew this would happen. Even when everyone was taking some blogger's claim that a CSR told him it was coming to Canada soon.
The fact is, Apple doesn't consider the iPhone as a standalone device. They want/need tight integration with the carriers, and thus, this makes it a product that is highly dependent on local market conditions, unlike the iPod.
And what other product has Apple released that was highly dependant on local markets? The iTunes Store. And it took them 14 months before it was available in Europe; and even then it was just available in France, UK, and Germany. Took them several months later for the rest of Europe.
The iTunes store took over a year and eight months for it to be available in Canada.
Let that be a lesson to all those who are waiting for the iPhone to be available in Canada: Apple goes where the money is. Europe will have the iPhone in droves before it ever makes it here to Canada. Our market is peanuts to Apple.
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svds said 11:01AM on 6-19-2007
So is there any word about the European market?
I live in Belgium, we have 3 big providers: mobistar, proximus and base.
As far as I know non of these show intrest in the iPhone. So i'm wondering
if the iPone will even be sold in Europe?
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Jon said 11:09AM on 6-19-2007
I don't know what Apple's global release strategy for the iPhone is but I know that tiny countries I have never even heard of get movies before Europe, so I'm not optimistic.
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Jonny said 11:10AM on 6-19-2007
I'd take this article with a grain of salt. A friend of mine, who works with Rogers, says that at the moment Rogers is testing the iPhone and that it can be expected to be released in Canada sometime in the fall. There IS also a slot for a SIM card, so even if it's not available here anytime soon, you can pick on up on eBay or wherever and still be able to use it. And you can take that to the bank!
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Patrick said 11:14AM on 6-19-2007
http://www.puremobile.com/Apple/Apple-iPhone-Black-GSM-Phone/
I'll get one there if they actually manage to get any stock on them.
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Steve Buchan said 12:04PM on 6-19-2007
CANADIANS HAVE OPTED TO WAIT FOR VERSION 2.0 OF THE iPHONE - HSDP, Removable Battery, MicroSD Card.
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niclet said 12:22PM on 6-19-2007
We'll probably see the release of a new iPod with an iPhone form factor (large touch screen / OS X / no phone) before that!
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B deR West said 2:34PM on 6-19-2007
Good of you to let us know the intent of the entire nation, Steve Buchan. Although if they're waiting for a phone from Apple with a MicroSD slot they might be waiting for a while. Just because the rest of the mobile-phone world does things a certain way doesn't mean Apple Inc. will.
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caixapostal said 4:14PM on 6-19-2007
Well, it could be worse, you know? Instead of waiting for the iPhone in Canada, you could be waiting for it in Brazil. We don't even have iTMS around here. And the US$149 iPod Nano sets you back US$420 (!!!) after local taxes. See? Things can always get worse.
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Raúl Colón-Scarano said 4:30PM on 6-19-2007
Hummm...
Puerto Rico is getting the iPhone later, too. We're not included in the "launch list" for June 29th. It'll take a while before it reaches PR, maybe up to version 2. And yes, we have AT&T.
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Rafael Bugajewski said 4:59PM on 6-19-2007
Yeah, the good old iPhone & provider limitations...
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sparkbank said 6:00PM on 6-19-2007
Awe man!!! That's it! I'm moving state-side!
S.
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svds said 6:34PM on 6-19-2007
I completely forgot the fact that in Belgium it's illegal to sell a mobile phone "locked" with a provider contract. So if they're ever going to sell this in europe they'll have to make it unlocked!
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Steve Grenier said 7:33PM on 6-19-2007
Yea this really sucks for Canada, I was hoping to pick up one in the Fall as we usually get it later, but with Apple neglecting Rogers I don't see that happening until holiday season. I dunno if I'm going to want to use my iPhone in the winter, but what the hell, gimme gimme!
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kirbdog said 8:55PM on 6-19-2007
Here is hoping that the second revision is out by the time that the iPhone is available in Canada.
Cause that is the only way I will be able to wait and not get the rev.A version.
We all know that Rev.B will be cheaper and have more features!!!
I am really looking for a silver lining here.
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jonathan Warkentin said 12:18AM on 6-20-2007
I am dying for an iPhone. I have waited years for this, and now I can't even buy one. I think you ned a two year minimum contract in order to buy it, so I couldn't even buy it, and not use the phone part of it.
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Andrew Stone said 12:45AM on 6-20-2007
I gotta agree with the comment that Canadians are waiting for the dot 2 version of iPhone. Maybe all the gooks going south for their iPhones will create enough of a vacuum to lower cellular pricing up here.
Other than pure unadulterated technolust I cannot see why any seasoned Mac user would buy a first generation anything from Apple let alone a product with so many technological firsts in it.
I'm a bonified gadget freak but I won't be buying a first gen iPhone even if it was offered. Besides a PDA (which iPhone is no matter how you slice it) is not complete without a spreadsheet.
Smoke another spliff.
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