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Rogers Announces iPhone Plans in Canada
- Thread starter generationxwing
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That wouldn't work, since then he would increase the rates to pay for a newer bigger one
This morning I spoke with my company's corporate sales rep at Rogers.
He said that right now, the whole iPhone launch is shrouded in secrecy the like of which he's never seen before at Rogers.
There is a company wide teleconference tomorrow morning from 9 to noon (PST) and only after that will they know what's going on.
He didn't know this morning whether they would have any phones for corporate customers, how many they might get, when they would be able to supply them, or anything else. He said that the only thing he did know was that Apple and Rogers had been playing 'very hard ball' with each other about the whole thing and that the announced data plan pricing was the only concrete information he had.
I mentioned to him that there was a lack of satisfaction with the whole launch and he said he was aware of that.
I'm booked to call him back tomorrow afternoon and will share what I learn after that call if it's anything significant. But it's probably not going to be anything that hasn't already been said here. I'm guilty of not reading the entirety of this thread I'm afraid.
Cheers.
He said that right now, the whole iPhone launch is shrouded in secrecy the like of which he's never seen before at Rogers.
There is a company wide teleconference tomorrow morning from 9 to noon (PST) and only after that will they know what's going on.
He didn't know this morning whether they would have any phones for corporate customers, how many they might get, when they would be able to supply them, or anything else. He said that the only thing he did know was that Apple and Rogers had been playing 'very hard ball' with each other about the whole thing and that the announced data plan pricing was the only concrete information he had.
I mentioned to him that there was a lack of satisfaction with the whole launch and he said he was aware of that.
I'm booked to call him back tomorrow afternoon and will share what I learn after that call if it's anything significant. But it's probably not going to be anything that hasn't already been said here. I'm guilty of not reading the entirety of this thread I'm afraid.
Cheers.
I have direct line-of-sight to his Rogers HQ Penthouse from my terrace.
My kingdom for a rocket launcher
All jokes aside, Ted is a ridiculously self-important prick who doesn't care one iota about his customers and how his business practices affect their perception of his company.
Jerkass.
Oh, you and Peruchito are so going to get a visit from OPPI have direct line-of-sight to his Rogers HQ Penthouse from my terrace.
My kingdom for a rocket launcher
All jokes aside, Ted is a ridiculously self-important prick who doesn't care one iota about his customers and how his business practices affect their perception of his company.
Jerkass.
How dare you threaten one of our national icons...Quite likely, they are employed as accountants or external auditors for RCI, so they know where to kneel down.
Oh, you and Peruchito are so going to get a visit from OPP
i hearby challenge ted rogers to a fight to the death. just name when and where teddy!
I'm not saying that it's going to happen, only that it is the only way that we as consumers can make a difference. If any MR subscriber knows anyone in Canada who is considering buying the iPhone, I ask you to encourage them to boycott its initial Canadian release. I will be doing this myself, even though my current phone is 5 years old, and being an Apple junkie, I have been waiting for the iPhone since rumors about it first emerged.
I'm still getting an iPhone, but I do agree with your sentiment, just not your method. I think it's fair to say that the majority of us would like an iPhone, but absolutely hate the data plans that Rogers currently offers. So instead of just blindly boycotting the whole affair I want to send Rogers a different message when I get the iPhone and don't pick up any of their data plans.
I'm simply going to renew my $30/mth corporate plan and wait for them to realize they sold 1 iPhone and 0 data plans in that transaction. If enough people do that then they will truly understand the draw of the iPhone and the absolute distain most consumers have for their data plan structure.
Same idea I think RebelScum is planning. but as he said, this will still allow Rogers to crow about how their data plans did not result in low initial numbers. They might even use this to then justify to themselves and others that their sales plan was sound. Giving them low initial numbers is the only thing guaranteed to make the point publically...though it doesn't guarantee they will listen.
These plans really are shockingly bad. For the cheapest plan, you get 7 minutes of phone use per day (incoming and outgoing), and 3 text messages per day. Just ridiculous. Living in Ireland, all incoming calls and texts are free - you only pay for communication that you initiate. It's a shame to see Rogers really gouging people with these plans.
Just read someones's post at arstechnica that a Rogers store rep told them they could buy the iPhone without data, if they have an existing voice plan, but with a fairly moderate ($25) additional fee. So, you might not even have to sign up for that $60 plan first. Just buy it for $25 extra. Is the $20 fee you are planning to rollback to your voice or data plan?
I am still going to wait a few weeks before I decide. I am not going to help their launch numbers.
Actually, it's 5 minutes of phone use and 2.5 text messages
Ireland's not quite in the same place (although they're not bad), but the U.K. plans look awesome. I guess it's about time they got some kind of bargain compared to the rest of the world
...of course a lot of that has to do with geography and the market.Here in Canada, the providers have seemed content until recently to avoid any real competition.
EDIT: By the way.. for anyone looking at an iPhone, I would recommend at least trying Costco... I got a good deal on my new phone plan there that's competitive with a lot of corporate rates. I doubt you'll see much in the way of superior offerings for the iPhone if they even stock it, but it wouldn't hurt to check.
Speaking as a fellow Edmontonian, I think Darcy Tucker would give him a run for his money out west. The most hated player who was on (until recently) the most hated team.
It's all going to come down to sales
This is an interesting statement in what it doesn't say. If there has been no friction between Apple and Rogers why wouldn't Rogers categorically deny all aspects of the report. It makes sense that Rogers is already in possession of inventory, and may have been since before the uproar over pricing. The blog report about a rift between Apple and Rogers implies Rogers may face problems restocking initial inventory or obtaining additional inventory needed for a big opening day launch. The statement from Rogers does nothing to dispel this possibility. Of course without corroboration the blog report does have to be taken with a grain of salt. (Perhaps even a spoonful.)
Regardless of who's behind the leak that resulted in the story, or the motives, the story itself may help Rogers.
Now there's the impression (correct or otherwise) that opening day supply for the iPhone is limited and there's "great demand" for the device which is naturally going to push some people into running out and grabbing one while they can. If the iPhone sells well on July 11th a lot of the bad press will be trumped, and if the iPhone story changes from "Canadians angry about iPhone pricing" to "Canadians embrace the iPhone" then Rogers wins a big victory.
Right now Rogers is desperate to end the bad press. They want everyone to calm down. They want to turn the negative press into positive press and they want to show investors that the iPhone is going to have the positive impact on revenue and market share expected when the iPhone was first announced and Rogers stock shot up.
If Rogers turns out to be under supplied and they can sell out at most locations in the first weekend they will likely be rewarded come monday with good press and positive trading. Personally I'm not going to be purchasing an iPhone until there is movement on pricing. I'm a little perplexed that more people aren't waiting for a better deal when it appears that such a move could bring about a real change in cellphone rates. (I say this because it appeared over the weekend that Rogers was preparing to release new pricing today. It's doubtful this new pricing would have included unlimited data - and if it did I think the price would have been $100 for unlimited data on top of everything else - but cheaper is cheaper whatever they might have announced. I actually think Rogers assessed the situation and based on all the calls by people asking about inventory decided there was still a lot of pent up demand for the iPhone, allowing Rogers to hold firm on pricing. Admittedly that's a bit of wild speculation, but what fun is this forum without some wild speculation.)
Canadians complain about the cost of goods of services but when it involves the slightest inconvenience we refuse to change our spending habits and thus continue to reward companies whose pricing we find unfair. On the other hand I understand that it's a personal choice and individually a lot of people have their own very good reasons for wanting to purchase the iPhone on July 11th. In the end I don't think it will matter. This coming monday Rogers may indeed be rewarded after a good launch weekend. But I don't think Rogers will get much market penetration beyond the early adopters. People who don't obsess about their cell phones aren't ready to pay $100 a month to own one. You could argue that an iPhone under contract with Rogers is like a subsidized iPod Touch that's also a phone when you don't take a data plan and you don't use any of the data features. This might appeal to people. Except for one flaw; you can't turn off data on the iPhone. (Perhaps Rogers will disable data at the account level but I wouldn't count on it. And on the Rogers site it says "Your iPhone will be enabled for data usage. If you subscribe to a plan with no data included, data charges at a pay-per-use rate of 5¢/KB for data sent and/or received over the Rogers network will apply, unless you subscribe to a data plan, which we highly recommend.") So the problem becomes do you want to own an "iPod Touch Phone" where if you accidentally hit the YouTube button you've just spent $5 even if you closed it right away as you realized your mistake.
In the long run - and by long run I think 3 months - Rogers will eventually lower data rates even if they don't do it right now. Just look at what Apple did with the original pricing for the iPhone. It was very expensive and a lot of people complained and it got some bad press but people lined up for it anyway and it sold like hotcakes and analysts went wild with their adjusted sales expectations (didn't one analyst predict 42million in sales by 2010?) and within 3 months after all the early adopters had picked one up sales went flat and Apple slashed the price $200.
If there is a problem between Rogers and Apple perhaps Rogers will in fact lower their rates before the 11th. But if they do I wouldn't expect too much. Someone stated this earlier, Rogers is protecting the rates they charge corporate Blackberry customers. Those rates represented a very positive part of their earnings and they aren't about to give up the bird in the hand just for the two in the bush which is getting every consumer customer to sign up for a data plan.
Cheers
This is an interesting statement in what it doesn't say. If there has been no friction between Apple and Rogers why wouldn't Rogers categorically deny all aspects of the report. It makes sense that Rogers is already in possession of inventory, and may have been since before the uproar over pricing. The blog report about a rift between Apple and Rogers implies Rogers may face problems restocking initial inventory or obtaining additional inventory needed for a big opening day launch. The statement from Rogers does nothing to dispel this possibility. Of course without corroboration the blog report does have to be taken with a grain of salt. (Perhaps even a spoonful.)
Regardless of who's behind the leak that resulted in the story, or the motives, the story itself may help Rogers.
Now there's the impression (correct or otherwise) that opening day supply for the iPhone is limited and there's "great demand" for the device which is naturally going to push some people into running out and grabbing one while they can. If the iPhone sells well on July 11th a lot of the bad press will be trumped, and if the iPhone story changes from "Canadians angry about iPhone pricing" to "Canadians embrace the iPhone" then Rogers wins a big victory.
Right now Rogers is desperate to end the bad press. They want everyone to calm down. They want to turn the negative press into positive press and they want to show investors that the iPhone is going to have the positive impact on revenue and market share expected when the iPhone was first announced and Rogers stock shot up.
If Rogers turns out to be under supplied and they can sell out at most locations in the first weekend they will likely be rewarded come monday with good press and positive trading. Personally I'm not going to be purchasing an iPhone until there is movement on pricing. I'm a little perplexed that more people aren't waiting for a better deal when it appears that such a move could bring about a real change in cellphone rates. (I say this because it appeared over the weekend that Rogers was preparing to release new pricing today. It's doubtful this new pricing would have included unlimited data - and if it did I think the price would have been $100 for unlimited data on top of everything else - but cheaper is cheaper whatever they might have announced. I actually think Rogers assessed the situation and based on all the calls by people asking about inventory decided there was still a lot of pent up demand for the iPhone, allowing Rogers to hold firm on pricing. Admittedly that's a bit of wild speculation, but what fun is this forum without some wild speculation.)
Canadians complain about the cost of goods of services but when it involves the slightest inconvenience we refuse to change our spending habits and thus continue to reward companies whose pricing we find unfair. On the other hand I understand that it's a personal choice and individually a lot of people have their own very good reasons for wanting to purchase the iPhone on July 11th. In the end I don't think it will matter. This coming monday Rogers may indeed be rewarded after a good launch weekend. But I don't think Rogers will get much market penetration beyond the early adopters. People who don't obsess about their cell phones aren't ready to pay $100 a month to own one. You could argue that an iPhone under contract with Rogers is like a subsidized iPod Touch that's also a phone when you don't take a data plan and you don't use any of the data features. This might appeal to people. Except for one flaw; you can't turn off data on the iPhone. (Perhaps Rogers will disable data at the account level but I wouldn't count on it. And on the Rogers site it says "Your iPhone will be enabled for data usage. If you subscribe to a plan with no data included, data charges at a pay-per-use rate of 5¢/KB for data sent and/or received over the Rogers network will apply, unless you subscribe to a data plan, which we highly recommend.") So the problem becomes do you want to own an "iPod Touch Phone" where if you accidentally hit the YouTube button you've just spent $5 even if you closed it right away as you realized your mistake.
In the long run - and by long run I think 3 months - Rogers will eventually lower data rates even if they don't do it right now. Just look at what Apple did with the original pricing for the iPhone. It was very expensive and a lot of people complained and it got some bad press but people lined up for it anyway and it sold like hotcakes and analysts went wild with their adjusted sales expectations (didn't one analyst predict 42million in sales by 2010?) and within 3 months after all the early adopters had picked one up sales went flat and Apple slashed the price $200.
If there is a problem between Rogers and Apple perhaps Rogers will in fact lower their rates before the 11th. But if they do I wouldn't expect too much. Someone stated this earlier, Rogers is protecting the rates they charge corporate Blackberry customers. Those rates represented a very positive part of their earnings and they aren't about to give up the bird in the hand just for the two in the bush which is getting every consumer customer to sign up for a data plan.
Cheers
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. IF you DON'T buy in, you wait longer for pricing to come down as Rogers tries to recoup their losses. If you DO buy in, you pay and Rogers celebrates. Either way, you;re prolly right...for a few months, you pay.
I'm very interested in the $25 no-data-plan, if it exists. Hurm...
Here is the source for my quotes from Liz.
http://www.betanews.com/article/Report_claims_Apple_not_happy_with_Rogers_carrier_disagrees/1215448322
From HoFo:
This is news from supposedly an employee of Fido/Rogers on HoFo:
- Expectation to sell 8.5-9k phones in first 2 days (my own note: if Canada was to repeat the success of the US's first launch, they'd need to sell 30k phones)
- No employee purchases until further notice. No waitlists or rain cheques for customers.
- No promotions or incentives as per Apple. Employees cannot speak to the press.
- Limit 2 phones per customer
- HUP (hardware upgrade plans) can be done in store. Must be eligible for 3 year. Not HUP elgible = no iPhone. All standard upgrade rules apply including CityFido upgrade rules.
- "If we activate with iPhone plans, commissions rock! If we activate a regular plan and don't activate data, we get NO commission" For every iPhone that we sell w/o a data plan, we must explain to management why no data was attached in writing.
- No non-contract price
- No family or couple plans for the iPhone plans (you can use other plans).
- "There may be iPhone specific data add-on plans. I will have more info tomorrow."
- Fido dollars can ONLY be used when doing a renewal as well.
Take it for what it's worth...
This is news from supposedly an employee of Fido/Rogers on HoFo:
- Expectation to sell 8.5-9k phones in first 2 days (my own note: if Canada was to repeat the success of the US's first launch, they'd need to sell 30k phones)
- No employee purchases until further notice. No waitlists or rain cheques for customers.
- No promotions or incentives as per Apple. Employees cannot speak to the press.
- Limit 2 phones per customer
- HUP (hardware upgrade plans) can be done in store. Must be eligible for 3 year. Not HUP elgible = no iPhone. All standard upgrade rules apply including CityFido upgrade rules.
- "If we activate with iPhone plans, commissions rock! If we activate a regular plan and don't activate data, we get NO commission" For every iPhone that we sell w/o a data plan, we must explain to management why no data was attached in writing.
- No non-contract price
- No family or couple plans for the iPhone plans (you can use other plans).
- "There may be iPhone specific data add-on plans. I will have more info tomorrow."
- Fido dollars can ONLY be used when doing a renewal as well.
Take it for what it's worth...
Mint, thanks
She comes off so frackin smug sometimes...I just HAD to send her this E-mail:
Ms. Hamilton:
You are the queen of spin.
"She further said that the company does not comment on petitions and rumors generally, but did cite customer feedback showing "great demand" for the device." - http://www.betanews.com/article/Rep...appy_with_Rogers_carrier_disagrees/1215448322
Well of course there's great demand for the device. Everyone wants one. Unfortunately Rogers couldn;t care less about the wants and needs of its customers, because if they did, they would recognize that offering plans as gimped as the once for the iPhone only serves to breed animosity and hatred for your company, a department in which Rogers is not exactly lacking.
Except for a couple of small press releases by yourself, why hasn't Rogers come forward to defend its practices of gouging its customers?
I ask you again, and will likely keep asking until you grace me with an answer: I want to know how you can justify putting a cap of any kind on a monthly data plan, especially at such a high cost, when the precedent has existed for well long enough that unlimited data for $7 - $10 is a viable option.
Eagerly anticipating your response
"She further said that the company does not comment on petitions and rumors generally, but did cite customer feedback showing "great demand" for the device." - http://www.betanews.com/article/Rep...appy_with_Rogers_carrier_disagrees/1215448322
Well of course there's great demand for the device. Everyone wants one. Unfortunately Rogers couldn;t care less about the wants and needs of its customers, because if they did, they would recognize that offering plans as gimped as the once for the iPhone only serves to breed animosity and hatred for your company, a department in which Rogers is not exactly lacking.
Except for a couple of small press releases by yourself, why hasn't Rogers come forward to defend its practices of gouging its customers?
I ask you again, and will likely keep asking until you grace me with an answer: I want to know how you can justify putting a cap of any kind on a monthly data plan, especially at such a high cost, when the precedent has existed for well long enough that unlimited data for $7 - $10 is a viable option.
Eagerly anticipating your response