Report claims Apple not happy with Rogers, carrier disagrees
A blogger says sources within Rogers are saying the Cupertino company is punishing the carrier over its meager iPhone plans, although the carrier says nothing's changed.
Canadian consumers are also up in arms: over 44,000 have signed a online petition on RuinediPhone.com demanding better plans from the company.
The base plan in the country at $60 CAD ($59 USD) offers 150 minutes of talk time, with unlimited nights and weekends, 400 MB of data, unlimited incoming texts, and 75 outgoing texts. The phone itself will sell for $199 CAD (8 GB) or $299 CAD (16 GB).
Compare this to the base plan in the US, which for $10 more a month offers users 450 minutes, 5000 night and weekend minutes, as well as unlimited mobile-to-mobile and data -- however, no text messaging. Here, the phone sells for $199 USD (8 GB) or $299 USD (16 GB).
Such a disparity is enough to anger some to the point of boycotting the device altogether, and apparently enough to cause Apple to limit shipments if the latest report appearing on the independent blog Smithereens is to be believed.
Blogger Daniel Smith cites a Rogers exec telling his source that additional staff planned for the launch have been let go, and that each store had seen its allocation reduced to as few as 10-20 units, with Europe being confirmed as the destination.
Retail outlets were being urged not to "over-promise," according to word from Rogers corporate.
However, Rogers is disputing those reports. "I can confirm that Canada's inventory of iPhone 3G has remained the same throughout our announcements," spokesperson Elizabeth Hamilton told BetaNews.
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.
This is not the first time where there has been consumer backlash over iPhone rate plans. Swedish provider TeliaSonera was forced to change its data plans to include unlimited data after its high-end plan only included 1 GB of data transfer.
A request for comment from Apple Canada had not been returned as of press time.