Only an authorized carrier can sell it here
Gillian Shaw
Sun
If you want to buy one of the new 3G iPhones this Friday, don’t bother going to an Apple store
If you want to buy one of the new 3G iPhones this Friday, don’t bother going to an Apple store.
Unlike the United States where consumers could buy iPhones at Apple retailers as well as through the wireless carrier AT&T that carries the phones, in Canada consumers will have to buy from a Rogers Wireless or Fido retailer or one of the company’s authorized resellers.
“Unfortunately we won’t be selling it,” said Jamie Kerr, at Vancouver’s Simply Computing, an Apple retailer that has stores in six locations in British Columbia. “It’s because we are not an authorized cellphone carrier like Rogers or Fido.”
Future Shop, which sells cellphones and accompanying wireless plans, said it would like to carry the new iPhone but so far the answer from Rogers is no.
“It is part of Rogers’ retail strategy for the iPhone launch,” said Susan Kirk, spokesperson for Future Shop. “We are continuing to be in discussions with them.
“Our customer base is obviously tech savvy and would like to see it, so we are continuing to discuss it with them.”
Kerr said “tons of people” have been calling to see if the store will stock the iPhone.
“You can’t actually buy the phone without purchasing the plan,” she said. “This is kind of new — in the States where it was originally released you were able to go out and buy the iPhone on its own.”
Rogers, which also has the Fido brand, is the only network in Canada on which the iPhone can function. Many Canadians bought iPhones in the U.S. when there was no sign of their arrival in Canada and unlocked them for use on the Rogers or Fido network.
In the wake of the consumer backlash over Rogers’ pricing plans, online rumours suggest Apple is cutting shipments of iPhones to Canada and instead diverting them to Europe. Rogers has denied the rumour and said inventory has not changed since it announced the iPhone launch.
Meanwhile, Russell Gordon, a high school mathematics and computer science teacher in Ontario who launched the website www.getthefactsonrogersiphone.com, has launched a “lost customer” campaign.
His website has a coupon that he is urging consumers to fill out and drop off at a Rogers or Fido outlet on Friday.
It reads: “This slip represents one lost customer. I would have purchased an iPhone. I changed my mind due to the poor value of the Rogers/Fido voice and data plans.”
Another website attracting attention from disgruntled Rogers’ subscribers and would-be iPhone users, ruinediphone.com, has chalked up almost 700 Rogers customers who say they are abandoning the wireless carrier.
And in further bleak news, analysts at UBS Securities Canada lowered their target price for Rogers stock to $51 from $54 and for Telus from $46 to $43 as a result of the current wireless spectrum auction, which could see new competition in the wireless market in Canada. The analysts’ report said the lowered targets reflect the potential impact of an Ontario new entrant targeting the wireless consumer market and the increased risk of a “quasi-national new entrant anchored by Globalive, on its own or through possible partnerships with other new entrant license holders.”
The report has short-term sell ratings for Rogers and Telus, but the 12-month ratings remain unchanged for those companies.
“Short-term catalyst: we expect the near-term news flow after the auction could cause further downside for Rogers and Telus shares. Once the new entrant strategies are known and the partnership announcements are behind us, the focus will likely then turn to the new entrants’ progress and the challenges that the incumbents will create ahead of the new entrants, which may then help the shares recover,” the report said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
