Rogers "not very far" on iPhone for Canada: CFO

(( p g )) · Jun 20th, 2007, 08:59 PM

Bad news, boys and girls...

Electronista | Rogers 'not very far' on iPhone for Canada

Canadians hoping to get the iPhone are likely to see a significant wait, according to cellular provider Rogers. Company CFO Bill Linton has recently confirmed at a conference that his employer was in talks with Apple to bring the device to Canada but that the iPhone creator wanted to focus first on establishing American success before shifting elsewhere, reserving its full contract negotiations for the aftermath of the June 29th release.
"The truth is we aren't very far with Apple," Linton says. "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."

Apple has so far announced plans to bring the iPhone to Europe before the end of the year and for Asia in 2008 but has so far declined mention of Canada, which frequently shares devices and features with its American neighbor. Rogers is the only major carrier in the country to support the GSM networks used by the iPhone and would be Apple's only practical choice to carry the device.

In addition to new contracts, however, Rogers and others will also have to make significant software changes to get full support. Apple has not said whether some iPhone-specific features such as random-order voice mail will be offered in other countries.

sharkman · Jun 21st, 2007, 08:17 AM

Déjà vu a la iPod/iTunes initial introduction.

Script Kiddie · Jun 21st, 2007, 09:58 AM

Its worse than that because...
At least if you had a friend or family member in the US you could use their credit card and pay them back for all the songs you bought on iTunes. CBC Radio host Andy Barrie said he did this before the Canada iTunes store opened.

In contrast with the iPhone, sure you can buy it in the US and it *will* work in Canada but you will be paying huge roaming fees. You cannot change to a Rogers SIM and you cannot unlock it. Perhaps can buy one in the US and turn off the wireless - but then you just have a cool iPod. Maybe thats enough?

RunTheWorldOnMac · Jun 21st, 2007, 10:37 AM

SK, how do you know it cannot be unlocked? Granted it may take specially made hardware and software to do it, but there is a chance it will be possible; it may take time before this is possible.

Cuzz323 · Jun 21st, 2007, 11:35 AM

By law cell phone carriers in the state have to unlock the phone by request of the customer with no extra charge, and currently every single phone that AT&T carries they say they can unlock it for you after purchase over the phone. so no software is needed just the subsidiary lock code.

King Chung Huang · Jun 21st, 2007, 12:26 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Cuzz323
	By law cell phone carriers in the state have to unlock the phone by request of the customer with no extra charge, and currently every single phone that AT&T carries they say they can unlock it for you after purchase over the phone. so no software is needed just the subsidiary lock code.

Yes, unlocking the phone shouldn't be a problem. The only real barrier that I can see is getting out of the 2-year plan if that's an absolute requirement.

krug1313 · Jun 21st, 2007, 01:20 PM

I can guarantee there will be at least a 2 year contract with the phone. Rogers etc.. don't really make their money from selling the phones but from the services every month. AT&T will use this to their advantage when it comes to people wanting to bring the iphone back to Canada. What I would do is go on a contract with them and cancel right away. I know with Rogers there is a $200 charge but just think that could be 2 months worth of usage if you were to stay in a contract with AT&T. I personally am very disappointed with the decision not to bring the iphone out in certain geographical areas such as Canada. I do understand they want to target the big market but I think they are forgetting about their faithful apple users around the world that may not be included in the "Big MArket". What would it hurt to bring the phone to Canada the same time as the USA? I mean they will only make more money.

Just my thought on this.

jdurston · Jun 21st, 2007, 04:20 PM

Canada is bad country to be a paying cell phone user anyways. I think we have one the highest costs per phone in the world. (according to some study that was announced on the radio last year

)

Sour grapes.

HowEver · Jun 21st, 2007, 04:21 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Cuzz323
	By law cell phone carriers in the state have to unlock the phone by request of the customer with no extra charge, and currently every single phone that AT&T carries they say they can unlock it for you after purchase over the phone. so no software is needed just the subsidiary lock code.

What law are you talking about here?

Cingular/AT&T will only unlock phones under certain conditions. Here they are:

	Quote:
	Unlocking your Cingular Phone If you want to unlock your Cingular phone, you have to call Cingular customer service and ask them for the subsidy unlock code. It is important that they understand what you want so that they don't confuse your request with assistance to get the security PIN or PUK code to unlock your SIM card. The subsidy unlock code is for your phone, not for your SIM card. Therefore, if the customer service representative doesn't understand what the subsidy unlock code is, sometimes it is necessary to explain that you are going overseas and you want to be able to use a foreign pre-paid SIM card in your Cingular phone and that's why you need to unlock it. Cingular will take your information and will request a subsidy code for you to a different department. This department will send the unlock code back to the CS. CS should then return your call (about 5 to 7 days later) with the unlock code and specific instructions on how to enter it. You can request they email you the information as well. Once CS receives the code, they can to pull the subsidy code immediately. Therefore, if they don't email or call you back, you can call them again and ask for the code. If they have it, they should be able to give it to you right away. There are two requirements to meet before Cingular will give you the unlock code: 1) The first requirement is that the phone's IMEI number must be in your account for at least 90 days. Sometimes they don't check how long the IMEI has been in your account but they do check to see it it is there. So sometimes you can get away with having the IMEI in your account for less than 90 days. In other words, you can call today to have them enter an IMEI in your account, and then tomorrow call again to request the subsidy unlock code. 2) The phone has to be a Cingular branded phone. Cingular WILL NOT and CANNOT unlock phones that are not Cingular branded including those branded by the former AT&T Wireless.**

As a Canadian, unless you live in the U.S. and meet these conditions, you will not get your Cingular/AT&T phone unlock code from Cingular/AT&T.

Also, there are phones that are not unlockable. You have no idea if the iPhone is one of those phones. Simply believing that it is does not make it happen.

	Quote:			Originally Posted by krug1313
	I can guarantee there will be at least a 2 year contract with the phone. Rogers etc.. don't really make their money from selling the phones but from the services every month. AT&T will use this to their advantage when it comes to people wanting to bring the iphone back to Canada. What I would do is go on a contract with them and cancel right away. I know with Rogers there is a $200 charge but just think that could be 2 months worth of usage if you were to stay in a contract with AT&T. I personally am very disappointed with the decision not to bring the iphone out in certain geographical areas such as Canada. I do understand they want to target the big market but I think they are forgetting about their faithful apple users around the world that may not be included in the "Big MArket". What would it hurt to bring the phone to Canada the same time as the USA? I mean they will only make more money. Just my thought on this.

Unless you are grandparented, and your contract with Rogers has been unchanged since before January 31, 2007, the cancellation fee is $20 per month until the end of the contract, to a maximum of $400 and NOT $200.

Any new contract with Rogers will have the $400 minimum cancellation fee. It matches Bell, but is less than Telus' maximum, which is about $720, i.e., the entire life of your three-year contract. You'll want to find out how much AT&T's cancellation fee will be, and how you will use the iPhone's special features on a network that isn't set up for them yet, with a phone locked to AT&T...

Apple and Rogers are actually working to bring the iPhone to Canada as soon as possible, but the technical side requires much more than for other phones and no doubt Industry Canada must approve the device. It has nothing to do with the "geographical" size of Canada; Rogers is already Canada's largest digital network; they won't be building a new network.

Sigh.

Cuzz323 · Jun 21st, 2007, 04:47 PM

All GSM Mobile Phones Are Unlockable, Name a GSM phone that you say can't be unlocked and i'll prove you wrong, I'm an American living in Canada i have a New Jersey address , So getting the phone won't be an issue and next week i will be in New York picking up two 8GB models ,

one for me and one for E-bay Canada and screw the contract i'll ask them to unlock the phones onces i get the subsidy lock codes for the phones and they work on FIDO then i'll call them and tell them that i lost my phones, and make them cancel my service and stick it to em, i've done it to rogers many times, and if the phones don't work and just go and get a refund,Simple

what i really hope that happens is that Rogers act like the dicks they are and don't work out the deal that works for Apple and the Canadian iPhones are straight to retail
unlocked phones.

Jun 20th, 2007, 08:59 PM	#1
(( p g )) Honourable Citizen Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: YOW, ON Posts: 2,209	Rogers "not very far" on iPhone for Canada: CFO Bad news, boys and girls... Electronista \| Rogers 'not very far' on iPhone for Canada Canadians hoping to get the iPhone are likely to see a significant wait, according to cellular provider Rogers. Company CFO Bill Linton has recently confirmed at a conference that his employer was in talks with Apple to bring the device to Canada but that the iPhone creator wanted to focus first on establishing American success before shifting elsewhere, reserving its full contract negotiations for the aftermath of the June 29th release. "The truth is we aren't very far with Apple," Linton says. "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." Apple has so far announced plans to bring the iPhone to Europe before the end of the year and for Asia in 2008 but has so far declined mention of Canada, which frequently shares devices and features with its American neighbor. Rogers is the only major carrier in the country to support the GSM networks used by the iPhone and would be Apple's only practical choice to carry the device. In addition to new contracts, however, Rogers and others will also have to make significant software changes to get full support. Apple has not said whether some iPhone-specific features such as random-order voice mail will be offered in other countries.

Jun 21st, 2007, 09:58 AM	#3
Script Kiddie Full Citizen Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: kitchener Posts: 803	Its worse than that because... At least if you had a friend or family member in the US you could use their credit card and pay them back for all the songs you bought on iTunes. CBC Radio host Andy Barrie said he did this before the Canada iTunes store opened. In contrast with the iPhone, sure you can buy it in the US and it will work in Canada but you will be paying huge roaming fees. You cannot change to a Rogers SIM and you cannot unlock it. Perhaps can buy one in the US and turn off the wireless - but then you just have a cool iPod. Maybe thats enough? __________________ .o0o.

Jun 21st, 2007, 10:37 AM	#4
RunTheWorldOnMac Honourable Citizen Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Kanata Posts: 2,376	SK, how do you know it cannot be unlocked? Granted it may take specially made hardware and software to do it, but there is a chance it will be possible; it may take time before this is possible. __________________ Cheers, Scott _______________________ http://www.runtheworldonmac.com Mac Mini - 2.0GHz Intel Duo Core 2 MacBook - 2.0GHz Intel Duo Core 2 eMac - G4 700MHz iPhone 3G S 32GB - Black Apple TV 40G Time Capsule - 500G Airport Express Base Station iPod Nano Blue

Jun 21st, 2007, 11:35 AM	#5
Cuzz323 Full Citizen Join Date: May 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 62	It Will Be Unlockable By law cell phone carriers in the state have to unlock the phone by request of the customer with no extra charge, and currently every single phone that AT&T carries they say they can unlock it for you after purchase over the phone. so no software is needed just the subsidiary lock code. __________________ 24'' iMAC ,15'' PowerBook G4 . 30GB iPod Video , 60GB PS3 (making space for the iPhone)

Jun 21st, 2007, 04:20 PM	#8
jdurston Honourable Citizen Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Waterloo Posts: 1,158	Canada is bad country to be a paying cell phone user anyways. I think we have one the highest costs per phone in the world. (according to some study that was announced on the radio last year ) Sour grapes. __________________ MacBook 2.0CD, 2GB RAM, 10.5.8 [SIZE="3"]Apple's handling of iPhone apps is quickly souring my taste for apple products. I've aquired a Windows 7 machine instead of the new MacBook as my form of protest[/size]

Jun 21st, 2007, 08:17 AM	#2
sharkman Full Citizen Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Toronto Posts: 259	Déjà vu a la iPod/iTunes initial introduction.

Jun 21st, 2007, 01:20 PM	#7
krug1313 Full Citizen Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 349	I can guarantee there will be at least a 2 year contract with the phone. Rogers etc.. don't really make their money from selling the phones but from the services every month. AT&T will use this to their advantage when it comes to people wanting to bring the iphone back to Canada. What I would do is go on a contract with them and cancel right away. I know with Rogers there is a $200 charge but just think that could be 2 months worth of usage if you were to stay in a contract with AT&T. I personally am very disappointed with the decision not to bring the iphone out in certain geographical areas such as Canada. I do understand they want to target the big market but I think they are forgetting about their faithful apple users around the world that may not be included in the "Big MArket". What would it hurt to bring the phone to Canada the same time as the USA? I mean they will only make more money. Just my thought on this.

Jun 21st, 2007, 04:47 PM	#10
Cuzz323 Full Citizen Join Date: May 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 62	Hmmm All GSM Mobile Phones Are Unlockable, Name a GSM phone that you say can't be unlocked and i'll prove you wrong, I'm an American living in Canada i have a New Jersey address , So getting the phone won't be an issue and next week i will be in New York picking up two 8GB models , one for me and one for E-bay Canada and screw the contract i'll ask them to unlock the phones onces i get the subsidy lock codes for the phones and they work on FIDO then i'll call them and tell them that i lost my phones, and make them cancel my service and stick it to em, i've done it to rogers many times, and if the phones don't work and just go and get a refund,Simple what i really hope that happens is that Rogers act like the dicks they are and don't work out the deal that works for Apple and the Canadian iPhones are straight to retail unlocked phones. __________________ 24'' iMAC ,15'' PowerBook G4 . 30GB iPod Video , 60GB PS3 (making space for the iPhone)

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