Rogers commits to purchasing $150M in iPhones from Apple

"Halve the price", not "half the price".... FFS!

"expand".

On topic, it seems Rogers is happy because they are absolutely raping the customers on data fees?

If so 300,000 new iPhones, each say will run up $200 in data fees in a few months since the start of it, that equals $60 million in data fees alone.

Yup, no wonder they are happy. Their purchase of $150 million worth of handsets breaks even within a year if you include call, tariff, data fees, etc. etc.

Just as a very rough estimate. Remember I am finance n00b.

Well, they are better than they were when they first announced their iPhone packages. They changed their tune pretty quickly and allowed more a al carte offerings. You can keep your old voice plan (or get another) and add on data at $30/6GB. You can add VVM as a stand alone option or add in a Value Pack that includes 2500 SMS and a couple other minor items.

$30/6GB is damn near unlimited for me. Sure, it would be a fool that bought into the lies about 'normal' and 'expected' data usage to justify their initial offering, but they have certainly improved. Assuming for most, that 6GB is the same as unlimited, I think I got as good a deal as those in the US are getting.

$56/month gets me:
6GB data, Unlimited Incoming, unlimited N/E starting at 7PM, 250 daytime minutes, 100 Canadian LD minutes, Visual Voicemail and Call Display. As always in Canada, we also pay the same-as-theft System Access Fee ($7), 911 fee ($0.50) and tax on all. But, in terms of raw pricing, this seems comparable to carriers in other countries.

But they are still going to make a killing off of every dollar they invest in buying iPhones.

If we're being anal then FFS ... I assume to mean fix the fing spelling isn't correct. They spelled the word just fine... its the usage that's incorrect. FFU as it were...

On track..

I see this as just another of the many good signs Apple has going for it when it comes to their new cellular product line.

Apple in a time when it was THOUGHT that the MP3 player market was pretty much carved up "by the majors"... ahem.. Apple swoops in with the iPod and snatches up all their lunch money... :

Repeat with the cell phone industry?

Still too early to tell but the signs are certainly looking better than good...

Oh and all the while Apple is slowly but surely nibbling away at Microsofts desktop market share... Gotta love it... No wonder Gates retired...

Dave

I live right in the heart of downtown Toronto, ON.
I mean RIGHT downtown... blocks from Eaton Centre.

There are 2 large size Rogers retail outlets and 3
small Rogers franchise cellular outlets within 3
blocks radius of me and I've been to every store
to see and "experience" the sales cycle. As of this
past Sat. NO one in the larger stores asked if I
wanted assistance or info on the iPhone I looked at.

And in all stores, I approached a rep and specifically
asked how much they had left in stock and how
many have they actually sold. "Lots" was the common
response, but when pushed to compare to their
regular line-up of phones, well thats a dif. story...

NOT one store was sold out and only one store said
they sold 18 units, but the rest did NOT sell more
than 12 units in the past two weeks... and this in the
busiest areas of Toronto and the whole country !

So, you're full of crap Rogers. You sold more
Blackberry's from those stores than iPhones. I asked.
If you had to guarantee a $150 million iPhone contract
330,000 handsets is a sh*t-load to catch up on.

Enough with the high prices, poor service and lies !!
We're all fed up with your PR BS.

I don't know if any of that adds up. Friends of mine tried Yorkdale, Eaton Centre, etc and all stores are or have been sold out. Most have seen a few replenishments since launch, but none have not sold out at some point. From reading postings at HoFo, this is true of both Fido and Rogers. In Waterloo/Kitchener/Cambridge, every single Fido, Rogers, WirelessWave and TBooth stores were sold out on Launch weekend if not launch day.

Edit: Given the strange formatting of your post, I am guessing you cut and paste from somewhere else. I would suggest going to the original poster and calling BS on them. Any stores that did not sell more than 12 units, probably only received 12 or fewer units, in which case it is a supply problem and not a demand problem.

They just want to plaster their opinion in as many places as possible...

linky (scroll down to the comments section)

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I wonder, what were the sales like for the iPhone 3G in Canada? For all the whining, people still pay the high prices because (at the end of the day) the plan is worth more to them than the price they pay -- so really, the prices in Canada are more than fair to anyone willing to pay.

They're selling more in Ottawa than Toronto??? That doesn't make sense.

I think you're numbers are off. The other thing you mention is that their not sold out. While this may be true, it's likely they're sold out of the 16GB version which is the popular version and they have lots of 8GB version, thus they are saying they are not sold out. But in reality they are sold out of the more popular models.

Although Rogers has compromised slightly with their voice/data plans for the iPhone, they're still stickin it to us with the corporate plans. Right now Rogers wants me to fork over something like 600 bucks to get the iPhone, simply because I'm a corporate customer. In fact, my plan is not very much different than the one quoted by Tulkas, maybe slightly cheaper. Has anyone heard if they will ever price this at a reasonable price point for corporate customers?

Nice first post. Bet your IP can be traced to Waterloo - RIM must be getting pretty desperate.

330,000 iphones? I have a hard time believing number. That's just under 1% of the population of the country buying an iPhone. Maybe, but it seems very very high.

Ah...but remember, this $30/6gb disappears August 31st...and once again, rates for data plans in Canada become exorbitant.
I'd love to see them extend or simply keep this plan after the deadline, but somehow I think it was simply a gesture to appease the vocal few. It's the masses that will get hosed thinking that data is now cheap and surf at will.

My IP can be traced to Waterloo. In fact, since RIM leases some space in our building now, we might even show up with similar IP ranges. No one I have spoken to at RIM seems that desperate. They just see the iPhone as a reason to try harder.

True enough. I honestly think they will keep their lower data packages around. As always with Rogers, it will be difficult to know if you are getting a good value because the plans and options will be so confusing and convoluted, but with Bell and Telus going after them with their data plans, Rogers would be foolish to go back to their old rates. The future rates might not be as good as the promo, but I can't imagine they would keep them as bad.

I bet Rogers sells as many iPhones as it can get its hands on.

I took the 6 GB offer. However, from checking my USAGE daily, I am running around 2 to 6 MBs a day. Although I used my iPhone's GPS on the weekend for about 2 hours a day, as well as emailing and another hour surfing upped the usage to nearly 10. Obviously not having Wi-Fi access for the most part was the difference.

I anxiously await my first invoice to get the real usages. But certainly, it doesn't appear that I will be anywhere near 6 GBs.

It would be interesting to hear what others a logging in daily just by checking their Data Usage under General Settings.

Well, not that I run around to every store downtown to find out if the phone is selling or not ( I have better things to do to be honest and I don't really care that much either), but just this past weekend, I still saw some signs saying "temporarily out of stock" on a few doors of downtown stores. Not the Eaton Centre or Toronto Life centre ones mind you. I'm sure it's selling fine. They did super well on the first weekend that's for sure. There are still quite a few people I know who plan to buy it but are waiting for different reasons (contract nearly over with another provider, gift, etc..). And let's face it, yes, Rogers tends to rape us with their prices but their limited time offer of 30G/$30 is pretty awesome (for me anyway). Buy it before end of August and you're guaranteed that for 3 years. Add it to a good voice plan (corporate if you have one) and you have a pretty decent deal. What's all the complaining about? This is as good as it'll get in Canada for now. Deal with it. Those who don't bother getting the phone before the limited offer deadline might not even end up requiring or using that much data anyway. They're screwed if they can't get out of their current plan before then but who knows if the deadline might be extended? I dunno.

No, it's Toronto as he said. FWIW

This pretty much lines up with what I've seen for the Rogers and Fido outlets here in Winnipeg. They all have lots of them in stock, and the ones I talked to said it's a slow mover.

Why even have a deadline for the 6gb/$30?
Plus, what about all those who end up having to buy an iPhone after Aug 31st and missing out on the offer, simply because the phone was not in stock.

It is'nt worth it, not the price of the iPhone or the crappy packages Rogers are offering.

It's really to bad that Rogers was the only cell phone company in Canada that had the right wireless network, maybe now the rest of them will wake up and smell the money and start installing the right equipment instead of sitting back and screwing their subscribers.

Not quite. It means "For F***s Sake".

Your fourth post. Your fourth negative post.

You don't own a Mac or use one

You don''t own an iPhone.

You probably don't even have an iPod.

So, why are you here?

If you head over to HowardForums that are a couple threads in the Fido or iPhone on Fido/Rogers forums that have discussions of usage. Most are from around launch time, so usage was pretty high. I think at least a few we over 100 MB in a day or two. Assuming average usage will be less than that, then 6GB is really the same as unlimited. But, heaven help you if you had a lower data cap and you go over even once. The overage charges will make whatever savings you might have received by having a lower cap disappear. The overage charges are crippling and this is why Rogers initial plans were such crap.

And when the promo ends, if they don't introduce new pricing, iPhone users will always have to be monitoring their usage or pay through the ass for overages or increased caps. The 6GB should remain. Any new data plans should start, at a minimum of 1 GB. If they never use it, as Rogers claims, great, Rogers loses nothing. If they have even one month of high usage, then it protects them from overage charges and Rogers still collects a nice profit for the other months that they did not do more than average.

Searched but could not find any reference to actual usage, though I did find a few that were complaining that the Time of use was being reset continuously. Turns out these were first generation iPhones that were jailbroken and unlocked.

Interesting that nobody is reporting their usages. My take is that there are very few if any iPhone users here.

I may have to correct my usage. I am now under the impression that the Cellular Network Data is cumulative unless you Reset Statistics which I plan to do on my monthly billing date. That said, my usage going into the fourth week for sending and receiving is 2.6 MB and 14.8 MB respectively.

Obviously, it is because I use my iPhone while driving for phoning and the GPS. Internet usage is primarily over Wi-Fi at home and periodically at work, at the U and at clients.

So far the indications are that I will never exceed the minimal MB limit. let alone the 6 GB that I contracted for. At least not unless I quit working, teaching/developing or leave my wife. At that point, I won't have any friends to call anyway.

I suppose it depends on what you are using it for. As I said, most normal users will probably not come close to 6GB, but it seems like it would be common, if not normal to go over 400MB in any particular month, which is the entry level iPhone package.

This thread discusses it. One user did 100 MB in 2 weeks, another 285 MB in 2 weeks, and another 200 in two weeks. There were a few high usage users, one doing 35 MB in 6 hours, 87 MB in 1 day, 350 MB in 3 days and another 1465 in two weeks. But even with those that are reporting relatively low usage of 100~300 in two weeks, it is obvious that they could easily go over 400 MB in a month. And if they had signed up for Rogers/Fido's canned iPhone packages, they would be in for a world of hurt in overages. One GB/month seems like the lowest safe cap.

This thread had a poll on peak daily usage. 41% were over 50 MB on their peak days. 25% were over 100 MB/day. The iPhone packages maxed out at 2GB/month (@ $115/month!!!), which is about 68 MB/day. Again, while it wouldn't be normal to exceed this, it would not be uncommon, especially for people that do not have always on wifi. Many of us are lucky and do, but many others do not. Additionally, especially for people that travel or commute or use public transit, there will be a lot of time where their usage will be 3G and so their average 3G usage will be higher than others. The iPhone plans are a trap that will certainly catch people with massive overages. 1GB seems like the best low end cap, but Rogers hasn't announced any other reasonably priced data packages other than the $30/6GB. I would have signed up for $10-$20 for 2-4GB, but that isn't an option.

Unfortunately, I cannot give you my usage rates yet, as Fido seems to want to delay it a bit longer.

EDIT: I can't find the threads now, but there were one or two that discussed usage of people using any of the internet radio apps. At 128kbps bitrate, that is about 56.25MB/hour. Use your iPhone to listen to internet radio on a 1 hour commute twice a day and you are at 2250MB for 20 days (1month) of commuting. Add in other usage and you would have to mortgage your house to keep up with your overages if you signed for one of the canned iPhone packages, even the top one. Just the radio usage alone would put you into overages with their highest cap iPhone plan.

Last month people would jump in their Hummers to go down to the corner store for quart of milk. Now, they will buy 2 quarts.

Unfortunately, until the bills come in, actual data usage is challengeable. Certainly when you get a guy telling us that he used an internet radio which is not obtainable in Canada.

Question, why can't you get your usage rates yet? As far as we have been informed, the data table is not controlled by the carrier.

And I know one thing, I wouldn't be excessively downloading or uploading data while travelling if I wanted to make sure I had enough battery to use the iPhone for its primary intended function, i.e., phoning!

P.S. I am sure that I saw that same Chart before the 3g was out.

You can challenge the Internet Radio usage claim in Canada if you like, but it would be pretty pointless. Many Internet Radio apps are available if you have a US iTunes account. While many think you need a US credit card or address to have a US account, all you need to to is buy an Apple gift card in the US and use it to activate a new US itunes account. Now you have access to the US Internet Radio Apps. That is possibly what the posters who are using US Internet radio apps have done. Or they have a US account through some other means. or they are using one of the 15 apps that comes up with a search for radio on the Canadian iTunes store. (last.fm, tuner......) Why is it you claim it isn't available? Certainly, it makes no sense to claim this, but to each their own.

I can't get my usage rates yet because Fido has not sent my iPhone yet...so....

If you were traveling, you might use it for radio or web or other data intensive uses if you had a car charger, we en-route to a location where you could charge it (i.e. work), etc. If you were on a multi-hour trip without access to a charger, sure, you might restrict your usage, but if you have access to power, why would you restrict usage?

if the chart you say you saw before the launch is the one in the Peak usage thread on Hofo, I am not sure how you managed that feat. It is a dynamic chart generated though user input and was created and posted on launch day. Perhaps you saw another chart that showed similar usage rate.

Here on the east coast of Canada, supply has been spotty in my experience. I got my 8GB on the Monday following the launch .... but only because the courier had lost the launch day shipment destined for my local Rogers (franchised) store ... and I just happened to be standing there when it arrived three days late. Because I have a business account I had to do my activation over the phone with a Rogers rep (from the store). When I asked about the possibility of waiting for a 16GB model, I was told it could take 3 - 4 weeks.

Count me as another who has been surprised at how low my 3G data consumption has been so far. Despite using the iPhone constantly for one thing or another, my heaviest day to date was only about 15MB (mostly downloading Google maps for use with the GPS) ... thanks to ubiquitous Wi-Fi. But when I resume commuting to work it'll probably soar, due to my attachment to Last.fm (it's not "internet radio" per se, but it is streaming music over the 3G network).

Well, I have had my iPhone for 2 days and 2.5 hours. My usage counter says 49.9MB Received and 3.3MB sent. I have always on Wifi at home and work, and have only used 3G when in the car (not driving) and when I was visiting my sister and another friend without Wifi. On 3G I have used the web browser a fair bit, downloaded a couple apps and received about 300 emails of various sizes (unfortunately one of my email accounts has become a massive spam trap but I have too many people using it to completely dump it), used a few GPS apps, palringo for IMs, watched one youtube video and listened to last.fm for about 10 minutes. I have not yet configured it for my work email.

While it would not happen every month, I can easily see that I will go over the 400 MB and possibly even the 750 MB of the entry level iPhone plans. It is so obvious that those initial plans were crap and designed to force you into overages if you didn't closely monitor your usage. What a scam those are.

Anyone using the iPhone, even moderately as I have, could easily exceed those limits. Only very light users would not or those that are willing to monitor and then restrict their usage. It could be argued that my usage could go down because the first couple days are they heaviest, but honestly, I don't see how. I was not out of work or the house for very long over the last couple days. About a hour total in the car, letting my wife drive so i could use the GPS apps and a few hours visiting. Assuming the will be a few days a month that I am out and about without wifi, if I use the iPhone at all for data, it racks up quickly. And once I setup my work account for emails, the email traffic will easily triple, since I don't think I can limit the email client to only download the first few hundred kb of an email and attachments, as I can on desktop clients. Since I am out of town often on weekends, or at least not at home, I can expect I will be using maps periodically, at the least. (just loaded appleinsider home page on 3G as a test and it increased my usage counters to 50.4MB/3.4MB, so .6MB for that one page)

I am guessing I will be in the ballpark of 1 GB of usage in the first 30 days. This would have cost me $100 before taxes and SAF with the iPhone plans and I would have less data, voice features and minutes than I have now for $56 before SAF and taxes. If I had be conned by Rogers 'average expected use' PR BS, then I would have gone with the entry level plan, had even fewer voice minutes and been nailed with overage charges of at least $45 on top of the $60 plan price.