Apple's one carrier iPhone exclusivity rumored to end in Canada

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's exclusive carrier contracts for the iPhone in each country continue to fall, as a new report has claimed that two new carriers in Canada will offer the handset.



Citing sources within both companies, The Globe and Mail reported that Bell Canada and Telus Corp. will begin selling the iPhone in November, bringing the previously exclusive contract held by Rogers Communications for more than a year to an end.



"The country's two largest incumbent telecom companies, under pressure to re-ignite growth as new wireless competitors begin operations this year, are banking on Apple Inc.'s ground-breaking smart phone to help them sign up bigger-spending customers and shift the balance of power in Canada's mobile market," the report said.



The inhibitor for Bell and Telus had previously been incompatibility with the iPhone on their 3G networks. However, both providers have reportedly caught up with Rogers and are prepared to offer Apple's handset.



Neither carrier would officially confirm the deal, and Apple also refused to comment on the matter. However, the report cited people familiar with the matter who said an announcement was likely to come this week.



The news comes just weeks after both Vodafone and Orange announced they will carry the iPhone in the U.K. in the coming months. Until now, Apple's smartphone has been exclusive to O2 in Great Britain.



Apple also entered into a three-year deal with China Unicom to sell the iPhone in the carrier's country, but that agreement was non-exclusive. The iPhone went on sale in the country on Oct. 1. Now, Apple has turned its attention to competitor China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier.



Last week, analyst Kathryn Huberty with Morgan Stanley cited the end of exclusivity in most major countries as a sign that iPhone sales will skyrocket in the coming year. In a note to investors, Huberty predicted that Europe, China and Korea will all see near-term multi-carrier expansion, while Apple will adopt a multi-carrier model in the U.S. in the long-term.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    Oh joy! That means I can get my iPhone sooner than later. I was once under the belief that I could have my iPod Touch and my cell phone as separate devices. However, with all the cool apps and interoperability of the iPhone/iPod Touch, I've come to realize that I'd much prefer to carry around one device.



    Hope this news comes true.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple's exclusive carrier contracts for the iPhone in each country continue to fall, as a new report has claimed that two new carriers in Canada will offer the handset.



    Citing sources within both companies, The Globe and Mail reported that Bell Canada and Telus Corp. will begin selling the iPhone in November, bringing the previously exclusive contract held by Rogers Communications for more than a year to an end.



    "The country's two largest incumbent telecom companies, under pressure to re-ignite growth as new wireless competitors begin operations this year, are banking on Apple Inc.'s ground-breaking smart phone to help them sign up bigger-spending customers and shift the balance of power in Canada's mobile market," the report said.



    The inhibitor for Bell and Telus had previously been incompatibility with the iPhone on their 3G networks. However, both providers have reportedly caught up with Rogers and are prepared to offer Apple's handset.



    Neither carrier would officially confirm the deal, and Apple also refused to comment on the matter. However, the report cited people familiar with the matter who said an announcement was likely to come this week.



    The news comes just weeks after both Vodafone and Orange announced they will carry the iPhone in the U.K. in the coming months. Until now, Apple's smartphone has been exclusive to O2 in Great Britain.



    Apple also entered into a three-year deal with China Unicom to sell the iPhone in the carrier's country, but that agreement was non-exclusive. The iPhone went on sale in the country on Oct. 1. Now, Apple has turned its attention to competitor China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier.



    Last week, analyst Kathryn Huberty with Morgan Stanley cited the end of exclusivity in most major countries as a sign that iPhone sales will skyrocket in the coming year. In a note to investors, Huberty predicted that Europe, China and Korea will all see near-term multi-carrier expansion, while Apple will adopt a multi-carrier model in the U.S. in the long-term.



  • Reply 2 of 31
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    I wish someone would leak when Verizon will pick up the iPhone. I am very close to activating my old 3G for my wife and she will be leaving Verizon. I know she is going to hate the coverage but the phone usability is so much better than any phone she has ever used or seen.
  • Reply 3 of 31
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    So Bell and Telus are finally ready with their HSPA networks.



    Took em long enough.
  • Reply 4 of 31
    I thought they were working on a LTE network rather than 3G...... But either way, good news for consumer.
  • Reply 5 of 31
    It sounds like Telus and Bell are only supporting the iPhone with their 3G network. If that's the case then you're going to be doing quite a lot of roaming on Roger's GSM network.



    Anyway, last time I shopped around for a Blackberry (6 months ago) Rogers had the best data plan by a good $30 to $40 a month over Bell; Telus's data plans were still from the stone age. All this really means is that Telus and Bell and going to have to come down substantially to meet Roger's rates.
  • Reply 6 of 31
    Ok I thought the iPhone was a GSM phone and both Bell and Telus are CDMA. We might then have the chinese CDMA version of the phone or is there something I'm missing here... Bell and Telus phones do not have sim cards at all. Videotron on the other hand has bought some new frequencies recently and they do operate on GSM, that might push some pressure on Rogers (and their second name Fido) but I doubt they could get the iPhone for their first year with the new waves...



    Let me know if I get something wrong here or is CDMA-3G compatible with GSM-3G...



    Anyways, Fido is the only one billing by the second so I'll stick with them!
  • Reply 7 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Felman View Post


    Ok I thought the iPhone was a GSM phone and both Bell and Telus are CDMA. We might then have the chinese CDMA version of the phone or is there something I'm missing here... Bell and Telus phones do not have sim cards at all. Videotron on the other hand has bought some new frequencies recently and they do operate on GSM, that might push some pressure on Rogers (and their second name Fido) but I doubt they could get the iPhone for their first year with the new waves...



    Let me know if I get something wrong here or is CDMA-3G compatible with GSM-3G...



    Anyways, Fido is the only one billing by the second so I'll stick with them!



    CDMA is dying and everyone will be switching to GSM over the next few years. Bell and Telus have partnered because of the huge investment in hardware necessary for the switch.



    The switch was originally planed for the first half of 2010, but was hastened because of the huge pull of the iPhone*: people are requesting that phone and they don’t want anything else !
  • Reply 8 of 31
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    I wish someone would leak when Verizon will pick up the iPhone. I am very close to activating my old 3G for my wife and she will be leaving Verizon. I know she is going to hate the coverage but the phone usability is so much better than any phone she has ever used or seen.



    How do you know she will hate the coverage? Have you been using an iPhone, or even any cell phone recently on the AT&T Network in the areas you/she plans to use an iPhone?



    I have been with AT&T for years and have been totally satisfied with the service I have had previously with a Motorola and the last 15 months with an iPhone 3G. I travel the west pretty regularly and yes there have been few drops but truthfully no more than I see from my friends/business cohorts on other systems. As for the 3G service, just rarely have I gone into the Edge system...oddly enough, in downtown San Fran in a high rise hotel (Hotel Nikko)!



    Yes... some areas are obviously worse than others but remember you are hearing these negatives from some people here that don't even have an iphone. There is not a "perfect" cell system.



    My biggest criticism of the iPhone, as many others do, and that is battery performance. But you will also hear that none of the good smartphones have "great" battery performance yet. As long as you use 3G, wifi, apps, etc etc... all good smartphones will suffer battery performance.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    ajitmdajitmd Posts: 365member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Felman View Post


    Ok I thought the iPhone was a GSM phone and both Bell and Telus are CDMA. We might then have the chinese CDMA version of the phone or is there something I'm missing here... Bell and Telus phones do not have sim cards at all. Videotron on the other hand has bought some new frequencies recently and they do operate on GSM, that might push some pressure on Rogers (and their second name Fido) but I doubt they could get the iPhone for their first year with the new waves...



    Let me know if I get something wrong here or is CDMA-3G compatible with GSM-3G...



    Anyways, Fido is the only one billing by the second so I'll stick with them!



    CDMA is not compatible with GSM/3G. CDMA is run over 1.25 MHz channels... the 1X channel carries voice and some slow data. For fast data the CDMA standard uses a separate channel called EVDO... and this combination is considered "3G". It used synchronized transmission.



    The GSM tech is totally different... it is based on time division of the channels. Their 3G version is like CDMA, except it uses 5MHz channels and is also know as WCDMA. Voice and data are mixed. Data rate is supposed to be faster but the mixing and lack of synch make the performance dubious as ATT has experienced.



    Anyway, WCDMA or UMTS was created by the European gang consisting of Nokia, Ericsson and even Moto in an attempt to stiff Qualcomm out of their royalties. They still have to pay QCOM. Apple has to pay a chunk of money to QCOM plus the European cabal.



    20% of the 3G market is CDMA, so Apple could build a CDMA phone for VZ and other carriers... but they are too mule headed to change. Besides VZ, the big problem is going to be China Mobile with over 350M subs. They have GSM but will change to their own version of 3G called TD-SCDMA. That another soup that will be hard to implement.



    LTE will be an improvement on paper. However the upgrade will be expensive. Need totally new radios, chipsets. Tower spacing may change. All that data will need hi capacity routers and fiber. Talk about 10s of $Billions. I really thing that they can soup up the current 3G, add routers, fiber and just improve coverage.
  • Reply 10 of 31
    tofinotofino Posts: 697member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    So Bell and Telus are finally ready with their HSPA networks.



    Took em long enough.



    yeah. and it means it's going to be in vancouver (for the olympics), toronto (just 'cos) and montreal (to shut quebec up). then they're going to take years and years and years....



    i believe it when i see it. and by then my THREE year contract will be up.
  • Reply 11 of 31
    I mean I'm sure there are a million good reason for a cellphone provider to join the rest of the world with a GSM network.. But I just don't see this happening.



    Most other phone companies make a version of their best phones for telus and bell. I just don't see them BOTH changing over their entire network across the entire country in order to sell one phone model.. even if it is as amazing as iPhone... especially in a couple months!!



    Not to mention their largest competition (who happens to be the countries largest cell phone provider) has already accommodated to the iPhone market for almost a year and a half. The only market they can really attack is their own customers who wanted an iPhone but were to loyal to switch over.. which in a cellphone market I don't see being that big..



    Is their something I'm missing maybe??

    I'd love to here some feedback on this comment..
  • Reply 12 of 31
    ronsterronster Posts: 153member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Felman View Post


    Ok I thought the iPhone was a GSM phone and both Bell and Telus are CDMA. We might then have the chinese CDMA version of the phone or is there something I'm missing here... Bell and Telus phones do not have sim cards at all. Videotron on the other hand has bought some new frequencies recently and they do operate on GSM, that might push some pressure on Rogers (and their second name Fido) but I doubt they could get the iPhone for their first year with the new waves...



    Let me know if I get something wrong here or is CDMA-3G compatible with GSM-3G...



    Anyways, Fido is the only one billing by the second so I'll stick with them!



    Bell and Telus are implementing an UMTS / HSPA joint network. This is compatible with the current iPhone 3G and 3G S.



    Both the CDMA and HSPA network will run concurrent until they decide to cap CDMA ... Telstra in Australia employed the same CDMA / HSPA strategy as well (they finally shut their CDMA network after building their UMTS/HSPA network).
  • Reply 13 of 31
    abster2coreabster2core Posts: 2,501member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Felman View Post


    Anyways, Fido is the only one billing by the second so I'll stick with them!



    Rogers still honours those of us that had the old billing by the second plans. Same as evening and weekends which start at 6 pm.



    Had those features back in the old Cantel days and still do.
  • Reply 14 of 31
    kingkueikingkuei Posts: 137member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    I wish someone would leak when Verizon will pick up the iPhone. I am very close to activating my old 3G for my wife and she will be leaving Verizon. I know she is going to hate the coverage but the phone usability is so much better than any phone she has ever used or seen.



    Your are SOL man. AT&T and Verizon's 3G technology are incompatible as a previous user already described. That means that IF (very big IF) Verizon gets the iPhone, your existing iPhones, whether 2G, 3G, or 3GS, would not function on Verizon's network anyway.



    Best guess for end of exclusivity would be when Verizon and AT&T move on to 4G LTE in the next few years, since that will finally give Apple the ability to produce a single phone that works throughout the world AND at home on the most networks. I've been hearing rumors flying about Apple dropping exclusivity in the US in 2010. Somehow that time frame just doesn't quite jive with what Verizon has been saying about widespread, nationwide availability of its 4G service, which is only slated to begin testing at the end of this year, with limited rollouts in 2010. Widespread rollout is not slated until 2011. That essentially leaves 1.5 years before Verizon's network is ready.



    As for AT&T, they are even further behind, with testing not scheduled to commence until 2010, and beginning rollouts in 2011 through 2012. Luckily for AT&T, they can prolong the life of their 3G network by rolling out HSPA+ 7.2Mbps much like they prolonged their 2G network by deploying EDGE. Hopefully that stop-gap measure is sufficient as they begin their rollout of 4G.
  • Reply 15 of 31
    technotechno Posts: 737member
    This is great news. Finally some good old competition among Canadian companies. Unless they secretly make deals to screw us, this should make for some better pricing.
  • Reply 16 of 31
    owlowl Posts: 14member
    Please, not Bell.
  • Reply 17 of 31
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tofino View Post


    yeah. and it means it's going to be in vancouver (for the olympics), toronto (just 'cos) and montreal (to shut quebec up). then they're going to take years and years and years....



    i believe it when i see it. and by then my THREE year contract will be up.



    There have been rumblings about a possible Bell-Telus merger, you know. At least according to a mid-level management source I have at Rogers. And the CRTC might not say a word about it because apparently, the telecom industry in Canada is about to get a whole lot more competitive over the next year.
  • Reply 18 of 31
  • Reply 19 of 31
    trevctrevc Posts: 77member
    I just want to be able to get into a 'Voice-Only' contract and use WiFi for my surfing, etc.
  • Reply 20 of 31
    29922992 Posts: 202member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AjitMD View Post


    CDMA is not compatible with GSM/3G. CDMA is run over 1.25 MHz channels... the 1X channel carries voice and some slow data. For fast data the CDMA standard uses a separate channel called EVDO... and this combination is considered "3G". It used synchronized transmission.



    The GSM tech is totally different... it is based on time division of the channels. Their 3G version is like CDMA, except it uses 5MHz channels and is also know as WCDMA. Voice and data are mixed. Data rate is supposed to be faster but the mixing and lack of synch make the performance dubious as ATT has experienced.



    Anyway, WCDMA or UMTS was created by the European gang consisting of Nokia, Ericsson and even Moto in an attempt to stiff Qualcomm out of their royalties. They still have to pay QCOM. Apple has to pay a chunk of money to QCOM plus the European cabal.



    20% of the 3G market is CDMA, so Apple could build a CDMA phone for VZ and other carriers... but they are too mule headed to change. Besides VZ, the big problem is going to be China Mobile with over 350M subs. They have GSM but will change to their own version of 3G called TD-SCDMA. That another soup that will be hard to implement.



    LTE will be an improvement on paper. However the upgrade will be expensive. Need totally new radios, chipsets. Tower spacing may change. All that data will need hi capacity routers and fiber. Talk about 10s of $Billions. I really thing that they can soup up the current 3G, add routers, fiber and just improve coverage.





    ...and you can say thanks to the European "gang"/"cabal" for giving you LTE as well as they gave you WCDMA... even the ol'GSM standard, as seems your CDMA (and whatever NA standard is) goes nowhere!
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