Rogers Wireless expecting iPhone home for the holidays?

TUAW has posted up a potentially sweet holiday tidbit with the Canadian Apple store showing an iPhone in its holiday gift guide. Of course, as some clever reader has pointed out, the Italian Apple store is also showing an iPhone with a bit of cut and paste wizardry, could this be a case of just a template mistake on Apple's part? We know iPhone's coming to the Great White North -- or at least are pretty sure -- and the holidays do make sense, but until we hear something official, we'd lean toward error on this one. Check your local site and post back with your findings, make a game of it.

[Via TUAW]

[Bill Brasky @ Nov 9th 2007 11:29AM]

It's a template error. See, I can make the Taiwan store show the same content:

http://store.apple.com/00800-7666-7666/WebObjects/taiwanstore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=AF8E4CF9&node=campaigns/holiday/iphone

[James @ Nov 9th 2007 9:29PM]

It's not a error! I've been a Rogers customer for 13 years. They said to me when I phoned their offices (From Quebec) That they are accepting pre-orders for the iPhone. Which they say will be released December 7th. My name is on the list. So, I think it's pretty valid to me.

[njfuzzy @ Nov 9th 2007 11:38AM]

You can tell its an error on the Canada site, just like on the Taiwan site, because no price is listed.

[Claus Christensen @ Nov 9th 2007 11:39AM]

This is fucking weak....get a grip and post something that is not useless shite. You are slipping Engadget

[Esat @ Nov 9th 2007 11:45AM]

Yeah, I really hate it when those engadget ninja monkeys sit on top of our heads and yank our hair out one by one till we read EVERY blog post.

I can't wait till the day we are given the freedom to scroll through and skip articles that do not interest us.

One can but only dream.

[Matt O @ Nov 9th 2007 11:50AM]

i love you esat.

[nerdwes @ Nov 9th 2007 11:43AM]

This is fucking weak....get a grip and post something that is not useless shite. You are slipping Claus Christensen

[Kyrra @ Nov 9th 2007 11:53AM]

Rumor I've heard is Apple is starting to train their tech support staff in Canada in prep for the iPhone launch. When they started training in the US the iPhone was released 3 weeks later. So I wouldn't doubt if the iPhone launched in Canada in 2-3 weeks.

[Baz @ Nov 9th 2007 11:57AM]

Again - regardless of whether this is an error or not (and hey, it was reported last week that the Toronto Eaton Centre Apple store has posted online a workshop for the iPhone - since pulled) - the fact remains that the iPhone will remain nothing more than a fancy paperweight in Canada until Steve Jobs is able to prise Ted Rogers fingers off subscriber's wallets.

Rogers (and Fido, which he also owns) are the only GSM providers in Canada and they have had a death grip on data plans - nothing even close to the base AT&T Plan exists in Canada.
So far, Rogers/Fido don't 'do' unlimited data (while the regular wireless plans are generally around 33% higher than the equivalent in the US) - and until Apple convinces them otherwise in a Plan that is even vaguely affordable, who is going to buy into an iPhone?

Meanwhile, **if** The Stevo can force the issue, I wouldn't be surprised to see the iPhone and its Plan arriving via Fido (which skews towards the younger/tech savvy crowd) rather than Rogers. Which would be a challenge - because Fido's rep for signal and support is dodgy, at best.

[holycow @ Nov 9th 2007 11:59AM]

unlocking ftw !

[Jason @ Nov 9th 2007 12:49PM]

NO way Rogers would give the iPhone to Fido. I mean, it could happen, but historically Rogers gets all the choice handsets, Fido gets the seconds.

It's moot though, as the data rates in Canada are so terrible as to make even the iPhone EDGE access insanely expensive.

I've even heard Rogers wants the WiFi disabled in the iPhone, which is something they've done to all the other phones that have Wifi enabled versions.

Rogers sucks donkey balls, but they're the only ball suckers in town.

[qwert @ Nov 9th 2007 12:55PM]

the iphone is also freaking expensive in germany, and tmobiles rates are even more so, and the people are still buying it, so obviously ridiculously high prices dont stop the people from buying it.

[brett.chandler @ Nov 9th 2007 1:33PM]

Let's face it, Canada might as well be the third world as far as Apple's concerned, anyway.

[dave sousa @ Nov 9th 2007 1:37PM]

hey just to let every one know the Toronto Eaton Centre store did post the workshops are still there. http://www.apple.com/ca/retail/eatoncentre/month/200711.html

go to that link and on the top right change it to from "all events" to "workshop."

youlle be able to see it.

[Baz @ Nov 9th 2007 3:24PM]

Well, even if Rogers were to say 'No' to the demands of The Stevo (unlimited data plans, wi-fi enabled, etc, etc), Apple does have the fallback position of simply flogging the bejasus out of the iPod Touch, which is here.

Let's face it - in truth, both the iPhone and Touch are, in Apple's World, nothing more than Content Retrieval Devices (CRDs) in order for the user to access the iTunes Store on a handheld. Everything else on the devices is merely frou-frou tacked on to give the impression of value for money - and likely done at the insistence of the Marketing Department, not The Stevo.

As long as Apple has the Touch here, there is at least a partial gateway into the iTunes Store via a handheld. As for the rest? Well, its just CRD.

[sam @ Nov 9th 2007 12:01PM]

thank you so much for this most important piece of news. my weekend would have been ruined not knowing this.

[Claus Christensen @ Nov 9th 2007 12:08PM]

At least TUAW posted an update saying it was an error. Seems like Engadget is fighting hard to become the National Inquirer of the Tech news world.

@ Baz, while I agree with your comments, I think we will not see the Iphone in Canada Period. Rogers will not get their finger out and release the virtual Monopoly it has on the GSM market. We need a company like Virgin to Nut up and give them a run for their $$. I started with a Rogers Plan that gave me 25mb for $65 a month, my first bill using an unlocked Iphone was astronomical, I then managed to negotiate a plan for 200MB for $85. I have todate not been over 130MB per month in HEAVY usage...

[Khris @ Nov 9th 2007 12:40PM]

I've got 1gb of available data for $65 on Rogers and it's works flawlessly with my iPhone.

[CoryB @ Nov 9th 2007 12:16PM]

The reality is that Apple needs to pop out a CDMA version if they plan to make a serious attempt at entering the Canadian market. CDMA is a more competive format in Canada and Apple could really crack things open if they went that route, not to mention it would solve the whole "unlocking" issue.

The odds of a new GSM carrier entering the market are also pretty slim as it would require a major infrastructure investment. The sort of investment that Rogers could make you regret by starting a significant price war.

[Claus Christensen @ Nov 9th 2007 12:23PM]

It will never happen, Just look at how many Apple Stores we have in Canada?. the market is an insignificant little pimple on Apples ass: it does not show in the dark so why pop it?.


So keep driving across the boarder and apply your Yank drawl to buy a phone, then race home and unlock it....

[holycow @ Nov 9th 2007 1:08PM]

hmm you finally "got a grip" chris

[Khris @ Nov 9th 2007 1:10PM]

@ Jason

I bought a Rogers branded HTC TyTN and WiFi worked out of the box.

Cite an example as well as proof of which handsets Rogers has disabled WiFi on.

[ME @ Nov 9th 2007 2:39PM]

@Khris does VOIP work with it?

[Jason @ Nov 9th 2007 3:36PM]

Nokia E62. - E61 has Wifi (and 850Mhz) but Rogers went with the crippled version.

[Cador @ Nov 21st 2007 11:54PM]

I got myself a TyTN as well and it worked fine... I want an iPhone but like everyone has said it doesnt look like things are going well for those of us up here in the North.

Unless Apple and Rogers come to an agreement about the rate plans and cost of the unit I think that we might just miss out on the iPhone. Look at all the other great phones out there that are available unlocked, Rogers doesnt carry half of them...

The best way, as people have been saying is to get an unlocked version and set it up on the Rogers network yourself.

[kastonie @ Nov 9th 2007 3:25PM]

Woah.... canada....

[ST @ Nov 9th 2007 4:35PM]

A co-worker of who has an expiring Roger's contract was offered an IPhone for $499 + 3 year contract for Nov 17

[OprahDustX @ Nov 11th 2007 12:18PM]

there is no way any mortal can afford to pay for a data plan if it does come out

[Douglas Michael @ Nov 26th 2007 4:05PM]

Now there is a way you can get unlimited data access for the iPhone in Canada.

While Rogers gets around (or not) to providing the iPhone and a reduced data rate that satisfies Apple and the rest of us; there is a way to get Unlimited Data for the iPhone in Canada.

Check my page on how to do it at: http://www.douglasmichael.com

[Ben Lucier @ Jan 9th 2008 10:09AM]

Two things have been holding up the iPhone release in Canada:
1. The iPhone trademark is currently owned by Comwave, a national
VoIP provider in Canada that markets a VoIP product called iPhone.
2. Rogers greedy data plans which, compared to AT&T's iPhone plan
would cost $1000 more due to the amount of data required when using
the iPhone (ie. visual voicemail, sending/receiving email and
attachments, etc)

Considering both points however, it's reasonable to assume that
Rogers, Apple and Comwave have all had a reasonable amount of time to
address these challenges. This means that we could hear news about
the iPhone release in Canada during Steve Jobs' Keynote at this
month's 2008 Macworld Conference and Expo.

More info on my blog at:
http://benlucier.ca/work/communications/macworld-apple-to-announce-iphone-in-canada/