Apple and Rogers falling out?

Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog has a juicy story that even they admit sounds too good to be true: Apple and Rogers could be on the outs over the negative publicity surrounding Rogers' voice and data plans for the iPhone 3G.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt writes about Daniel Smith, a Canadian sales and marketing consultant, who posted a rumor from an anonymous "inside source" claiming Apple is punishing Rogers by diverting large numbers of iPhone 3G handsets to Europe. Smith later backed away from the claim, noting that the diversion could be related to a shipping problem or production delay.

Also, some Rogers retail stores have dismissed "thousands" of "a few hundred" additional staff hired for the launch of the new handset. (See below for an update.) The decision to let staff go was apparently made at the store level, and not a directive from Rogers' corporate offices.

Rogers plans have been widely panned, with some users creating petitions and websites voicing their displeasure. Rogers' plans require a three-year contract, have no unlimited data option, and offer two-thirds the calling time and half the text messages as AT&T's plans.

The bottom line? "Something is definitely up, whether it is indeed an Apple power play is up for debate," Smith writes.

Thanks, Jason!

Update: Of course, everyone's in "mountain out of a molehill" mode on this one. Daniel Smith wrote us to explain that the "thousands" number was taken by Apple 2.0 from a forum entry where he misspoke, and admitted as much. He says the number is closer to "a few hundred" which is still significant, true, but not quite so dire.

Additionally, BetaNews contacted a Rogers spokesperson, Elizabeth Hamilton, who denied the reports, saying she "can confirm that Canada's inventory of iPhone 3G has remained the same throughout our announcements."