A week after the iPhone is released into the wild.

Its been over a week now that the iPhone has been released in the States. The reviews and the blogs give the cell phone an A minus. They rave about the UI and the sharpness of the screen and the battery life. Most seem to catch on with the keyboard. Some not. Many find Edge too slow, almost all find the WiFi fantastic. Lots wish there was Flash support, but all marvel at how great the web pages look on the phone. Youtube "Awsome", Google Maps-"A revelation", video-"Traffic stopping", "The Pinch", "Multiouch", "The Flip" The number one word on everyone's lips is "Fun". It seems to be a ball just to use the iPhone. When was the last time someone said that about a cell phone? Anyways I'm not here to talk about the features of a phone I've never touched. No, this blog is about the iPhone coming to Canada. Now that the phone has been launched States side one would think that it would not be too long before we hear of a date for release in Canada...Well one would be wrong. The only rumors about a release are coming from Europe. With various carriers in Germany and the UK being touted as the ones to bring the iPhone over seas. But all is quiet on the Canadian front. Rogers, who are the hands on favorite to bring the iPhone here, have been saying that Apple wants to concentrate on the US, to make sure all is well there before looking to other markets. But I think they protest too much. My sources....OK....My hunch is that Canada's notoriously over priced data plans are the real culprits here. Rogers, Telus, and Canada Bell have the most expensive data plans in the world. Averaging about $50 a megabyte. In Europe its about $12. The Canadian parliament has only just recently begun to investigate this oligopoly.
A lot of people were worried about AT&T's service plan for the iPhone. The thinking being that since the demand for the iPhone was so high there was an opportunity for AT&T to gouge the customer. But to their credit they offered a very reasonable plan. A friend of mine living in the States said that he now pays less for his cell phone than he did before buying the iPhone. I have a sinking feeling that Rogers is balking at giving out unlimited data plans and to having the customer choose his or her plan in the comfort of their own homes through iTunes. Even though there was some problems with about 3% of those activating their iPhones the first couple of nights, most people said it was a painless and pleasurable experience. And considering that about 700 000 phones were being activated at the same time, AT&T should be commended for a job well done.
Now, well there is talk that some European carriers are chafing at some of Apples demands, there is no doubt that they will fall in line, the profit margin is just too juicy for them not to. The question is will Rogers relent and offer a fair and equable data plan and allow Apple to activate the phone through iTunes. I don't know what is going on at Rogers headquarters...but the silence is deafening.