set to send their data rates tumbling. This was supposedly in reaction to Bell Mobility offering a $7 data plan for the HTC Touch. Now we’re hearing rumors — and they’re just that, rumors — that Rogers is planning an unlimited data bundle that will include 2,500 text messages, for just $20 per month. It seems like a drastic change, so I’m not quite sure if its believable at that point. This concept presented seems like a mobile Web plan, as in the kind you’d see AT&T and Verizon offering for $5 or so per month. I say this because the rumor says that mobile Web a la carte would cost $5 per month. However, the idea that this would be a precursor to the iPhone might be a bit misleading:
Like the American [mobile Web] plan, the unlimited transfers would only apply to ‘feature’ phones rather than dedicated smartphones; BlackBerries and Windows Mobile devices would be exempt from the service and have their own separate rates.Since the iPhone would exhibit a more smartphone-like data usage, it would be strange to see Rogers offer a plan for it for $5 per month. But hey, if Bell is selling data plans for the HTC Touch for $7, anything is possible. [Electronista]]]>
Posted in Canadian Wireless
This could make sense. Last week I received a letter from Rogers, describing the increases to all of it’s services from cable tv, home phone, and internet. Rogers is increasing the costs of some of these services. This flyer/letter makes no mention of wireless products AT ALL!
Could it be that Rogers is attempting to re-coop profits from cuts it’s going to make to it’s wireless data plans, from it’s internet, home phone and cable customers?
If you remember last month several brokerage firms downgraded BCE, Telus and Rogers, saying that “increased competition will reduce margins over 2008”. Rogers appears to be mitigating that by jacking up it’s prices on other services it offers.
The flyer/letter from Rogers says the new rates go into effect March 1, 2008. The flyer/letter has a form number on it “ON-DIGITAL 01/08”.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that we could see the iPhone in Canada by March/08.
I’ve seen one analyst (in the U.S.) say that a 3G version of the iPhone could be available as early as March 2008. The analyst said that “their channel checks are indicating Apple is shopping around for lower powered 3G chips”. Broadcom (an Apple Bluetooth supplier) has just introduced such a chip this past October.
So it’s possible a 3G iPhone is coming sooner than we think. Perhaps this is why Rogers held out for so long. They just unveiled a new 3G network right across Canada in October. Perhaps they told Apple they would wait for a 3G version instead of the EDGE version.