The iPhone is coming to the Great White North, eh?
After much speculation for the wireless industry, business analysts, technology gurus and us consumers, it appears that Rogers Wireless (a wireless carrier in Canada) has confirmed that it will carry the ever popular Apple iPhone.
Accoring to an interview, Mr. Ted Rogers has stated this:
“We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year,” said president Ted Rogers in a statement. “We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned.”
We will stay tuned alright, but there’s some places out there in Canada that carry iPhones that are “unlocked”. Last year, Apple has released this popular device in the United States and many countries out there are watching closely on how will this product will sell out. The iPhone can play music and videos too (since it’s part of the iPod family).
At first Telus and Bell were the proposed carriers to carry the iPhone in Canada, but this has prevailed. It seems that Mr. Rogers would welcome the iPhone in his neighbourhood after all! Initially, there was rumours that Holt Renfrew was carrying the iPhone, but this has since been false as per company statement.
As my fellow bloggers has stated out, it seems that Rogers has finally got a plan that comes together. One person posted the news in his perspective, while the other one decided to be more liberal. There’s an ongoing dispute about the iPhone trademark. This was done by two companies. First off back in January 2007, Cisco has filed a lawsuit against Apple on the Trademark name because Cisco has released a line of VOIP phones under the name “iPhone” (or Linksys iPhone). The dispute lasted for a month until two sides reach an agreement. Finally, Comwave has also a VOIP service, also under the name “iPhone”. It’s a dispute that will never end.
With the wireless spectrum auction going into full throttle, it seems that many bidders want to get the piece of the 2GHz spectrum. It’s not like the U.S. one, in which 700Mhz was auctioned off. In the end, Verizon Wireless finally got that spectrum. Now, the company will be developing it’s Long Term Evolution (LTE, a variant of GSM or something like that) network to allow phones to work all around the world. The Canadian Auction will be concluded next month with the highest bidder. To view the list of qualified bidders, you can view them here: http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/en/sf08900e.html
I wonder if my chums Bobby Foley or David Harrison has their own say about the iPhone. Hmm…it’s their own opinion. We have many wireless carriers in this country, but the three “big players” are Rogers, Telus and Bell. There are some other companies out there, but most of them runs on the big players’ networks. Here’s my run-down:
- Rogers
- Telus
- Bell
- Fido
- Virgin Mobile
- Koodo Mobile
- Videotron
- Sasktel
- MTS
- PC Mobile
- DCI Telecom
- 7-11 Speakout Wireless
- SearsConnect
- Primus
- Solo Mobile
- Cityfone
So who will be the new player of the wireless industry in Canada? Stay tuned. If you people want to learn more about cell phones, the HowardForums website offer those needs. Visit www.howardforums.com and you can discuss anything about cell phones! I’m a member of that message board and my avatar is simon726.
References:
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/04/29/tech-iphone.html
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hH8JYKX0UZr_vzwhDpvHD9vG41Dg
http://www.reuters.com/article/fundsFundsNews/idUSN2929707020080429
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/04/29/o-canada-finally-get-iphone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone
http://torontoist.com/2008/04/iphone_appears.php
http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/04/26/iphone.and.n95.rogers.leak/
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/04/29/tech-iphone-rogers.html?ref=rss
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Great post, Simon … I’ve updated my post and added a link to yours.
Rob