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Rogers iPhone Consumer Revolt Wins Concession. But It's Not Nearly Enough

Posted by Jonathon Narvey on Wed, July 9, 2008 10:51 PM · Filed under , Success Stories · 5 Comments

With less than 48 hours to go before the release of the iPhone in Canada, Rogers has announced a limited-time offer that is unlikely to bring an unprecedented consumer revolt to an end. The announcement from this morning reads:

Effective July 11, and as a limited time promotional offer for customers who activate by August 31 on a three year contract, a data-only offering of 6GB of data for $30 per month is being made available that can be added to any in-market voice plan. For example, with 6GB of data, iPhone 3G users can visit 35,952 web pages, or send and receive 157,286 emails, or watch 6,292 minutes of YouTube videos each and every month.

New Canadian iPhone 3G customers will also have the choice to select from Rogers Wireless' existing voice and smartphone data plans and/or additional features to best suit their needs, or from Rogers Wireless' value bundled plans specifically for iPhone 3G. Existing Rogers Wireless customers can keep their current voice service plan and select a separate data plan to meet their needs or choose from other plans after checking their individual upgrade eligibility.

But the online petition from RuinedIphone.com to be delivered to Rogers on iPhone release day is already at close to 60,000 names as of tonight. The signatories are adamant that Rogers' offering is simply not enough. Meanwhile, Apple is so disgusted at the high rates Rogers is charging for its 3G plans that it won't be selling the iPhone in its Apple stores.

Can Rogers withstand this perfect storm of untypical Canadian consumer anger? Even if it gets through this, the Rogers brand may be irrevocably damaged.

5 Comments

Richard Reiner said on Thu, July 10, 2008 at 6:32 AM

Just to add fuel to the fire: Rogers Blackberry owners now face the injustice of paying $30/month for 300MB of data, while iPhone 3G owners (at least for a limited time) can get TWENTY TIMES MORE data for the same $30...

stupid said on Thu, July 10, 2008 at 7:24 AM

Why all the lies and speculations? Apple stores are not carrying it simply because they cannot activate them they are not a cell phone store. If you read the press release the data plan is eligible for iphone, blackberry and any window mobile device. Get your facts straight before whining

Daniel Gibbons said on Thu, July 10, 2008 at 12:22 PM

@stupid:

"Get your facts straight before whining"

I thought this was the blogosphere?

Joke, joke...

Jonathon Narvey said on Thu, July 10, 2008 at 12:28 PM

Given the handle (stupid), I just assumed the comment was sarcastic. Maybe he's just... stupid?

And where's the lie?

"Apple stores are not carrying it simply because they cannot activate them they are not a cell phone store." The iPhone is an Apple product is sold in Apple stores in the USA. From the reports I've seen, they WERE going to sell the iPhone in their stores until Rogers faced a consumer backlash. Clearly, the decision not to help Rogers out is a pretty direct rebuke to their Canadian partner.

TechView: The Rogers iPhone Consumer Revolt | Currents said on Thu, July 10, 2008 at 11:45 PM

[...] consumer revolt against the Rogers iPhone is going strong. As I’ve mentioned on Techvibes (Rogers iPhone Consumer Revolt Wins Concession. But It’s Not Nearly Enough), over 62,000 Canadians have signed a petition at RuinediPhone.com protesting the gouging-style [...]