http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.a ... -to-rogers
Trouble is brewing in the Great White North, and it's all thanks to Rogers. It has been rumored that Apple has been displeased with Rogers over the carrier's less-than-stellar iPhone 3G plans, and had been considering diverting iPhone stock to other countries. The company has now apparently decided to pull out of selling the device through its own retail stores in Canada, leaving potential customers with Rogers, and Rogers alone.
Apple had a private conference call last night discussing the decision, which was confirmed again this morning by AppleInsider after calling a number of Canadian retail stores. Canadian Apple Stores will have demo units come launch day, but they won't have any to sell. Instead, those Canadian users who are not yet jaded and still want an iPhone will have to go to Rogers or its partner stores instead.
"We have nothing to do with the service plans. Those are Rogers' plans," one store representative told AI when asked whether the decision was related to the outrageously high-priced service fees.
Normally, I would say here that Canadians would be upset about Apple's decision, but it seems that they can't get much more upset than they already are at Rogers. The move on Apple's partâ€â€if trueâ€â€seems to be both strategic and retaliatory. After all, if Rogers won't cooperate in making the iPhone an appealing product for customers, why waste time, energy, and valuable inventory on them? With only three more days before iPhone Day, Rogers had better figure out what its next step is going to be.