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iPhone in Canada, eh?

The Very First Canadian iPhone

Is it true? Is Canada finally getting the iPhone?

Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Wireless said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with Apple to begin offering the iPhone later this year, putting an end to months of speculation on the subject.

Well. It’s. Aboot. Time!

Now, I can finally ditch my unlocked Fisher Price Skytalker Walkie Talkie which I’ve been using for the last 12 years as a method to communicate with my friends, family, lost polar bears, ice skating beavers, and the Mounted Police within a reception range of 1 – 25m… assuming they have the other Walkie on them… and they turn it on at exactly the same time as me… and the batteries don’t die in the subarctic temperatures.

It’s a crap shoot, I’ll admit. But, you know how Canadians love to be the underdog in a long and arduous, losing battle.

Another great screenshot I see. Sometimes you just can’t win. Zoink.

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  • Jeremy Latham
    April 29, 2008 at 10:22 PM

    We had those walkie-talkies as kids. Same ones, yup.

  • Michael Yurechko
    April 29, 2008 at 11:32 PM

    Yay iPhone!

    Only problem is that Rogers will find a way to overcharge. i.e. $800 for phone and $100/month minimum. I pay $60/month and have a crappy plan as-is. Plus I’m going to have to pay like $300 to break my contract…jeez, this is going to get expensive.

  • Robin
    April 30, 2008 at 12:39 AM

    I can’t believe it’s take so long for Canada to get the iPhone. What’s the reason? Even here in the UK where we generally get a pretty crappy deal when it comes to consumer electronics, we’ve had it for months now

  • Dan
    April 30, 2008 at 12:54 AM

    You know… I’d rather have the walkie talkie.

    What I don’t understand is… Why don’t you buy a standard phone you can get on a normal talk plan (That normal people can afford) and then buy an iPod Touch? Sure.. you have the hassle of carrying 2 items around but the iPod touch is essentially a thinner iPhone anyway, just without the phone or camera (Both of which suck – no 3G and only 2 megapixels with no video).

    That’s my .002c anyway.

  • Robin
    April 30, 2008 at 1:00 AM

    @Dan
    Funnily enough that’s what I’ve just done. The 8GB iPhone has recently come down in price in the UK, but you still have to sign up to an 18 month contract on one of the pricier plans with O2 to be able to (legally) activate it, so I decided to stick with my trusty Nokia handset, on Vodafone, and buy an iPod Touch instead.

    And it means I can still throw my phone in my pocket without worrying about it getting scratched, which is something I could never do with an iPhone

  • August
    April 30, 2008 at 2:41 AM

    Congrats! Now we’re only waiting for the Swedish Iphone launch… My colleague has a jailbreaked one and I’m so darn jealous

  • Michael Mistretta
    April 30, 2008 at 3:08 AM

    Yay for Canada. I’ve been waiting for this for way too long…

  • Scuba Steve
    April 30, 2008 at 3:26 AM

    @Robin
    Well, an 18 month contract would be a wonderful opportunity when with a company like Rogers. To get any sort of reasonable price on the equipment, you must sign up for 3 years. Otherwise you pay full price (that is full Rogers price) and they will not offer any service packages including data (for blackberries and likely iPhone) for anything without a contract. But at least we are finally getting the iPhone. Sometimes with Rogers it just boils down to the “lesser of two evils”.

    @MostlyLisa
    Yet another nail biting and exciting video clip of yours. It is always a pleasure hearing your commentary on these pressing issues. Better than Dan Rathers I say and I look forward to the next.

  • fotoeins
    April 30, 2008 at 3:44 AM

    Hmmm, but will Rogers offer the 3G iPhone?

  • Dan
    April 30, 2008 at 5:40 AM

    @ Robin – Good on ya! You made the smart choice.

    @ Scuba Steve – Rogers sound like unscrupulous rob dogs! 3 years for a phone contract is obscene!

  • Clintus
    April 30, 2008 at 6:17 AM

    Kick ass. Oh and about your thumbnail for the video, you can change it. Just find a spot in the video you want to make the thumbnail and click the green + and there is an option that says “set thumbnail”. It won’t be exact because it looks for the nearest keyframe, but it should give you something better than what you have.

  • chris
    April 30, 2008 at 7:02 AM

    What?!? I thought our anthem was Rush’s Take Off. When did it change? Why did nobody tell me?

    And I have a nagging gut feeling that it will not be the 3G that all of civilized society will have by that time.

    Also, technically, 2008 goes alllll the way to midnight on December 31. So I’d be surprised if the release is even one-bazillionth of a second before.

  • Casa87
    April 30, 2008 at 8:36 AM

    Hum is it the Iphone version 0.1 ?

    Pas la peine de t’excuser, tu parles trés bien français. Je serais pas capable de dire la même chose en anglais.
    Combien d’années de français as tu fait ?

  • Mostly Lisa
    April 30, 2008 at 12:40 PM

    @Jeremy — sweet! now get within 25m of my apartment and we can chat!

    @Michael Yurechko — oh really? THAT much? what a rip off. i’m with Fido currently and i have a pretty great plan. if only because i called them and threatened to leave them… they gave me 1000mins within Canada, 100 texts, and free fido to fido and fido to Rogers for free. too bad Fido’s handsets are so crap. mine is 2 years old and suxx bollocks. i kind of want a Blackberry. *shame*

    @Robin — i know. it’s ridiculous. there is a lot of speculation as to why the iPhone has taken so long to get to Canada. Rogers’ high data price is one. almost twice as much as European carriers. i’ll read some more about it and get back to you. to be honest, i have so many things on my list of things i really need before the iPhone so i haven’t done a lot of reading on the reality of getting one… that’s not to say i don’t really really want one.

    PS. send your iPhone to Mostly Lisa c/o the Canadian beavers.

  • Mitchell
    April 30, 2008 at 1:31 PM

    Epic win, right there.
    I’ll go put on my tuque now, and take my beaver for a walk.
    Or at least I would, if I still lived in Canada.
    Yeah.

  • Junior from New Zealand
    April 30, 2008 at 4:54 PM

    My gosh girl! You are funny!! hahaha

    I come here almost every day just to see what’s the next silly video you have put on and have a good laugh!

    Keep rockin! ;)

  • Rachelskirts
    May 2, 2008 at 7:59 PM

    lolz. You never cease to crack me up, chica. This was absolutely brilliant. As always.

  • iPhone in Canada
    May 2, 2008 at 9:07 PM

    LOL! You are ditching your walkie talkie, but my Zack Morris cellphone will live on forever!!

  • Make Money Online with Homebizseo
    May 3, 2008 at 4:40 PM

    Love the walkie talkies…………. great bit

  • steelie
    May 4, 2008 at 6:21 PM

    I heard it took / is taking so long to get to Canada because Apple was not able to negotiate with Rogers the same way they are with other carriers in other countries because Rogers is the only GSM player and therefore was not so willing to budge. Also, there are supposedly two other companies that have laid claims to having the rights to the name “iPhone” in Canada.

    I’m still not sure if I’m going to get one… because of Rogers… I’m with Telus and I have not heard a single positive user experience with Rogers from any of my friends.

    I have also heard/read that the iPhone, though only compatible with Rogers in Canada, might not be sold exclusively through Rogers. So, you might be able to pick it up cheaper somewhere else.

    If Rogers requires us to purchase a data plan to get the phone, I’m going the iPod Touch route too.

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  • Jake Billo
    June 17, 2008 at 9:18 PM

    Rogers will definitely require a data plan for the iPhone. The latest generic (not necessarily iPhone) data plan rumors from HowardForums are $30/300MB and $60/1GB, which is pathetic compared to the AT&T plans in the States but incredibly generous compared to Rogers’ existing plans.

    Also, as a former RIM guy: BlackBerry data is significantly compressed from what Apple’s device offers, but the iPhone browser is a better “like a desktop” experience at present. :) The best deals right now in Canada are Bell/Telus’ $30 BIS plans, which have unlimited BIS-B browser capabilities (read: “unlimited data without tethering”.) Unfortunately, CDMA devices come with their own limitations.

    While I’m not trying to spam… feel free to ping me if you’re thinking about a BlackBerry. My attached site often has details about upcoming plans and feature offerings. Cheers!

  • Chris
    June 18, 2008 at 9:42 AM

    Rogers already has a $7 unlimited on-device browsing plan and certain dumbphones. I’ve heard that you can get the plan on smartphones by calling in and talking to a rep if the option is not available on your wireless services self-serve page. They would be absolutely stupid beyond comprehension to offer anything more expensive. But then, this *is* Rogers we’re talking about.

  • Chris
    June 18, 2008 at 9:43 AM

    *on* certain dumbphones. :oops: The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

  • Jake Billo
    June 18, 2008 at 9:48 AM

    Chris: The problem is that the Rogers $7 unlimited browsing plan is (officially) tied to a whitelist of IMEI numbers – which is a list composed of Rogers-branded cellphones with WAP access only. The exception is the N95, which has a full HTML browser but still qualifies for this package.

    I’d highly doubt the Rogers-issued iPhone will qualify for this package – the National Post indicated that Rogers expects a $90 ARPU from each iPhone account. Think more like a $30-$40 limited browsing plan on top of your voice plan and system access fee.

    Anyways: What happens now is that if you’ve got the $7 plan and your IMEI changes (you switch SIM cards to a different device), you’ll be charged at the pay per use rate of 5 cents/KB. I’ve heard about people using the iPhone with this plan and just starting to get data overage text messages as of this month.

  • Chris
    June 18, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    If Rogers has just started sending out overage text messages to non-Rogers IMEI devices, then clearly the slip-up is on their end. :p

    Also, for non-Rogers unlocked devices, the IMEI (either that is reported to them by the device or that their system assumes for whatever reason) is something like 11111111111110. So what happens if you have two non-Rogers unlocked devices that you’re swapping a sim between?

  • Jake Billo
    June 18, 2008 at 10:14 AM

    The generic IMEI is 111111111111119 (same validation routine as credit cards, actually ;))

    As far as I know, the system will treat all non-Rogers devices the same: you’re getting hit for pay as you go data if it’s a non-Rogers device (locked or unlocked.) So even if you have an unlocked device that’s the same as one Rogers is offering, you’re still getting hit.

    Basically, the CSR’s aren’t supposed to activate the $7 plan on anything but a locked Rogers-branded device – because it won’t work properly on anything else.

  • Chris
    June 18, 2008 at 10:27 AM

    “Basically, the CSR’s aren’t supposed to activate the $7 plan on anything but a locked Rogers-branded device – because it won’t work properly on anything else.”

    Interesting. Thank you!

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  • Edward
    June 19, 2008 at 5:19 PM

    Nice one, I had a set of those ‘Canadian iPhones’ as a kid…touchscreen sucked ass, but at least people could hear what I was saying ;)

    I’m in the UK and looking forward to July 11 for the new iphone – we get a free upgrade for signing away our souls for another 18 months…
    If you wanna swap yours for my old one, hit me up – otherwise it’ll end up in the drawer with all my old blackberrys ;)