Apple iPhone in Canada…what would it cost?
Published by nick July 18th, 2007 in Technology.
If you’re sick and tired of seeing and reading iPhone reviews, comments and posts, it’s probably cause you live in the USA - Land of the free, Home of the iPhone.
Yea we Canadians have our socialized healthcare, have more land and make better beer. But we don’t have the iPhone - I was determined to find out why!
I first took a look at the issue from a bizniz (Apple and Rogers Wireless) perspective. At the end of 2006, wireless subscribers topped 18.5 Million in Canada. How does that compare with the US?
The USA currently has approximately 215 Million wireless subscribers. Hmm, interesting, I was on to something…But let’s assume that Steve Jobs really likes Canadians (who doesn’t) and wants to show his admiration by letting us have the privilege of buying this device of technology deliciousness. I decided to break down the potential cost of buying an iPhone in Canada and compare it to that of the US.
The first task would be to buy the iPhone. I used the current cost of a 80gb iPod Video to get the cost difference between Apple Canada and Apple USA. The price of a 80gb iPod Video in the USA is $349, the cost in Canada $399 - thus a 14% difference in price. The cost of a 8gb iPhone is $599 in the US, hence, assuming a similar difference of 14%, the cost in Canada should land at around $680 (let’s say $679 cause it looks nicer).
Alright, so we have the iPhone in our hands…well, as we’ve found out from news in the US, it’s an expensive paper weight without a voice and data plan. So what would would this currently cost me in Canada. Since Rogers Wireless is the largest wireless provider in Canada and also a partner with AT&T, I decided to use them for the pricing comparison with the AT&T iPhone rates.
In addition there are several levels for the iPhone plans - I took a look at the cheapest available one.
| AT&T | Rogers Wireless | |
| AT&T Nation | Voice & Email Package - Plus | |
| $59.99/month | $60/month | |
| Minutes | 450 | 200 |
| Unlimited Data | Yes | 7MB ($6/MB for each MB over) |
| Visual Voicemail | Yes | Not Yet Available on Rogers |
| SMS Text Msg | 200 | 15cents to send/unlimited to receive |
| Evenings/Weekends | 5000 minutes | Not included |
| Rollover Minutes | Yes | No |
| Unlimited Mobile to Mobile | Yes | No |
| Additional Minutes | 45cents/min | 25cents/min |
| Nationwide Long Distance | Yes | Long Distance Rates |
| Voicemail | Included | Extra |
| Call Forwarding | Included | Extra |
| Call Waiting | Included | Included |
| 3-Way Calling | Included | Included |
| Caller ID (Display) | Included | Extra |
So as you can see, I’m already getting screwed, and I haven’t even matched the features of the $59/month AT&T plan.
Because I was curious - I decided to price out, what it would cost me on Rogers Wireless to match the features of the $59/month AT&T plan.
Well, here goes…
- $15/month extra for Unlimited Evenings and Weekends
- $12/month for voicemail, call display, and 125 sent sms messages
- $6/month for an additional 125 sent sms messages (totaling 250)
- $210/month for 500MB of additional data
Total: $303/month!!
As you can see - it starts to become a challenge for Canadian wireless service providers to adopt a pricing model similar to that of the US. In addition, Canada doesn’t even rank in the top 15 countries for wireless subscribers - not giving Apple a huge incentive to launch the iPhone in Canada.
That being said, I’m sure there are plans for a launch sometime this year in Canada.
Enjoy your iPhones USA! I’ll go enjoy my beer.
Cheers.
that is just not fair. why does the US get such a better deal. ROGERS SUCKS!