Apple, disgusted with Rogers Wireless for dumping egregious service plans on would-be iPhone 3G buyers, has decided that its Canadian retail stores will have no part in helping the carrier market the new handset to customers, AppleInsider has learned.
As a result, Canadian Apple Retail stores won’t be selling the new 3G touchscreen phones come Friday, representatives for the Cupertino-based company said during a private conference call on Monday evening. Instead, it will be up to Rogers and its partner Fido to lock subscribers into steep 3-year contracts that require a minimum monthly payment of $60 for just 150 minutes, 75 text messages, and 400MB of data.
Calls to Canadian Apple retail stores early Tuesday confirmed the move once over. Although the majority of the of stores contacted by AppleInsider said they were still unsure whether they’d be selling the new iPhone, one representative ultimately confirmed that Rogers and its partner stores will be the only place to buy iPhone 3G come Friday. Canadian Apple retail stores will, however, have demo units on hand the same day.
Asked whether the decision not to sell the iPhone was a result of Rogers’ poor service offerings, the representative would only say that: “We have nothing to do with the service plans. Those are Rogers’ plans.”
Word of Apple’s abandonment of in-store sales comes just days after the company was reported to have sanctioned Rogers by diverting a significant amount of Canada’s iPhone 3G shipments to Europe as initial retribution. As a result, the Canadian carrier will likely receive only about 10 to 20 units per store, and therefore should “exercise caution” not to promise ample stock on launch day, people familiar with the matter have said.
Apple’s knee-jerk reaction is believed to have been further stimulated by public outrage on the part of Canadian consumers following the release of the local pricing plans. Always concerned with its image, the iPhone maker has watched nearly 50,000 of its loyal customers sign an anti-Rogers petition at ruinediphone.com, which has in turn sparked hundreds of potentially damaging reports on the matter by bloggers and members of the mainstream media.
For its part, Rogers in official statements has attempted to justify the cost of its service and data plans by arguing that the “majority” of international iPhone carriers have capped data. As such, a spokesperson said Rogers believes its plans to be better than those of Orange France, for example, which include a 500MB ‘reasonable use’ limit versus the 2GB maximum on the top-tier Canadian iPhone plan that fetches $115 per month.
“Unlimited plans could end up costing customers more for what they don’t use,” the spokesperson said. “Our iPhone plans more than accommodate the vast majority of customers.”
Simply put, it’s a complimentary theme installed as a plugin on your WordPress blog or website that will format your content with this Apple-inspired, full-featured theme when your visitors are using an iPhone or iPod touch.
I thought the iPhone/iPod touch shows my website fine the way it is now?
Yes, that’s true for the most part (minus flash support). However, first of all not all blogs are created equal, and some sites don’t translate well in the viewport of the phone. Secondly, many WordPress sites today make heavy use of different javascripts which significantly increase the load time of pages, and drives users on EDGE batty. So we’ve come up with WPtouch, a slim, feature-rich, highly-customized ‘theme application’ of which includes an admin interface to let you customize page icons and your logo.
Well, what if my users don’t like it and want to see my regular site?
There’s an option in the footer on WPtouch for your users to easily switch between the WPtouch view and your site’s regular appearance. It’s that easy. You put a little snippet of code into your current theme which will be shown only to iPhone/iPod touch users and give them the ability to switch between the two easily, but we’ll get into that later in the instructions.
Will it slow down my blog?
Not bloody likely! Unless of course you’re getting slammed with all sorts of traffic because you’ve installed this sexy thang. The entire package for WPtouch is only 660kb. It was designed to be as lightweight and speedy as possible, while still serving your blog’s content in a richly presented way.
It wont be long now before the iPhone is available for purchase in South Africa. This begs the question, how will it become available? What will the rules for getting one be?
If Vodacom are the only providers to have initial exclusivity, then there could only be a number of ways in which a user would be able to get a phone.
We already know that users can fill out an online web form to be “called” once the iPhones become available, but this doesn’t guarantee you a phone.
There is still mystery surrounding whether the iPhone will be available on contact only (which I fear might be the case) or whether it would be available for over-the-counter-purchase. If this is the case, expect long lines at the Vodashops in the malls or around city blocks with midnight camp-outs and thermos flasks of hot drinks.
Either way, what should be considered is that initial numbers will be limited. Regardless of pricing, I still believe that there will be a huge deficit which will not meet the demand for consumers. Once stocks are sold out, it is very likely that they will take a couple of weeks, or near a month to replenish. You have been warned !
What are your thoughts on securiting an iPhone, do you have any special tips for being one of the first to get it when it arrives, or one of the lucky ones to secure a unit before they are all gone? Please sign up and comment now.
