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Ooof. Calling Rogers is painful,

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Ooof. Calling Rogers is painful,

especially when it’s to buy a data plan from them. Nadia got a new phone yesterday – a Treo like mine – and for a device like that, a data plan is pretty important. So I called them up – knowing already what the deal on the table was – and signed up for a 3MB plan… for $25. I feel like Rogers is intentionally laughing at me or something. They invented plans in the late 90s for WAP and have kept charging people through the nose ever since.

Thomas Purves has posted

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Thomas Purves has posted

a comparison of mobile data pricing in Canada and elsewhere in the world, and demonstrates that Canadian rates are by far the highest anywhere. The only *possible* light at the end of the tunnel is that if Rogers does bring in the Apple iPhone, then they’re going to have to do something to address the fact that the iPhone is designed for a pretty high level of network access, or so it seems. With any luck – but I’m not holding my breath – this will benefit Canadian customers across the board.

There’s trouble on the horizon

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There’s trouble on the horizon

for traditionally inept telcom pirates like Rogers and the rest of them as more and more handset manufacturers start gleefully selling unlocked devices directly to consumers. The latest challenge (added to the speculation that any iPhone offering from Apple will be an unlocked DTC offering) comes from Palm, who are selling their new Treo 680, unlocked, for US$399.

Compare that with the best offer from Rogers: a two-year-old Palm Treo 650 model, which even with a three-year contract comes out at C$399 before the mail-in rebate.

So I can get a better, newer, slimmer phone and not be locked in to an over-long contract.

It’s even worse if you compare apples to apples – Rogers wants C$600 for their out-of-date Treo 650 product with no contract.

iPhone hysteria has heated up

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iPhone hysteria has heated up

with the post this week at Engadget that (possible) manufacturer Hon Hai [has copped] to [having the] iPhone contract. I don’t know where this is really going to go, but the seemingly most reliable reports are that Apple will eschew marketing the device in the traditional manner – through the cellphone carriers – and sell direct to customers who will just put in any SIM card and go.

If this does indeed prove to be the case, it will be a very interesting development. And long overdue.

As far as features are concerned, that might be a tougher sell. I would love a good quality phone that was also a top-quality music machine, but I don’t think that’s enough to really distinguish the device in the marketplace. It seems that a great proportion of the market are current smartphone users – and while I agree with Jobs that phones aren’t necessarily the best input devices, having robust input functionality built in is nevertheless quite important. Synching with a larger device isn’t always possible, so foreclosing on a user’s ability to, say, compose and send a short email or make a quick grocery list would, for me, totally rule out the adoption of an iPhone, even if the “stick it to the cell providers” part does appeal to me.

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