i-phone coming to Holt Renfrew Canada in two weeks for $800 ?!?
Crazy…but could it be true? According to the rumour mill as posted in iPhoneHacks.com and Engadget, the i-Phone could be available for sale in Canada in the upscale retailer by the end of this Month for $799.
With the upcoming November 9th launch of the i-phone in Europe, apparently there is a push to get the phone out to Canadians around the same time if not sooner. One of the principle reasons why the i-phone has not yet made it to Canada is the fact that Rogers does not offer an all you can eat data plan. With AT&T you pay around $20 / month for an all you can eat data plan in the U.S. The top plan from Rogers is $250 / month – and there are still limitations on bandwidth…so bills can quickly escalate to several hundred or thousand a month. I’ve had my i-phone for about a month now and have received my first Rogers bill which was over $400 for low to moderate use. Data charges add up fast as the widgets such as stocks and weather will continually ping the network for updates while your i-phone is turned on…so you can rack up a big bill without doing much.
The rumour also stats that Holt Renfrew will be the sole carrier in Canada – which makes no sense unless they are launching their own MVNO off the Rogers network. Rogers is the only carrier in Canada with the GSM network required for the current i-phone iteration. It seems unlikely that they would agree to an MVNO with Holt Renfrew on their network for such an important product. With the recent failures of the ESPN and Walt Disney MVNOs, it’s also unlikely that Holt Renfrew would wander in this territory. Even Virgin Mobile – an MVNO on the Bell Network has had limited success in Canada. A more likely scenario is that Holt Renfrew will be selling the device as a principle retailer (much like AT&T in the U.S.) but consumers will still have to activate the phone through Rogers over i-Tunes.
The price point also seems ridiculous – especially with the Canadian dollar valued 2% more than the U.S. greenback. Many of us have made the trip to Buffalo and even with the tax imposed at the border, we had jailbreaked & unlocked i-phones on the Rogers network within minutes of getting home for around $460 Canadian.
If you are a Canadian looking for more competitive pricing from Rogers, I encourage you to sign the online petition started here. If you are interested in following news on the i-phone in Canada, add the following link to your del.ic.ious account – http://www.iphoneinfo.ca/ and http://www.iphonehacks.com
Although Holt Renfrew has carried i-pods in the past and other high end mobile devices from Nokia, you’re still more likely to get your new i-phone in Canada by driving to Buffalo or whatever border crossing is closest to you. The $$$ you’ll spend in gas and chicken wings will still outweigh the potential premium Canadians will pay for their i-phone when it eventually comes to Canada – through Holt Renfrew, Rogers, or whomever.
