This weekend I was in Collingwood for some rest & relaxation – and maybe a little golf.  With thunderstorms pounding the area all morning, we decided to go into town to do some shopping.

We popped into the Rogers wireless store to see if they had any 3G iphones in stock. We were in luck – they had both the 8 gig and 16 gig versions available.  I asked for the 8 gig version… and that’s when the fun began.

Rogers will not sell you an iphone if your existing contract with them is less than one year old.

If your contract is less than three years old, they will sell you one – but will add up to $100 more to the price.

The reason? The sales guy said they don’t make enough money from you to pay for the phone subsidy otherwise. The fact that I bought a SIM card last September and not a phone (I alreaday had a few unlocked GSM phones) had no bearing on the outcome.

Any marketer with any customer relationship management (CRM) experience knows that it’s far more expensive to acquire a new customer than to grow an existing one.

By punishing new and existing customers with policies such as the one outlined above, they are actually decreasing loyalty and increasing the likelihood the consumer will leave Rogers the moment there is a competitive alternative. Instead of being an advocate of Rogers, they are creating badvocates as my friend Craig would say.  

I know what you are thinking – Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada and the only one with the iphone… so they can treat customers as poorly as they want because they have no where else to go.

That is currently true – but both those statements are not likely to be true by this time next year… at which point I’ll be switching carriers.

Up next: Upgrading my first generation iphone to 2.0.

For those who have been following my blog for a while will recognize this phrase “user experience will trump superior technology – every time.”

Apple has proven this again and again… and this past week as the world rushed to get their second generation or 3G iphone (and crashing Apple’s itunes server in the process!) it will again be the user experience not the technology that will give this device staying power.

Don’t get me wrong – a thinner version with better reception and real GPS is super awesome – but it’s what comes with the new software OS that really makes this device a consumer’s (and potentially a marketer’s) dream.

The 2.0 OS software on the iphone is backwards compatible with your first generation iphone – so the 200,000 or so first generation iphones in Canada will be able to upgrade and enjoy many of the benefits of the second generation device.

Specifically as a marketer, I’m most excited about the App store – think of it as itunes for software designed specifically for your iphone. No longer will you have to jailbreak your iphone to customize and personalize it to meet your needs. Like itunes, you’ll be able to select what apps (games, productivity software etc…) you want and let the app store do the rest.

iphone apps are like widgets for your blackberry – but far easier to download

Smart marketers will also leverage the localization capabilities of the device to bring you a mashup of something truly useful.

Marketers who think mobile marketing is all about text to win campaigns are missing out on the r/evolution of interactivity.  If you’ve hired one such company to work with your brand or agency, you need to rethink your strategy before submitting those 2009 budgets which are due shortly…

What was cause for celebration a few weeks ago has turned into a national embarrassment and another reminder that the Canadian mobile marketplace is not yet a very competitive one.

The new plans announced by Rogers are not consistent with plans being offered south of the border by AT&T or in other countries where plans include unlimited data for around $30/month.

The Rogers iphone plan starts around $60 before system charges and other fees. It does include talk time… but only 150 minutes.  You also have a data limit of 400 megs of data… which is not a lot considering the iphone is heavily dependant on data for all their widgets and the average iphone user uses 8 of them on a regular basis.  

Americans on AT&T get 3 times more talk time and unlimited data for about the same price 

Even the Rogers heavy usage plan doesn’t offer unlimited data. Since the announcement and subsequent consumer backlash, they have now indicated that customers can use other “smartphone” plans instead of the announced iphone plans. For example, I could transfer my blackberry rates (~$100/month for data alone) to the iphone. Again, no big deal and still substantially more expensive than other iphone plans offered in other countries.

Wait at least a month if you still really want one and here’s why…

Bell just announced that they will be releasing the new Samsung Instinct on August 8th which will include an unlimited data plan. The Instinct is a touch-based phone like the iphone and offers many of the same features. The user experience isn’t quite as great as the iphone… but it’s a great alternative. Thanks to Kate for sending a tweet on that announcement yesterday!

I wouldn’t be surprised if Telus came out with a similar data plan for their HTC or other smartphone products too… which means Rogers will likely update their plans if they don’t reach their targets with the iphone.

There are two more reasons to wait to buy that iphone…

1. The Rogers deal to sell the iphone isn’t exclusive – which means another GSM provider can sell it. With at least one new carrier coming to Canada after the current spectrum auction finishes up in the next few weeks, it’s almost a certainty that they’ll be GSM based. Expect them to be in market later this year or early next
2. The iphone is a great device… but what makes it really super awesome are all the utilities, enhancements, and UI hacks available for those who were brave enough to jailbreak it.  As of today, there is no jailbreaking solution for the new 3G iphone… but it’s only a matter of time

If you haven’t made the dash to Buffalo or some other U.S. border town already to buy a first generation iphone, you can probably stand to wait a month or two for better rates and more flexibility in customizing & personalizing it.

In the meantime, feel free to join the following online petitions against the new Rogers plans:

• 
• Petitiononline.com

Today Steve Jobs is expected to announced the new iphone which is rumoured to be 3G based – meaning it can take advantage of high speed mobile networks.

The Rogers 3G network covers all the major city centres and / or about 60% of the country. It’s expected that the new iphone will be made available to 50 new markets this year – including Canada.

Back in April when Rogers announced that they had an exclusive to sell the iphones in Canada I made some predictions on what to expect.

Read those here and let’s compare notes in a few hours after the announcement!

Today Rogers made the long awaited announcement that the iphone was indeed coming to Canada to a Rogers store near you – sometime this year. No other details were made available. 

This is not great news for blackberry.

Since the iphone was launched last year, Apple has grabbed 27% of the North American PDA market while being available only in the U.S. and through att&t. Blackberry currently has about 42% market share in North America.

The fact that no set timeline has been set likely means that Rogers is waiting for the anticipated release of the second generation iphone which industry insiders say should be available around July of this year. 

It’s worth the wait.

Here’s what to expect: 

1. It will be a 3G phone – which means it will take advantage of third generation networks that are now widely available in Canada. This will be like going from the slow dial-up speeds we have today to near high speed. Think of it as broadband light. This will make browsing the mobile web a pleasant experience in Canada
2. It will have true GPS
3. It will look slightly different. I bit thicker to accommodate a bigger battery that is needed to support 3G and the back is rumored to be black instead of metallic – which should improve the range of the antenna
4. The headphone jack will no longer be recessed – so you can use any set of headphones now. Woo hoo!
5. New operating system that will come with new software. This will probably include new video editing / management software as well as GPS. 
6. Expect to pay around $500 for the new phone
7. No word on capacity – but it will be a minimum 16 gigs… although I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes with a 32 version too. 
8. All you can eat data plan should be made available for about $20
9. The iphone will be enterprise ready – which means many of the best features currently only available on blackberrys will be available for the iphone. The iphone will be secure enough and come with enough enterprise level management tools that there will be nothing preventing some corporations form switching from blackberry to iphones… or at least supporting both.

April has been the busiest traveling month for me in years. A combination of conferences, client work and a work reward trip means that I’ll be physically in the office for three days this month!

My month began with a trip to Las Vegas for the CTIA Wireless conference. In the spirit of the week, I decided to try Air Canada’s new mobile check-in.  The way it works is that you check-in as usual on their website then in the final step you can choose to print your boarding pass or request one be sent to your mobile device. I entered my mobile number and waited. And Waited…. and waited.

My Air Canada mobile boarding pass never came.

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