The IT Nerd

Even if you aren’t lusting after the iPhone, there’s three reasons to be happy that it’s coming to Canada:

1. Lower wireless rates for everybody: Apple is likely to have forced Rogers to have at least one flat rate “all you can surf and talk” plan. That’s because Apple is interested in having a great user experience, and having a $600 or $700 wireless bill gets in the way of that since the recipient of that bill will blame Apple. As a side effect, other wireless providers will lower their rates and have an “all you can surf and talk” plan to keep people from defecting to Rogers. This is good because Canada has some of the highest cell phone rates in the world.
   
2. Other really cool phones will FINALLY show up in Canada: Have you been lusting after a Nokia N95 or a phone like it? Can’t get it without paying a ton of cash at one of those shops that sell unlocked phones or by going to Europe or Asia? That’s about to change. Since Rogers will exclusively have the iPhone (for now), you can bet that other wireless providers will get N95s and phones like them to compete against Rogers. And you can expect the prices to be great.
3. It will usher in the 3G age in Canada: Up until now, Canada has been stuck with Cellular Internet access technologies that we very cool, but had limited uses. I’m talking about 3G technologies such as EVDO from Bell and Telus, and HSDPA from Rogers. Part of that is because there’s been only a handful of phones available that leverage 3G technology. But I think that the core reason is there isn’t a compelling reason for people to take advantage of these technologies. The iPhone changes that. Now you have a phone that leverages that technology for web surfing, e-mail and a ton of other functions. That in turn will drive usage of these technologies in other ways that are non-iPhone related. Granted, some of that assumes that Canada is getting a 3G iPhone, but that seems to be the way the stars are aligning at the moment.

Needless to say, with these three items everybody wins whether you are an iPhone user or not. For that you can thank Apple. Maybe if Steve Jobs ever decides to show up in Canada you can do so personally.

This entry was posted on April 29, 2008 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Commentary, Products with tags Apple, Canada, iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.