I remember it well. When the iPhone first was released in Canada back in June ’08, resistance was futile. I had to have it. As I walked out of the Rogers store with my iPhone in my hot little hand, a cloud of terror came over me…. “my God! What have I done!”. Being a Canadian iPhone at the time brought about sneers from others, even techies! The idea was that we were being suckered, paying the “early adopter” penalty, in addition to the Canadian penalty.
Fast forward to just over 18 months later. A lot has changed. Turns out, it ain’t so bad being an iPhone guy in Canada. Here’s sorta what I mean:
Multiple Carriers
When the iPhone first came out, you had three choices:
(1) Rogers
(2) Rogers
(3) Rogers
People largely have a dim view of Rogers in Canada, especially in the East. They’re the schoolyard bullies of the mobile market. They were not cheap, that’s for sure.
That was then, this is now. Today there are three choices, but the selection looks different:
(1) Rogers
(2) Bell
(3) Telus…
… and this is with more rumoured to be on the horizon! Virgin, Mobilicity, Wind, Globalive, to name a few. Keep in mind that that our friends in the States are still stuck with one carrier, AT&T. And some are none too pleased about this.
Lowered Cost
My plan has the early adopter penalty: its about 85 bucks per month – Voice (not sure how much, not even close to going over) and Data (6 GB per month, basically unlimited). This was over a three year contract, too. Ugh!
That was then, this is now. Now all three offer plans starting at 50 bucks per month, which is not bad. We’re not on par with what Americans pay, but we’re close. We also live in a massive country, one mother of a infrastructure, I’m sure.
App availability
One thing we can all enjoy, Americans and Canadians, is the sheer number of apps available from the App Store. We can take our pick from over 150,000 apps, compared to our Android using friends who can select from around 30,000 apps. The maturity of the App store is lethal! It never ceases to amaze me.
So, while I’m not weeping tears of joy being an iPhone guy in Canada, I don’t exactly feel like I’ve been suckered. I’m pretty happy with the thing.
However, there are things I would like to see changed or added to the iPhone. Maybe I’ll leave that to my next post. But I gotta go. I’m gunning for a high score on the Bejeweled 2 app. Damn thing.
Fast forward to just over 18 months later. A lot has changed. Turns out, it ain’t so bad being an iPhone guy in Canada. Here’s sorta what I mean:
Multiple Carriers
When the iPhone first came out, you had three choices:
(1) Rogers
(2) Rogers
(3) Rogers
People largely have a dim view of Rogers in Canada, especially in the East. They’re the schoolyard bullies of the mobile market. They were not cheap, that’s for sure.
That was then, this is now. Today there are three choices, but the selection looks different:
(1) Rogers
(2) Bell
(3) Telus…
… and this is with more rumoured to be on the horizon! Virgin, Mobilicity, Wind, Globalive, to name a few. Keep in mind that that our friends in the States are still stuck with one carrier, AT&T. And some are none too pleased about this.
Lowered Cost
My plan has the early adopter penalty: its about 85 bucks per month – Voice (not sure how much, not even close to going over) and Data (6 GB per month, basically unlimited). This was over a three year contract, too. Ugh!
That was then, this is now. Now all three offer plans starting at 50 bucks per month, which is not bad. We’re not on par with what Americans pay, but we’re close. We also live in a massive country, one mother of a infrastructure, I’m sure.
App availability
One thing we can all enjoy, Americans and Canadians, is the sheer number of apps available from the App Store. We can take our pick from over 150,000 apps, compared to our Android using friends who can select from around 30,000 apps. The maturity of the App store is lethal! It never ceases to amaze me.
So, while I’m not weeping tears of joy being an iPhone guy in Canada, I don’t exactly feel like I’ve been suckered. I’m pretty happy with the thing.
However, there are things I would like to see changed or added to the iPhone. Maybe I’ll leave that to my next post. But I gotta go. I’m gunning for a high score on the Bejeweled 2 app. Damn thing.
