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3G iPhone Tidbits: Availability, Limits, And Rogers' Big Fat Mistake


Posted by Eric Zeman, Jul 8, 2008 09:57 AM

Here's a round-up of some 3G iPhone news blurbs. Apple has confirmed that the iPhone will go on sale at 8 AM Friday morning at Apple stores, the same time it will be available at AT&T stores. AT&T appears to be limiting purchases to one new iPhone per person. Lastly, Canada's Rogers Wireless looks to be suffering the wrath of Apple in response to its unfriendly data pricing plans.

AT&T said that it will be opening its stores at the early hour of 8 AM on Friday, July 11, to sell the 3G iPhone. Just this morning, Apple confirmed that, it, too, will be opening its stores at 8 to match AT&T. For stand-alone stores, the early opening won't be a problem.

Since all the local AT&T retail outlets and the Apple store are located within my local mall, I an going to have to check to see what time the mall will actually open to let customers in to purchase the 3G iPhone. It usually doesn't open until 10. My guess is they'll open up early and have some sort of crowd control in place, as they did last year, to keep people at or near the Apple and AT&T stores. I'll be reporting live from the field to let you know how it goes. For anyone in a similar situation, you'd best call ahead to find out.

MacRumors has said that AT&T will be limiting sales of the iPhone to one per customer. This bit hasn't been confirmed by AT&T, however. Last year, Apple limited purchases to two per person. If there are limits, there has been no explanation of how people are supposed to purchases a bunch of 3G iPhones for multiple family plan members. We'll have to see how this pans out on Friday.

Man, oh man. I wouldn't want to be an executive with Rogers Wireless right now. Rogers Wireless released its 3G iPhone data pricing plans and there was immediate consumer backlash. The plans do not include unlimited data, which the plan from AT&T does. The best you can do with Rogers is pay $115 per month for 800 anytime minutes 300 text messages and 2 GB of data. In comparison, AT&T's cheapest plan gives you 450 minutes per month, and unlimited data for $80. Add $5 for 200 messages, or $20 for unlimited messages. (Just as a point of comparison, I've sent 400 MB of data from my iPhone this month, and received 1.7 GB. Combined, that surpasses Rogers' highest data plan.)

Canadian consumers have cried foul. In fact, some 47,000 of them signed a petition in protest of the high data rate plans. Well, Apple appears to have heard the complaints of consumers. IntoMobile reports that a Rogers representative confirmed that Apple has sliced the number of 3G iPhones it plans to ship to Rogers for Friday's launch. IntoMobile's sources suggest that only 10 to 20 3G iPhones will be made available to each Rogers retail outlet, with Apple diverting stock to European carriers instead to send Rogers a message that it is unhappy with the data plan pricing. Apple has not confirmed this, but we'll likely see reports as early as mid-day on Friday about Rogers' 3G iPhone stock.

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