Nokia N95 and Apple iPhone headed to Rogers Canada
By Will Park on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 2:49 PM PST In Apple, Devices, Nokia, Rogers, Rumors
There are a lot of positives to living in Canada. Unfortunately, access to the newest and higher-end mobile phones is not one of the upsides to living North of the border. Rogers (NYSE: RCI) Canada is the country’s premier (read: only) GSM provider, and with a lack of any real competition, the cost of GSM data plans has been prohibitively high on Rogers’ network.
Well, things are looking up for Rogers customers. Word on the street has it that the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95 is due to hit Rogers’ GSM network on May 2. The Canada-bound variant of the Nokia N95 should hit market sporting the same 5 megapixel camera, GPS receiver, WiFi, TV-out, and 3G HSDPA data connection that the US enjoys. And, with the help of Rogers, the Nokia N95 should be able to make use of its video call camera.
Pricing for the Nokia N95 on Rogers is reported to hit $699 without contract.
And, all you Canadian iPhone hopefuls (those of you that haven’t already jumped across the border for an unlocked iPhone) may soon be able to get your hands on a Rogers-locked Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone in the near future. The Toronto Star cites industry sources as indicating that Rogers is gearing up to launch a touchscreen-based handset campaign with the release of the master of touchscreen handsets, the Apple iPhone. The iPhone’s entry into Canada has been speculated to as being held up by the country’s costly GSM data plans. But, with the launch of the Rogers’ $20 unlimited data plan, the “Communicate Value Pack,” Rogers is believed to be preparing to receive the heralded iPhone.
The iPhone is said to hit Canada some time between May and July. The purported timing of the iPhone in Canada points to the release of the 3G iPhone ahead of RIM’s BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) 9000, giving Apple a head start in RIM’s home country.
[Via: Electronista]
Amazing that the super multiemediaphone N95 hit Roger in Canada !
The Rogers ‘Communicate’ Value Pack is a joke, just like all their other data plans, because of the footnotes:
1) Plan includes unlimited on-device mobile browsing only and is only on select devices (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible). Data usage incurred on ineligible device or incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB.
If your dumbed-down-and-crippled Crackberry browser is excluded, what do you think chances are that Rogers will let iPhone users unfettered access to the full-blown web?
Personally, I live in Canada and I never really cared about which handsets Rogers have or planning to get as I always get them brand new and unlocked from ebay. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that we don’t have a good GSM competition. That’s the only reason why I haven’t got a data plan yet. It’s still so expensive!
So true. It’s sad that the GSM market in Canada is still undeveloped. I’d like to see Telus make the jump to GSM with an LTE network in the near future.
Lets not forget about the T-Mobile rumors. Hopefully Canadian law can change, or the owner of T-Mobile will apply for Canadian citizenship