Virgin Mobile's Canadian division will soon carry the iPhone, according to an announcement. The company has revealed few details, except that it will sell both the 3G and 3GS, and that a launch should happen sometime "in the coming months." The device will also be the carrier's first HSPA-based phone, possible through an upgraded Bell cellular network.
Anonymous sources have leaked the iPhone plans of Canadian carriers Bell and Telus, a report claims. Bell is said to be launching on November 4th with three individual plans, beginning with one costing $55 per month. It includes 300 regular voice minutes, and free calling to local Fab 5 numbers as well as on evenings and weekends after 9PM. The plan also includes 1GB of data with tethering support, and unlimited Wi-Fi at Starbucks Coffee.
Canadian carriers Bell and Telus have announced separate deals with Apple, ones which will let them both carry the iPhone 3G and 3GS beginning in November. The companies have published no details of their agreements, such as phone prices, subscription plans or specific release dates. The two will however have to compete with Rogers, which until now has held exclusive rights to the Canadian iPhone.
The first Apple Store in Winnipeg, Manitoba is set to launch at 10AM this Saturday, Apple has announced. The shop is located inside of the Polo Park Shopping Centre at 1485 Portage Avenue, on the intersection with St. James Street. Regular Monday-to-Friday hours are 10AM to 9PM; Saturday hours are 9:30AM to 6PM, and on Sunday, the shop is open from just 12 to 6PM.
Auction site eBay has completed a deal to sell off its Skype VoIP division, according to an announcement. The deal is said to be worth $2.9 billion, granting a 65 percent stake to an investor group including Silver Lake, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. eBay is holding on to a 35 percent equity investment, and gaining $1.9 billion in cash, plus a note in the principal amount of $125 million.
The iPhone 3GS continues to be unavailable in much of Canada, writes the Globe and Mail. Despite promises of continual shipments, Rogers says it is once again out of stock for the iPhone 3GS -- launched in June of this year -- and even the iPhone 3G, released in 2008. The carrier's sub-brand, Fido, is still said to have some 3G models in stock.
The TV drama series Mad Men is set to forgo distribution by its previous broadcasters in Canada, following a deal for exclusive online availability through Apple, according to Media in Canada. Viewers of earlier seasons will have to watch the third through iTunes Canada, or else the American channel AMC.
A new Apple Store in Ottawa, Canada will be having its grand opening this Saturday, July 18th at 9:30 a.m.. As indicated by construction photographs, the Rideau Center location has very similar elements to the company's other retail establishments, such as the Genius Bar and wall displays. Compared to other stores, the single-story outlet is larger than average. This should not come as much of a surprise, considering the store will be the first of its kind in Ottawa, the nation's capitol, and only the ninth so far in all of Canada.
Rogers has again encountered problems in its second iPhone launch, accounts say. At the Eaton Centre Apple Store in Toronto, customers have reported being unable to upgrade to the 3G S through normal methods if they are an existing iPhone customer. Rogers' special promotional pricing -- announced just yesterday -- is said to be so recent, it is not in the carrier's computer systems, requiring calls to customer support to confirm billing and eligibility. New activations have been unaffected, but existing iPhone owners are said to be waiting 30 to 40 minutes each to talk with Rogers.
Canadians should now be able to buy iPhones from Apple Stores, Apple has announced. While the iPhone 3G has been on sale in Canada since its 2008 launch, buyers have typically had to turn to a Rogers or Fido store to pick up the product. People should now have the option of heading to one of the country's nine Apple outlets, located in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Laval and Montreal. An Ottawa store opening is anticipated for August.
Canadian carrier Fido has posted information on its iPhone 3GS pricing and subscription options. As in the US the phone will be launching June 19th, with a 16GB phone costing $199, and a 32GB model $299, when either is combined with a three-year voice and data plan. Fido will also be offering the iPhone 3G for $99, when bought under the same terms. Contract-free pricing should be available, though figures are not yet ready.
Canadian carrier Rogers has made some significant alterations to its iPhone Value Packs, which supplement the the basic voice and data plans for Apple's handheld with features like call display and text messaging. Of significance is that the Smartphone and Visual Voicemail packs are now $20 per month, having formerly cost $15. The Smartphone pack provides "enhanced" voicemail instead of the iPhone-native Visual format.
Canadian carrier Fido, a subset of Rogers, has begun selling "refreshed" iPhone 3Gs, reports say. The phones were originally bought and returned within Fido's 15-day return window, reflecting conditions similar to various refurb discounts outside of Canada. The Fido phones are specifically not refurbished, however, having only received minor attention before being put back on sale.
The $30, 6GB data plan remains available for iPhones bought through Canada's Rogers, a customer care worker claims. Although originally offered as an early promotion, the plan is still said to be available, in spite of a lack of publicity and allegations of massive overcharges if a user's account information is suddenly changed. The plan is in fact said to be available with any Windows Mobile smartphone on a three-year contract as well, the main caveat being that shoppers may have to ask for it.
Some Canadian iPhone subscribers are suddenly finding themselves overcharged for their data usage, a customer complaint received by MacNN suggests. The customer notes that as with a number of Canadians, he signed up to Rogers Wireless' initial data plan for the iPhone 3G, which cost $30 per month for 6GB. Several months later however a bill for "hundreds of dollars" was received, a result of the original data plan having mysteriously disappeared from his account.
Bell may refuse to upgrade to next-generation networks if the Canadian government does not concede to demands, a statement from the company proposes. The country's telecommunications regulator, the CRTC, recently issued a ruling that would require the company to open up its next-generation networks to competitors. Bell is only one of two national Internet service providers in Canada however, and would likely gain no more than diminished profits if forced to cope with competition.
Apple's planned Ottawa retail store should open its doors by the end of August, a reliable source tells MacNN. The store -- Apple's ninth in Canada and the first for the country's capital -- is at least expected to open before the end of 2009, one of only 25 new outlets scheduled worldwide this year. The reduced construction comes in the wake of a global economic recession.
Apple has already begun its retail store expansion plans for 2009, with photos emerging of construction in Greensboro, NC, along with a building approval for a long-awaited Georgetown location and several international locations, including Brighton in the UK, and Ottawa, Canada. A tipster who observed workers building the Greensboro store notes that the workers were standing on what appeared to be a palette with a railing made from 2x4s.
Canadian wireless provider Fido on Wednesday announced it is offering the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 smartphone from Research in Motion. Only available in black, the handset is being priced as low as $25 CAD on a three-year voice and data plan. The lowest-priced data plan is the $15-per-month unlimited Personal Email on BlackBerry.
The end of September has brought an end to a Rogers/Fido iPhone offering of 6GB of data for $30 CAD, which is being replaced with two new subscription options. The revised plans are slightly different than rumored ones, and come at a cost of either $60 or $75 per month. On the $60 plan users will get 250 daytime minutes, 1GB of data, 75 sent text messages, Visual Voicemail, and unlimited evenings and weekends (9PM to 7AM on Rogers, 7PM to 8AM on Fido). Additionally, Fido customers get unlimited network calling and billing by the second.
Rogers Wireless will be changing its base iPhone bundles come October 1st, an anonymous source claims. Having agreed to extend its popular 6GB data plan to the end of September, the Canadian carrier has only so far made reference to changes in normal iPhone data plans for subsequent months. The rumored new bundles would include a $60 plan with 250 daytime minutes, 75 texts and 1GB of data, as well as Visual Voicemail, three months of unlimited local calling, and a permanent MY5 Local option. At present, an equivalent $60 plan grants just 150 minutes and 400MB of data, with no MY5 Local calling included.
Some Canadian ISPs may soon be facing extra charges, according to reports. Bell Canada, which delivers ADSL broadband through its Sympatico service, has decided to add usage charges to the bills of smaller ISPs who lease network capacity. These ISPs currently pay only for "aggregation links," representing a fixed bandwidth throughput, such as 1Gbps; the amount of data actually used by customers on that connection has been irrelevant.
A number of iPhone 3G users, particularly in Canada, have been reporting a strange error when using Safari at 3G Speeds. Users receive this error message: "kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 302." Users on Apple's support pages and a variety of other forums have written about the problem.
Feeling the pressure from aggressive competition, closeBell Canada is cutting 15 percent of its management workforce. Bell says it's cutting 2,500 non-union workers. Canada's largest telecommunications company is cutting its management hierarchy from 11 layers to a maximum of eight. The company is slimming down as part of a $52 billion dollar privatization plan funded by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and several US partners, according to the Canadian Press. Bell missed out on a chance to sell the iPhone, because it operates a CDMA wireless network which does not support Apple's mobile device. It also faces a new competitor in the wireless marketplace.
Friday, July 25th marked the grand opening of the newest Apple Store in Canada. The newest Canadian store opened in Montreal, Quebec and is Canada's first flagship Apple Store, and its seventh official Apple Store. The store is located in the heart of Montreal at 1321 St. Catherine Street West. This new flagship store features the usual services offered at other stores, including a Genius Bar and One to One shopping. The store features Apple's signature glass staircase, as seen in other flagship stores. Over the next couple of days Apple has lined up a series of live performances at the store, including The Stills (July 26th), Alex Cuba (July 27th), Anik Jean (July 28th) and David Usher (July 29th).
Apple and Canada's Comwave Telecom have settled their trademark dispute over the use of the name "iPhone." The agreement was reached Wednesday night, with Apple retaining sole rights to the iPhone name in Canada, and Comwave phasing out its use of the name in reference to its Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service by November 9. Further terms were not disclosed. The agreement, first reported by the Globe and Mail, ends a long battle between the two companies.
Canada's Rogers Wireless is also suffering from problems relating to iPhone activation, sources say. Stores nationwide are said to be experiencing massive delays, triggered after the first wave of activations began in the Maritimes, Ontario and Quebec; the sheer volume of traffic crashed the activation servers, a Rogers representative claims. The issue is said to be so severe that Rogers only expects it to be resolved by the end of Friday, and at least some stores may be imposing a five-customer limit with a maximum of two phones per person.
Apple will not be selling the iPhone 3G at its Canadian retail stores, company representatives suggest. "The iPhone 3G will be available in Canada from Rogers and Fido," says Simon Atkins, an Apple spokesman. The news appears to be circumstantially supported by representatives at two separate Apple Stores, who also claim that the decision was made because Rogers has more than Apple's six Canadian locations, making it better capable of delivering the multiple plans on offer. Rogers has yet to issue a reply to inquiries from the CBC.
With the backlash rising against Canada's exclusive iPhone carrier, Rogers may be facing sanctions by Apple for its exorbitant rate plans. An unconfirmed report indicates that Apple, unhappy with the pricing plans offered by the carrier and perhaps the negative attention, has diverted a large percentage of iPhone 3G shipments -- destined for Canada -- to Europe. Since the initial announcement of Roger's rate plans, over 43,000 users have signed the virtual petition at RuinediPhone.com and even the main stream media is bolstering the negative attention with headlines such as "Solution to high iPhone prices is not to buy one."
O2 UK stores will begin selling the iPhone 3G at 7AM on July 11th, the company has announced. The timing is even earlier than that of AT&T in the United States, which has announced that its doors will open at 8AM on the 11th, an hour before normal operations. The move is rumored to be necessary due to Apple's mandatory in-store activation policy, which may require several minutes per phone and could result in extended launch line-ups.
In response to exorbitant pricing for the iPhone 3G data and voice plans suggested by Canadian wireless provider Rogers Communications, RuinediPhone.com (site down as of 9PM EST) has commenced operations with changing the telco's less-than-ethical pricing practices. Since launching at the end of last week, RuinediPhone.com has so far obtained just over 22,000 commented signatures asking Rogers to impose fair plans and pricing in line with what is seen with the US and other international countries.
Bell Canada has been made to disclose figures for the actual congestion of its Internet connections, according to Broadband Reports. The information was demanded by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which is responding to complaints that Bell has been throttling peer-to-peer traffic -- such as BitTorrent transfers -- as delivered to its ring of wholesale ISPs. By doing so, it is alleged, Bell made it impossible for third parties to compete with Bell's own Sympatico Internet service. The throttling was necessary to cope with network demands, Bell has responded.
The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday ruled that the $52 billion purchase of Bell Canada is valid, allowing the Canadian telecommunications firm to be owned by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. CBC reports that BCE stock jumped almost 10-percent as a result, rising $3.35 to close at $37.45 in New York. The deal overturns a previous court decision in the Quebec Court of Appeals, who ruled that the company must consider interests of bondholders.
The Canadian government's Industry Minister, Jim Prentice, has today officially tabled Bill C-61, a set of proposed amendments to the country's Copyright Act. Early versions of the changes have been criticized by thousands of citizens -- and a number of businesses and other organizations -- as overly harsh, and too close in nature to the United States' Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Prentice has defended amendments as necessary for bringing compliance with the World Intellectual Property Organization treaty Canada signed in 1996.
The Canadian government on Wednesday announced it would hold a press conference regarding pending amendments to the Copyright Act, a move said to resemble the DMCA measure in the US. The conference is set to transpire at 9:30 on Thursday, June 12th for press, with ministerial comments following at 10:45. Press have been advised that no wireless communications devices would be permitted at the assembly, including cell phones, modems, and wireless microphones.
Managers at retail locations of Rogers Wireless, one of Canada's three major cellular companies, are being told not to take vacations during a specific period beginning later this month, a source from within the company claims. The "blackout" stretch is said to extend from June 23rd through July 16th, although no reason for the dates has been given. Apple is widely expected to announce the 3G iPhone on Monday, however, and Rogers has confirmed that it will carry the iPhone "later this year."
Bell Canada is facing a class-action lawsuit as a result of its Internet access policies, an announcement reveals. A Quebec group called L'Union des consommateurs, along with Bell customer Myrna Raphael, are accusing Bell of false advertising, as a result of its practice of throttling traffic at peak hours. Raphael is said to have signed a three-year ADSL contract in 2006, partly on the basis of Bell's claim of "constant speed" at all times; by enabling throttling last fall, says Raphael, Bell broke its agreement.
A select number of movies should soon be available for sale from the UK and Canadian iTunes Stores, writes The Times. The British newspaper cites studio sources, who claim that Apple has signed new agreements with four major studios: Fox, Disney, Warner Bros. and Paramount. Lionsgate and MGM are also expected to join in the deal, but issues appear to remain with Sony and Universal. Crucially, people should be able to both buy and rent films from iTunes, at prices comparable to the countries' DVD and video-on-demand options.
The first Apple Store in the Canadian city of Vancouver, or its home province of British Columbia, is scheduled to open this Saturday, May 24th. The store is located at 701 West Georgia Street within the Pacific Centre Mall, and on its opening day, will operate from 10AM to 7PM. Sunday hours are 11AM to 6PM; Monday and Tuesday return to the Saturday schedule, but Wednesday throguh Friday, the store will be open until 9PM.
A select number of Canadian iPod owners may soon be eligible for a $45 credit from Apple, says a major regional newspaper. The Montreal Gazette writes that the credit would be applicable only to owners of first-, second- or third-generation iPods, and only those who purchased theirs prior to June 24th, 2004. It is part of Apple's proposed settlement for a pair of lawsuits filed in Montreal and Toronto, under which Apple stood accused of false advertising.
Programming from several TV networks has been added to iTunes Stores in Canada and the UK. ITV has signed a deal to bring a variety of "classic" TV shows to the UK iTunes Store, among them international hits such as The Prisoner and The Saint, along with more locally famous series such as Captain Scarlet and Brideshead Revisited. Downloads are priced at an average of £1.89 per episode, but not all shows and seasons are currently available.
It may be months or even years before Canadians can finally buy a domestic iPhone, the government now says. The major obstacle is the Toronto VoIP company Comwave, which has already used the term "iPhone;" Apple has had to contest the issue through the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, and an initial examiner's report was expected for June 26th. According to a CIPO spokeswoman however, the June date is only a deadline by which Apple and Comwave have to reply to an earlier notification, and either company could ask for an extension that would delay a resolution by four months.
Stan Flack, a pioneer of the Mac journalism industry and the founder of MacCentral, has passd away at his home in Prince Edward Island, Canada, reports Macworld. Flack founded MacCentral in the mid-90s, and his site was later acquired by Mac Publishing LLC. Jim Dalrymple, who worked with Flack in the early day of MacCentral wrote: "Stan has been in the Mac industry since 1994 when MacCentral first went online as a weekly publication. Things were a lot different back then—the Internet as we know it was in its infancy—but Stan saw a way to make a successful business. We both worked at a local newspaper back then and often chatted about having our own business, being our own boss and ruling the world. To a large degree a lot of those goals were accomplished."
In addition to the BlackBerry 8330, Telus has also introduced the Motorola Q9c, an evolution of the popular Q9 smartphone. The Q9c is a CDMA companion to the GSM-based Q9h, and sports EVDO broadband, built-in GPS functions, and a 1.3-megapixel camera. As with the 8330, the Q9c can access apps and information through various Pocket Express portals.
RIM's BlackBerry 8330, coming soon to Verizon and Sprint, will also be adopted by Canadian carrier Telus, an official listing shows. This will make Telus the first carrier in the country to carry the device, which is a CDMA version version of the Curve equipped with built-in GPS functions. Like the Verizon model, the Telus edition comes preloaded with a Facebook application; it is additionally confirmed to have access to app and news portals, provided by Pocket Express.
The ongoing auction for the Canadian 700MHz spectrum may have T-Mobile as a new bidder, representing the German company's first potential interest in a market outside of Europe and the United States. According to MobileInCanada.com, an internal note went around CIBC indicating that it would be a good maneuver for the telecom company, since T-Mobile is reluctant to acquire third-party companies to commence its service.
Dell today announced to its Canadian and Latin America customers that the Inspiron 1525n now has the option of shipping with Ubuntu Linux 7.1, as well as with the Canadian models of the XPS M1330n and Inspiron 530 – the latter two will ship throughout Latin America soon. Like the previously announced US, UK, Spanish and German models, the computers will feature DVD playback capability. Support options are available starting at $65 for 30 days, all the way to $275 for 1 year of standard support from Canonical.
Canadian carrier Fido has adopted two high-end smartphones, which are now on sale. The first is Samsung's BlackJack II, which like the version at Fido parent Rogers, has been simply renamed as the Jack. The phone features items like a QWERTY keyboard, a two megapixel camera and a built-in GPS receiver, with storage provided by 155MB of internal memory and external microSD cards. Its major highlight however may be support for Fido's burgeoning 3G service, which here allows 3.6Mbps HSDPA. The Jack costs as little as $225 CAD after a three-year contract, a data plan and a $100 rebate; contract-free, it can cost as much as $425.
Apple's Vancouver store has finally been sectioned off in the Pacific Center mall, and Montreal residents can expect Canada's first two-storey retail location. IfoAppleStore reports that the new 6700 square-foot location sits on the second level of the mall, on the Granville side south of Dunsmuir. The space, formerly rented by clothing retailer Holt-Renfrew, was divided up among several shops that will be opening their doors within the next year. Apple has not provided a date at which they expect construction to be finished.
A company in the Canadian province of Quebec will soon match Verizon in deploying some of the fastest consumer Internet access in North America, according to reports. Cable supplier Videotron is preparing to debut two "Ultimate Speed Internet" plans, capable of downloads at 30 and 50Mbps, respectively. This is an upgrade on the company's current top tier of 20Mbps, and takes advantage of pre-DOCSIS 3.0 technology. The plans will cost $65 and $80 CAD per month.
