As the July 11th launch date for the iPhone in Canada approaches, there’s a real groundswell brewing up here in Canada. The question is, will it be powerful enough to achieve the change Canadians are desperately seeking?
On Friday (June 27), Rogers, Canada’s exclusive iPhone carrier, announced the voice and data plans for the iPhone. To put it mildly, they’re expensive. And to add insult to injury, there is no unlimited data option. The plans are an obvious price gauge by the country’s only GSM network provider. In fact, as I’ve been reading, these are among the world’s most expensive iPhone plans. In addition, you have to commit for three years and there’s no option to add a data plan for the iPhone to your current voice plan.
Sensing discontent, I visited Summize and searched for “iPhone Canada”. Clearly, Canadians on Twitter were incensed at the plans. From Summize, I was pointed to a thread on the Mac Forums. Again, the 32-page thread was almost entirely negative. From the forums, I clicked over to a site called “fuckyourogers.com“, which has since been redirected to ruinediphone.com.
Well, I’ve been tracking this site all weekend and I’m astounded by its results. The site was launched on Friday with this simple introduction:
“Everyone would like to say “NO THANKS” to Rogers/Fido for screwing our iPhone Canadian dream with poor data/voice plans. If you consider these plans not suitable, please sign this petition. On July 11th 2008, we will send a printed copy of all these messages to Rogers HQ to demonstrate our indignation toward them. We would like to say “Thank You, You” for signing this petition and helping the iPhone cause in Canada.”
When I checked in on Friday, there were approximately 4,000 signatures. As of Monday morning, there were over 16,000 petitioners, the site had been submitted to Digg over 2,600 times, and both CNN Money and Reuters Canada have written about the story.
If you skim the petition, you not only get an idea of how angry people are, but about how much business Rogers will lose over this. A high proportion of the sentiment here is about how people who were going to buy the phone on July 11 will now turn away and look elsewhere. In some cases, people who were prepared to sign up their entire family, each with their own phone, aren’t going to do so now.
Early reaction from Rogers has not been promising either. In a post on the Electronista blog, which is quoted in the CNN Money article, we’re treated to this from an unnamed Rogers spokesperson: “Unlimited plans could end up costing customers more for what they don’t use,” the spokeswoman argues. “Our iPhone plans more than accommodate the vast majority of customers.”
While leery about the anonymous source, the overall tone wouldn’t surprise me after years of dealing with the company.
So how should Rogers handle this very loud and public protest? Well, for starters, they should at least acknowledge that they hear what’s going on. The company can’t possibly keep its head in the sand on this one and pretend that nothing is being said online. From there, they’ll either stick to their guns and leave it for people to vote with their wallets, or use the remaining week and a bit before the launch to rethink their position and come out with better plans.
Stick to their guns and they’ll come across as arrogant and greedy. Make a change and they’ll look sympathetic and smart.
Will the groundswell create some change up here in Canada? Stay tuned.
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Yet additional proof of the power of the hyperconnected community, and the danger of pissing off true brand evangelists (in this case, the iPhone groupies that are growing in number by the day). I’ll look forward to your follow up about what happens. Let’s hope there’s a smart person or two in Roger’s camp.
As of Monday night, the site “Ruinediphone.com” is inexplicably down, after accumulating over 21,000 signatures.
Media coverage had gone up, with articles/post across more major news sites and blogs.
And I’ve seen this response to blogger Hugh McGuire’s email to Rogers’ customer service team.
http://hughmcguire.net/2008/06/28/rogers-iphone-response/
From a purely marketing standpoint, what Rogers is doing is absolutely horrible. They are acting like a big evil monopoly (which they essentially are) and in the process alienating their customers because they know that the customers have no alternatives. However, when the time comes and more companies enter the Canadian market (as is expected in the coming years), many of Roger’s clients will switch over for the simple reason that they despise Rogers.
Rogers outlook is very parochial and they are laying the grounds for a massive exodus of their clients when those same clients find an alternative.
Doesn’t this smack of the Bell Canada monopoly of ages past? As the only game in town, Bell Canada ticked off so many Canadians that as soon as other companies entered the market, consumers couldn’t wait to mutiny.
In a way, doesn’t this impact the iPhone brand? It’s worth a shot complaining to Apple. After all, this may affect their sales projections for Canada.
By the way, Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canucks!
Salam …. You’re absolutely right. I’ve read so many replies on the petition and your thinking is coming out in three ways:
* People who were waiting to switch over to Rogers for the iPhone will not switch now.
* People already with Rogers will allow their contract to expire so they can go elsewhere.
* People will just wait until the data plans get better before they commit.
All three ways are very damaging to the bottom line.
Elaine: Doesn’t it feel like Bell again? With Rogers, there’s an underlying arrogance that goes with it. Just read the Hugh McGguire link in the comment above and you’ll sense it. Rogers, as the only GSM player in the country, is definitely a monopoly …. right now. When other GSM players enter the market, they’ll get what’s coming to them.
BTW, happy Canada Day to you too, Elaine (and all other Canucks)!
I know of a few people who were very interested in getting the iPhone but will certainly not now.
I have lived in several different countries and I’m always surprised at just how much more Canadians pay for mobile phones than people living in developed and developing countries. Its a bit shocking actually.
The wireless telecom industry here needs some serious over hauling. Other than being monopolized (and therefore getting away with charging exorbitant prices), we are also very late to getting some some of the most innovative products out there. Amazon’s Kindle comes to mind. They have not been able to introduce it to Canada because they have not been able to come to any agreement with our telecom providers on how to operate the wireless functions. A real shame if you ask me considering the Kindle is a truly revolutionary product.
More reaction from Rogers, courtesy of The Globe and Mail:
http://snurl.com/2t24r
First let me start by saying that I am not a member of your online community, but rather a casual (but facinated)observer of the conversation you all engage in. Although I agree whole heartedly that this is a PR disaster for Rogers,it will be interesting to see if they are really going to lose customers.An assumption I do not believ to be accurate. Let me explain why:
As I am closer to the situation than most, I can state with a strong level of certainty that Rogers will not have enough allocation of the hardware (iPhone) to satisfy the demand they will have as a result of their market monopoly on what is arguably the most anticipated consumer product launch in many years. Taking into account the fact that there are approximately 16 million wireless subscribers in Canada, of which over 6 million are subscribers to one of the 2 brands owned by Rogers (Rogers and Fido), the real issue at play here is not the lost revenue, (as previously stated, they will sell everything they can get their hands on), but rather the importance a company puts on negative PR or perception vs the ability to exploit a strong and ripe market, and which approach is best for that company in the long run. I suspect strongly that these are the questions that the higher ups at Rogers are pondering as we speak. It will be very interesting to see where they land on this debate. As they say, “stay tuned for more details”