Link: thestar.com – Rogers caves on iPhone pricing

Rogers Communications Inc. has thrown a bone to potential iPhone customers by offering a limited-time promotional data rate plan that should silence complaints about Canadian pricing for the eagerly-anticipated device.

The wireless giant said today it would give iPhone subscribers who sign up before Aug. 31 the option of purchasing a 6-gigabyte data plan for $30 per month in addition to any voice plan.

While that still doesn’t match the unlimited data plans offered in the United States by AT&T Inc., the promotion offers significantly better value than the rate plans Rogers unveiled earlier this month.

Ok getting better! Maybe.

Link: Rogers unveils iPhone price plans

The device will run on Rogers third-generation, or 3G, network and will cost either $199 or $299 with a 3-year contract, depending on memory size.

The iPhone will only be available with the purchase of a monthly voice and data plan, with the cheapest priced at $60 a month for 400 MB of data, 150 weekday minutes and unlimited evenings and weekends.

There are also $75, $100 and $115 monthly plans that offer increasingly bigger buckets of minutes and 750 megabytes, 1 gigabyte and 2 gigabytes of data respectively.

All of the packages include unlimited access to Rogers and Fido Wi-Fi hotspots.

However, users won’t be allowed to mix and match voice and data plans and will face overage charges if they go over their plan’s allotted amounts of voice and data.

“The main difference between the Rogers and Fido plans and those in other countries is that there is a ceiling,” said Kevin Restivo, an analyst at market research firm IDC Canada.

“These plans are still quite Canadian, but they put the iPhone in the realm of reality for prospective smartphone users.”

By contrast, consumers in the United States will be able to buy the second-generation iPhone from AT&T Inc. with a $30 unlimited data plan that’s available with any voice package – a model that some observers had hoped Rogers would adopt in a bid to drive wide-scale adoption.

But Rogers seems to have taken a middle-of-the-road approach.

“We’ve designed a pricing structure that offers affordable, flexible voice and data packages so Canadians can truly unleash their iPhone 3G experience on Canada’s fastest wireless network,” John Boynton, the chief marketing officer of Rogers Wireless, said in a statement.

While a $60 per month entry-level plan promises to put an iPhone in a lot of Canadian pockets, subscribers may still suffer sticker shock when they receive their first monthly bill.

That’s because many will likely opt to pay another $15 or $20 a month for an optional package that includes Caller ID, text messages and call forwarding, among other things.

That brings the cheapest iPhone to just over $90 per month once a $6.95 “system access fee” and taxes are included.

Restivo said Rogers’ cheapest iPhone plan would be most suitable for a subscriber who treats mobile Web browsing as more of a novelty as opposed to a core function.

“If you’re a heavy data user, you’re probably going to move up to the $100-per month package.”

PAH. USELESS. I GIVE UP.