Apple Punishes Rogers for High Rates

Apple has taken action against Rogers for their extraordinarily high rates plans in Canada.

Reports are flooding in that Apple has diverted a large amount of the iPhones intended for Canada to other European countries. Consequently Rogers has fired the part time staff hired for the iPhone launch.

Rogers abuse of their position as the only GSM carrier in Canada has led to a petition signing of over 42,000 signatures at http://www.ruinediphone.com


The smithereensblog has posted an account of the numerous rumors floating around...

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* First, an employee of Apple Canada sends a text message to my source that says something to the effect of: "You guys are screwed for iPhone," but will not respond to multiple replies asking for clarification.
* Next, an employee at competing handset manufacturer RIM (Blackberry's parent) sends my source a text soon after saying there are rumours of an Apple-Rogers fallout.
* Then, my source receives a call notifying him that all the part-time staff who had been hired for next week's launch have been fired without notice. (UPDATE 07/06: Apparently, only certain dealerships took on additional staff for the launch, although most urban locations did. Also, some dealerships may not have let all their iPhone help go, but others definitely have.)
* And finally, a senior Rogers rep confirms that Apple has decided to divert a large percentage of their planned Canadian shipment to Europe and that each Rogers store may now be getting as few as 10-20 units, ostensibly due to Apple's displeasure over Rogers' high data and voice rates. (UPDATE 07/06: Although no per-store numbers can be confirmed, the verbiage used by head office is apparently that numbers will be "significantly reduced" and that stores should "exercise caution" not to over-promise. Europe has also been reconfirmed as the destination for the allegedly diverted units.)
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