Rogers caves over iPhone criticism

Canadian GSM operator Rogers Wireless inadvertently fuelled rumours that it had displeased Apple boss Steve Jobs on Wednesday, by coming out with a ‘special’ tariff for early iPhone 3G adopters.

All week, the web has been ablaze with reports that Jobs was “disgusted” with the tariffs Rogers was offering to accompany the iPhone 3G. Some pundits even speculated that Apple is diverting a proportion of iPhone shipments from Canada to Europe, and was limiting Rogers to just a handful of devices per store.

It is already known that Apple will not be selling the iPhone in its Canadian stores, leaving Rogers and its subsidiary Fido as the only retail outlets.

Rogers is pitching the iPhone at C$199 for the 8GB and C$299 for the 16GB, and a lengthy three year contract. Tariffs start at C$60 per month for 150 minutes and 75 texts, through to C$150 per month with 800 minutes and 300 texts. But it was the data bundle that really got consumers’ backs up. The cheapest tariff comes with just 400MB of data per month, which goes up to 2GB for the most expensive.

A number of other iPhone carriers in developed markets are offering the gadget with ‘unlimited’ data, leading to allegations that Rogers is exploiting its monopoly as Canada’s only GSM player.

So to get the punters back on board, Rogers is offering a 6GB data bolt on for an additional C$30 to accompany any voice plan on the iPhone. And if that doesn’t grab you, the Canuck has also promised a proper pancakes, bacon and maple syrup breakfast to shoppers getting down to its stores at 8am on Friday.