We finally have the iPhone 3G in Canada. It’s been more than a year since we started drooling over it up here in the great white north. It was a hectic day for most and many people left happy but there were quite a few who were not so happy.
The iPhone 3G went on sale in a number of places at 8am, some places at 9am, and other at 10am. Some stores had gigantic lineups like the Fido signature store in Montreal, and others had a much smaller lineup like the Rogers store in Halifax. At the Rogers store in downtown Vancouver around 7:30am, a line had formed, but nothing crazy.
Now onto the problems. 3 major malfunctions happened today for Canadians trying to activate their brand new iPhones. First of all, iTunes crashed worldwide and most people in Canada, the USA, and the UK were having problems unbricking their iPhones in the store. Some were told to take it home to unbrick and the problems continued. Gizmodo declared that Apple had canceled all iPhone 3G orders and was replacing them with the iBrick 3G! That was pretty funny.
The next major malfunction was that the Rogers sales system was down too. I guess they have never seen so many activations trying to take place at once. This is the iPhone we are talking about, not the Moto Razr. Some customers who were first in the door weren’t able to leave until the afternoon. Quite a process just to get a phone.
The final major malfunction was that most Rogers stores had ample 8gb iPhones for sale, and very few 16gb’s. At most stores the very first people in lines were the only ones to get the 16gb. Some people settled for the 8gb, some just gave up. I’m not sure when the next shipment comes in but they need to order just a few more 16gb’s. I’m not sure if this is Rogers or Apple’s fault but someone really screwed up. I guess they thought we would be drawn to the $199 price point.
Many people ended up ordering their iPhones by phone due to the in-store problems. The good thing is that they were able to get one but now they have to wait 3-5 business days for shipping. New customers are also able to buy the iPhone online from Rogers.com or Fido.ca but by doing it this way you aren’t able to select the $30 - 6gb plan. If people can order them by phone or online, why can’t we just buy it at the Apple store or from Apple.ca? Maybe they don’t want to confirm if people are eligible to buy it or not.
Some good news did come out today however. Most people were able to activate the $30 - 6gb data plan. I wonder how many regular iPhone plans were activated today. A big thing for many was that they got to keep their City Fido plans. The good news for me was that ineligible upgrades would be dealt with on July 24th. Now I don’t really want to wait that long but I guess it is better than paying the cancellation fee and switching to Rogers.
Rogers/Fido did announce a new value pack today. This was good news for those who got the $30 - 6gb plan.
For $15 you get:
* Visual Voicemail
* Call Display
* WhoCalled™
* 2,500 Sent Text Messages
That’s not so bad. It would have been a problem if we couldn’t get visual voice mail or we have to pay another fee on top of what we are already paying.
I learned a few interesting facts myself today by calling in to Fido customer service. Indeed I was not eligible to upgrade and I learned that I would have some news on the 24th. But, the agent stated that the Actual retail price of the iPhone 3G was $630 for the 8gb and $730 for the 16gb. Basically the same as what it would cost to sign a new contract and then cancel it. Hopefully I don’t have to pay that much on the 24th. I also tried to activate the $30 data plan on my current iPhone, but they asked for my IMEI #, said it wasn’t recognized, and that I may get pay per use data charges. I decided against adding it now.
So how was your iPhone experience today? Is it the best thing you have ever owned? Are you ineligible to upgrade like me?
Source: By Canadian iPhone User http://www.iphoneuser.ca/
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