Peter Wilson
Sun
Is Rogers Wireless on the verge of signing an iPhone deal with Apple to make the innovative new phone available in Canada?
Well, if you believe the blogosphere — and when has that ever been wrong? — the negotiations are underway and an announcement would seem to be imminent.
On Friday, super-popular tech blog Gizmodo (www.gizmodo.com) reported the contents of an e-mail sent out by a Rogers call centre that said, in part:
“Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in Canada.”
Toronto-based Rogers vice-president for communications Taanta Gupta confirmed that the call centre did indeed send the e-mail in answer to inquiries, but that it was now being revised.
“The ‘actively working with’ and ‘soon to launch’ was not language that was approved because, in fact, we are not in a position to make such statements,” Gupta said in an e-mail to The Vancouver Sun.
While all inquiries to Rogers about the iPhone are greeted with the response that the company doesn’t comment on unannounced products, officials there still point to the fact that the iPhone operates on a GSM network, and that Rogers is the only operator to have such a network in Canada.
While the iPhone is launching in the United States this summer, there is usually a several-month gap before the appearance of wireless phones in Canada.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
