Lesson learned: Don’t fuck with someone who’s been waiting in line for hours.
Tag Archives: iPhone
Rogers Giveth…
I know I’m going on a bit but this is news: Rogers offers a 6G monthly plan for $30/mo.
(via Gizmodo, of course)
SharkBoy and I combined use about 6G between the two of us at home, so this sounds better.
But it’s still a “promotion”. You have to sign the three year contract before Aug 31. And don’t forget to “bundle” that with oh… call waiting or some such free-ish feature you take for granted.
No Swag, No Posters
Details have been leaked about Rogers retail store operations over on Gear Diary (via Engadget). Nothing surprises me in the list:
Absolute NO’s
o No Promotions/Contests
o No Countdowns
o No Posters out of the store
o No Flyers
o No Radio remotes
o No Mailers
o No Alteration of Store Hours
o No Swag
o No Tshirts with any reference to Apple or Iphone
o No advertising until 13 weeks post launch
Okay okay. Total Rogers behaviour (no swag?! Sheesh!). The document goes on to detail in-store activation and even advises associates on proper terminology:
Glossary:
Bricked: Default state of the iPhone, only emergency calls allowed.
Unbrick: Enabling the phone for services.
Tethering: Connecting an iPhone to a computer running iTunes.
Activation: Customer account setup and CTN provisioning which is completed in-store and is immediate. This is identical to today’s process for other wireless products.
Someone tell the Marketing department that a “bricked” iPhone is when it’s in a totally unusable state of operation (hence the name). iPhones come out of the box able to dial 911 at least. Not a brick. But of course we’re talking Rogerspeak here, not the terminology from Hackintosh that’s been around for a year now. You’d never do anything to your phone to void the warranty like that, no comrade. *See Update below
Tethering (according to Rogers themselves) is when you use a mobile device (likely a network card) as modem. According to the above, it’s just a USB hook up. From Rogers mobile pages:
Tethering is when you use your phone as a wireless modem to connect to the Internet. The phone can be connected via USB cable or Bluetooth. Once connected, you can access the Internet wirelessly on your laptop using the Rogers Wireless network. While accessing the Internet wirelessly on your computer, data charges are incurred at a rate of 5¢/KB.
Picky? Yes I am. But I’m passionate about this product. I’ve signed the petition, ok?
I am getting a feeling that the in-store activation process is going to be a clusterfuck. If anyone has experienced changing a plan or signing up in a Rogers Retail store before, you know it’s like getting a root canal while someone hard-sells you for white veneers. Painful, hard to follow and awkward.
Good luck consumers!
*Apparently all iPhones will be a hunk of uselessness if not activated in-store. That’s one way of tightening the noose.
Bad Gifting
I’m a horrible gift giver. I’ve mentioned before that I buy things I want to get, which is subconsciously greedy, I know. But if I manage to get things the receiver actually wants (usually through HEAVY hinting and suggestion), I always manage to destroy the act of surprise.
I drop too many cautionary suggestions (“You know those underwear you liked? I think you should just forget about buying them.”); or I ask too many questions (“That camera you looked at last week. Did it have a serial number you can remember off the top of your head?”); or in the case of home-made, hear felt gifts, I execute their creation waaay too early (“You may want to wear this now – it’s a scarf I made you!”); or I just leave the damn things lying around without trying to hide them (“What’s this Charlie’s Angels Season One doing here?”), all resulting in the most anti-climactic surprise for the recipient.
So when I finished wrapping the gifts last night for someone’s impending birthday, this someone systematically picked them up and one by one and identified nearly each gift:
(Fondle) “That book I wanted.”
(Shake) “Socks. Probably green.”
(Lift, bend) “That t-shirt I said I liked.”
(Hold, weigh) “Not sure.”
(Hold, poke) “Not sure.”
(Passing to side) “Charlie’s Angels.”
(Passing to side) “Charlie’s Angels.”
(Lift, bend) “Padded CD case?”
Damn it!
My own fault, really. I can’t go up against the master. He had my iPhone sitting beside my bed (hardly hidden) for at least 3 weeks before my birthday with not one mention or hint to me about it. Subsequently I was blindsided, twice (he got me a decoy gift which he also didn’t let on, but gave to me early – the Wii). Cool as a cucumber, he sat on these gifts for a long time without hint of their impending coolness.
Me? I think in terms of the happiness. I’m bursting to see the payoff, but I get disappointed when the recipient makes the all too easy connection: “Want to see what I got you? No? Darn! It’s really cool! It makes toast and is toaster-like! What? No. It’s not a toaster! Fttt!”
iPhone Saturdays
Articles that made me laugh this week:
• The reason why SharkBoy got me the iPhone. 85% less sedatives? This is probably why I haven’t quit my job lately. (via Gizmodo)
• “The Cow Says Copyright Infringment!” (via Engadget)
• Is this the Second Coming of the Jesus Phone? The back looks like the template leak, but I don’t see a user-side camera… I would say mmmmmaybe. (again from Engadget)
• Erica Sundin, the iPhone goddess, confesses to not using her phone part of her iPhone. GASP! (via TUAW)
• Do you think Rogers will do this when they come to Canada? SNORT! Not on your life. (via ComputerWorld)
• No buttons, No Reception, All Ego. A parody ad easter egg in GTA IV (Via TUAW)
• Still one of my favorite groups on Flickr: iPhone Effects. Raw images out of the camera.
• And finally, R2D2 as video projector, yours for $3K (nothing to do with the iPhone, I know. But it’s FRAKKING COOL!)
Canada Doesn’t Deserve the iPhone
What? I hear you say.
I’m dead serious. If the two main sites that report on iPhone news, applications and gadgets are to be the harbinger of the coming of the iPhone in the Great White North, then we can expect the news to be mis-informed and at least 24 hours too late.
Lets start with iPhoneworld.ca: other than the debilitating ads that clog it’s loading, or the mystery meat navigation, it’s fairly good. But slow on the reporting. Hackint0sh, TUAW and Gizmodo trump this site by hours (in some cases days). Let’s face it, the only thing this site will be good for is when Rogers announces the arrival of the phone and then it will wonder what to talk about next. But what made me cancel my RSS feed to it was their utterly lame attempt to get Rogers and Apple to shake hands: The “Great” Canadian iPhone Petition (quotes mine).
Very noble! That will make Rogers stand up and say “Hey! There are some disgruntle customers out there! We should do something about it!” I’ll stop with the sarcasm from here on in, you get my drift. But here’s the thing that made me pass morning tea through my nose:
We, the undersigned, pledge our support to Rogers Communications Inc., that we would support the launch of the iPhone in Canada.
Whiskey? Tango? Foxtrot? They want us to support a company that is going to monopolize this product with high connection costs? Uh… for how long? Forever? I’ll be honest, when (if?) Rogers brings the iPhone to Canada I’ll buy into their plan only because it’s the only kid on the block. As soon as someone else comes along: Sayonara! Pledging support to a company blindly is a bit too creepy for me. Sign me out. Expected signatures: 100,000. Since inception (March 28th): 790. Good luck with that.
And then there’s iPhoneinCanada.ca. Arguably a better site with product/accessory reviews but with the same amount of slow loading ads. Again, nothing really new here that hasn’t been scooped from the other Apple/iPhone sites, other than cases you can’t get in Canada unless you order them online. Worrisome were the reviews and links to “All-you-can-eat” download sites that I am pretty sure are hosting unlicensed media. Regardless, I hung out on the forums for a couple weeks and was really starting to get a sense of community until one of the moderators started to wildly recommend Ziphone blindly to all who would ask what was the best way to jailbreak, unlock, activate your phone.
Obviously he wasn’t doing his homework.
I mean, sure it works. But what is it doing to your iPhone?
When I asked if he had researched what exactly Ziphone does, he accused me of being biased towards a particular software. His final word on the matter was that the forum was there to offer many different solutions to unlocking your phone and that readers would have to make their own decisions.
So I decided that I wanted to be a part of something more informed and based on solid opinion, and I deleted that RSS feed too.
So I’m hoping that any Canadian who has an iPhone or is going to purchase one, has a little more sense to blindly trust these sites. My advice: Google deeper.