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Customer Backlash on iPhone Rate Plans, Launch Approaches

Sunday July 6, 2008 1:40 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
As international pricing for the iPhone has been trickling out, customers in some countries are particularly unhappy about their rate plans for the upcoming iPhone launch.

Sweden's TeliaSonera rate plans, which started at 299 kr/month (~$50) for 100MB of data and a 199 kr/month (~$34) unlimited data add-on, were met with numerous complaints from their customers. In response, TeliaSonera is now offering the 199 kr/month ($34/month) unlimited add-on plan to any of their existing voice plans.

Potential Canadian iPhone customers have been particularly displeased with Rogers' iPhone rate plans announced 9 days ago. This resulted in an online petition attracting over 41,000 signatures. Rival Canadian carrier Bell Mobility appears to be taking advantage of the opportunity and will be offering the Samsung Instinct (an iPhone competitor) with a $10/month unlimited browser add-on data plan. The Samsung Instinct will be introduced in Canada on August 8th of this year.

Unconfirmed rumors suggest that Apple is displeased with Rogers and is reportedly diverting some of the Canadian iPhone stock to European launches.

Apple will be launching the iPhone 3G in 20 countries on July 11th. We'll provide ongoing coverage of the launch. MacRumors readers are organizing meetups around the world. One group has already started lining up at Apple's 5th Avenue store, but appear to be making a political statement rather than being particularly interested in the iPhone.

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