Yesterday I was contacted by Nestor Arellano from ITBusiness.ca to give my thoughts about what it would take to get Canadian Consumers to really latch on to the iPhone for an upcoming article. The resulting article can be read here (make sure to read all three pages... their links are not so clear).

The chat we had, and the resulting discussion that the article creates got me thinking about mobile data, and how it is used in Canada.

Currently, of my non-technology industry acquaintances, I can honestly say that not a single one uses any sort of data related service on their current cellular phones, except for SMS and MMS services. Of those in the tech industry, most are not using a smartphone, but those who are have for the most part, company funded BlackBerry devices, and they do not access the mobile web.

Why do I think this is? Lack of a really functional web experience or other software that they would find useful, as well as the exorbitant costs of a data plan.

The iPhone, and the media coverage it has and will receive, will help to eliminate the problem of regular every day users not having a need for data access on their phones, as at the very least most people would find the weather application and Google Maps handy!

Not as exciting as the iPhone 3G announcement today, but possibly a great update to the often criticized .mac service, is the news of Apple's new MobileMe service. I am not sure about the name, as it kind of reminds me of Windows ME, however the Apple Marketing Department has a little more experience with this sort of thing than I do.

It looks as though .mac has been totally reworked to create an experience for the consumer user which rivals Microsoft's Exchange Server, or what most companies run their email, calendaring and contact lists from.

From the Apple site

You might have a Mac at home, a PC at work, and an iPhone or iPod touch. The challenge is keeping multiple devices always in sync. Enterprises can use a server like Exchange. For everyone else, now there's MobileMe.

MobileMe works with the applications you know well. Microsoft Outlook on a PC. Mail, Address Book, and iCal on a Mac. And Mail, Contacts, and Calendar on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Access and manage your email, contacts, calendar, photos, and files at me.com. All with amazing applications that are so feature-rich and easy to use, you may end up preferring them to your regular desktop applications.

Pricing in Canada looks to be set at $109 per year for an individual account with 20GB of storage, with a family account available for $159 for 40GB of storage for up to 4 users.

At the Apple World Wide Developer's Conference in San Francisco, Steve Jobs today confirmed that the rumors of a 3G iPhone are true.

Notable additions are the inclusion of GPS, a flush mounted headphone jack, 8GB and 16GB storage sizes, and the 16GB iPhone is now available in both black and white.

Steve jobs had a map which showed the iPhone coming to Canada as one of the 70 countries to get the 3G iPhone in 2008. Jobs mentioned that the 8GB phone would not cost more than $199 anywhere in the world, so I would assume Roger's would have to honor these prices, however at this time pricing on the Apple Store and on Roger's site has not been announced.

Rogers and Fido are listed on the "where to buy" pages for the iPhone, so likely this means Canada will be one of the launch countries on July 11th, 2008.

I wonder how many of my clients will also be looking for integration to Exchange on Launch day!

More info should be out in the days to follow.

UPDATE: Rogers confirms pricing of $199 and $299 for the two models of the 3G iPhone, in this press release. Unfortunately that pricing is said to be on a 3 year plan, which has yet to be released.

I have had so many people mention what they have heard or read about the iPhone coming to Canada to me in the past couple of days. 90% of it has been incorrect, or included speculation which is completely off base.

This morning I received an article via email from IT Business which purports to share "Canadian Technology News", which frustrated me, as the author clearly did not understand some of the points he was trying to make, and utilized sources who clearly are not qualified to talk on the subject.

The author states in the third paragraph that...

"BlackBerry's lock on the corporate smart phone market is assured until security issues and data transmission rates are sorted out, say local technology experts."

Now I agree with this statement, however it creates the basis for the article, which the author, Nestor E. Arellano, sets off to prove with poorly researched sources.

First of all Arellano states that

"The company was widely viewed as the most likely provider to offer the iPhone in Canada ever since the device was developed."