Rogers Wireless Pricing Could Undermine BlackBerry Bold in Canada

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Rogers Wireless Pricing Could Undermine BlackBerry Bold in Canada

6:10 am on August 18, 2008 | Category: Business, Mobile Devices, Wireless, Cell Phones, PDAs, Editorials

Canadian smartphone manufacturer, Research In Motion, is expected to launch its latest wireless email device, the BlackBerry Bold, in North America this week, combining the convenience of push email with the power of a 3G mobile broadband connection, and plenty of advanced multimedia features to boot.

“This is RIM’s most significant launch since the Pearl (in September, 2006),” commented AR Communications‘ vice president of strategic planning, Carmi Levy. “It is taking the BlackBerry platform … firmly into 3G territory, which is pivotal, because more than any other device, the smart phone benefits hugely from 3G network access.”

Perhaps most significant about the BlackBerry Bold is its apparent potential to compete with the popular Apple iPhone device, the 3G version of which was introduced around the world last month.

Despite the Bold’s impressive features and unique push email capabilities, however, it seems that it may have trouble competing head-to-head with the iPhone, at least in RIM’s home market of Canada, due to higher-than-expected pricing by Rogers Wireless.

Rogers, perhaps reluctant to undercut the handset currently driving its business model, plans to charge $400 (on a three-year contract) for the new BlackBerry, according to a recent flyer. That’s double the cost of an 8GB iPhone, despite the fact that the Bold has only 1GB of on-board memory, and otherwise similar hardware to the iPhone.

Perhaps if RIM wanted to put forward some genuine competition for the iPhone, it should have dealt with a different carrier than that of its arch rival, Apple.

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Rogers and it’s subsidiaries are the only GSM (and therefore 3G) providers in Canada. Thus, Blackberry had no choice but deal with the same carrier as the iPhone.

Additionally, it is data pricing and contract length that will make or break this deal, not the price of the handset itself.

Comment by Chris H — August 18, 2008 #
nice little snide comment you made at the end “Perhaps if RIM wanted to put forward some genuine competition for the iPhone, it should have dealt with a different carrier than that of its arch rival, Apple”

Um, who exactly are they supposed to go with to offer a 3G phone in Canada? Fido? But aren’t they owned by Rogers? Telus and Bell are CDMA… so who exactly are they to team up with to give the iPhone ‘genuine competition’ as you so lovelingly put it.

maybe before bashing RIM for teaming up with Rogers you should’ve thought about the choices they had to team up with.

or maybe you should use your time and wit to attack the wireless industry as a whole for not having any variety for phone manufactuers to choose from when picking a wireless company to distribure their handsets through.

Comment by looloo — August 18, 2008 #
Telus and Bell Mobility both operate EV-DO networks, do they not? I realize that those networks aren’t as fast as HSDPA, making EV-DO devices less competitive compared to the 3G iPhone. Selling the Bold at 2x the cost of an iPhone, however, will also make competition difficult, which is the point I was trying to get across.

That said, I realize that RIM was between a rock and a hard place here.

I agree with Chris H that Rogers could still redeem itself by offering competitively priced data plans for the BlackBerry Bold. But will they undercut the iPhone, upon which they have already staked so much? Not likely, in my opinion.

– Editor.

Comment by Jeremy — August 18, 2008 #
Keeping in mind that the target market for this device is the current base of corporate Blackberry users, the $400 is not the hurdle it is in the consumer market. As well, most mid to large corporates get anywhere from 15% to ~40% off list pricing.
I suspect that this is part of a Blackberry portfolio pricing strategy - especially if other rumoured Blackberry models better targeted at the Consumer market are coming out later this year or early next.

GaryD
http://cell-canada.com

Comment by GaryD — August 18, 2008 #