iDid it

Yeah, I did. I bought an iPhone. I wasn't planning on doing it at all. I was sincere when I told Chris that it would be a very long time before I bought one. Yet, here I am, the newest owner of an iPhone. Well, I guess I'm not an owner yet - Rogers said it'll take a max of 10 business days to get to me, but for the most part they have been getting them delivered quicker than that, so I'm hope to get it next week

I will now outline how this came about, mostly to make myself feel better for taking the plunge.

As you may have heard, after Rogers abysmal data plan prices were release (well before the actual release of the iPhone), it was met with great disdain from the Canadian community. The rates were absolutely astronomical, especially when compared to the rates our US counterparts were playing. It got so bad, it even made Apple angry, and there were major rumours that they were going to cut back on the amount of iPhones sent to Canada.

All of this pressure from Apple and from their customers caused Rogers to cave - sorta. They came up with a limited time offer of a 6 Gig data plan (which is more data than I think anybody could possibly use) for $30 a month. Compared to what their prices were gonna be (400MB for $60, 750MB for $75, 1GB for $100 and 2GB for $115 - PLUS, you had to sign a three-year contract), this is a major improvement - much more in line with US rates. The catch? This offer is only available until August 31st. After that, the prices will change - not to their original horrid numbers, but to something not even remotely as good.

So, I called Rogers to see if my phone was going to be eligible for an upgrade. My assumption is that I was not going to be eligible. Upon first discussions with the rep, I was right - it was going to cost me $400 to get out of my current Blackberry contract. No way was I paying THAT, so I assumed I was dead in the water. I guess I sounded pretty down, because the rep said "hold on a second" and put me on hold. A couple minutes later, he comes back and says "good news!" It turns out there were some sort of "special provisions" set up for people who recently upgraded their phones, and they could do the upgrade without me having to pay any penalties - the caveat being that I can't do another phone upgrade for either 6 months or a year - I can't remember which - I didn't care, because the chance of me trading in this thing in under a year is exactly zero. I suppose you could say "Yeah, that's what you said about the Blackberry", but hey - c'mon - this is an iPhone we're talking about here. The only thing left to upgrade to is a chip in my head that answers the phone whenever I stick out my tongue.

Then, in an added bonus, the guy was even able to knock $50 off the price for me, which will show up on my bill! Sweet! Rogers loves me! Probably because I have all my services with them, and thus give them a pretty sweet chunk of cash on a monthly basis, but hey, if this is buying me a little iPhone love, then I'm down with it.

The rep said the official amount of time for me to get it is "within 10 business days", but apparently they are usually shipped way faster. Some guys at work who have them predicted I may even get it by next Monday. Either way, I am very, very excited to get this thing. I predict I'll be using it for a very long time.

If you're not quite aware of what the iPhone is capable of, I would highly recommend watching the Guided Tour that Apple has on their site. It is awesome.

Oh, I've also cut down the service on my home line to almost nothing. Basically, it now only exists so I can open the door to the condo building for visitors. I plan on using my iPhone as my main source of communication. I'll try to spread the word to those whom I know as much as possible as soon as I get the iPhone and its up and running. I also will probably be changing my main e-mail address to my Mac address, which i've given out to almost nobody. I'll send out that info at the same time. In the meantime, I await my iPhone with bated breath!

One other thing - This is all this is all Chris' fault.