The editor for The Toronto Star’s Entertainment page must have taken the day off yesterday to have let parts of Raju Mudhar’s whine get through.
Here is the essence of the article. Pity us poor Canadians. We don’t have iPhone. No Amazon Kindle. TV streaming from ABC and CBS gets blocked. The article didn’t mention that we are also denied access to the really good Super Bowl commercials. That would have been my gripe.
Go ahead, rant, wring your hands, whine, beat your chest. But try to get the story straight.
Try to follow this quote – which is actually talking about Amazon Kindle, a device that lets Amazon download a book to you electronically – and Amazon eats the cellular data charges.
Amazon is using Sprint’s EVDO network, which is similar to the Bell and Telus networks. But compared to the U.S., Canadian cellphone data access rate costs are quite high (travellers are telling horror stories about accidentally racking up bills in the hundreds of dollars for using their iPhones in Europe) and these new content/carrier relationships will require new thinking from Canadian cell companies.
Where do I start?
Gee – I guess the Entertainment page didn’t get the press release about Bell’s $7 per month all you can eat data plan. Sure, it is device specific – but so is the Kindle. Can Canadian carriers tailor data plans? Yes.
Now, let’s move onto the non sequitur about the iPhone. What do travellers racking up bills in the hundreds of dollars in Europe have to do with Canadian cellphone data rates? Yes, those same users would likely have racked up high rates in Canada as well – but, at the end of the day, those are roaming charges from AT&T.;
I have to remember. It’s just Sunday reading. And it’s supposed to be entertainment.
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Toronto Star, iPhone, Amazon Kindle