Canucks threaten to hang up on iPhone price plans

of the government's broadband auction are announced. "Rogers and other carriers will hold onto current price structures until new competitors enter the market and start offering lower prices."

Fox agrees. "Rogers has the monopoly on the iPhone here and is confident the iPhone's appeal will win over users."

She said the Canadian telecom company has traditionally led the market by introducing superior technology rather than attractive prices.

The iPhone will appeal mainly to consumers or business users who will want one for family use as well, said Fox whose company provides telecom advice to large enterprises and SMBs.

"Most of our clients say they are likely to stick with their BlackBerries because their networks are heavily invested into these devices."

Canadian iPhone users might still get a crack at lower prices though, if Apple decides to offer its new phone to other carriers, said Fox.

While the 3G iPhone currently runs on GSM networks, Fox said Apple can easily replace the GSM chip in the device with an EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) or 1X chip so non-GSM carriers -- such as Bell and Telus -- can run the 3G iPhone on their networks.

"This is a fairly straightforward procedure that has been used in the BlackBerry and other cell phones."

For now, users would have to bite the bullet, says AR Communication's Levy.

"This is the price we pay for fostering a monopolistic market. We've seen this thing happen with the BlackBerry before and we'll see it with other devices until real competition comes around."

Another industry observer offered a significantly different perspective.

Too much emphasis has been placed on the need for unlimited data, according to Darren Mak, principal of Digital Web, an IT consulting firm based in Winnipeg.

"I currently have a 1GB data plan for $60/month with Rogers on my iPhone and it is more than enough as long as you use the phone for what it's supposed to do."