Apple Insider is reporting that “Rogers Wireless said Tuesday it wasn’t expecting the opportunity to market the iPhone to its Canadian customers this year, but jumped at Apple’s sudden offer with a commitment to purchase at least $150 million worth of the handsets.”
Company president Nadir Mohammed announced $301 million or 47 cents/share in Q2 earnings during a conference call today. He went on to mention that while year-over-year sales were up 11%, the addition of the iPhone effectively halted the demand for other handsets, which may have hindered overall growth.
Rogers has reported the addition of 100,000 new customers in the second quarter, down from 133,000 net adds in the previous year. So what ultimately attributed to this decline? Analysts suspect that consumers may have delayed purchases while waiting for the iPhone 3G to make its appearance. via FierceWireless.
Mohammed did, however reveal that Rogers was rather surprised to have been given the opportunity to offer the device, regardless of whether they would need to use Apple’s revenue sharing model or not. “We didn’t anticipate that we would launch that device under any model this year,” he says. via Electronista.
Nevertheless, the company remains in high hopes and believes that Apple’s current approach will be beneficial. Even though the subsidy cost for the iPhone 3G is the highest that the company has ever had to pay, they believe that the average revenue per customer will be enough to offset the initial purchase price.
While Mohammed acknowledged that it would be premature to provide any definitive answers for the future, he did reveal that the company has committed to buy at least $150 million in iPhones and will spend more as necessary.
