The reason Rogers is so late to the iPhone game is that they run a monopoly on GSM (the cell technology the iPhone uses) and were able to play the waiting game until Apple would come to terms on an agreement. Apple has been very aggressive in its demands with other service providers and used the popularity of the device as leverage to get a cut o subscription revenues. I expect a similar deal was reached with Rogers, and the timing of this deal is rather curious.

There are rumors that a new version of the iPhone is going to be released in June. Don’t be surprised that as US consumers line up to get iPhone 2, Canadians are offered the old one as a substitute. Just be happy you have an iPhone, Rogers will say. 

Then there’s the monthly fees.

AT&T offers plans with unlimited data usage starting at $59.99. Rogers is nowhere near as competitive and it wouldn’t be unexpected if they don’t package the iPhone with a reasonable plan. They have no competition and no incentive to offer one.

So even though many Apple fans in Canada are jumping up and down with joy, don’t be surprised to be given a big ol’ smack to the head, courtesy of Rogers, when the details are announced.

Apple released the following earnings summary:

“APPLE REPORTS RECORD SECOND QUARTER RESULTS
APPLE INTERNATIONAL CO LTD   Q2 SHR $1.16
SEES Q3 2008 SHR ABOUT $1.00
Q2 REVENUE $7.51 BLN
SEES Q3 2008 REVENUE ABOUT $7.2 BLN
SAYS QUARTERLY IPHONE(TM) SALES WERE 1,703,000
SAYS APPLE SHIPPED 2,289,000 MACINTOSH COMPUTERS DURING THE QUARTER
SAYS SOLD 10,644,000 IPODS DURING THE QUARTER”

This info was pulled from the news release off the wire service, sorry for the weird format.

It should be noted that Apple’s shares slipped about 1% during after hours trading. Apparently, their projections for the upcoming third quarter were a bit lower than expected.