Canada Bold pricing avoids iPhone rivalry

Rogers Wireless' pricing for the BlackBerry Bold all but rules out the device as a competitor for the iPhone 3G in Canada, if a company flyer proves true. The carrier is allegedly pricing the first HSDPA-capable BlackBerry at $400 with a three-year contract, more than $100 above the price for a 16GB iPhone despite holding just 1GB of internal memory and otherwise similar hardware. This cost at present would primarily differentiate the Bold from the 8820, which sells through the provider for $350.

It's unclear whether the price will be representative of pricing in the US and elsewhere, and may not remain a long-term cost for the phone. Nokia and Rogers recently felt compelled to halve the N95 8GB's price from its own $400 starting cost just a week after the iPhone 3G was introduced to Canada, although this device is more directly targeted at the same media-friendly audience as Apple's handset.

Rogers itself noted that the iPhone has significantly altered the bias of its phone mix. Sales for many of the carrier's phones drew to a halt almost immediately after the iPhone 3G announcement and remained low-key until the device was launched in the country.