Rogers, Fido release Canadian iPhone 3G S pricing

Canadians who want the new iPhone 3G S will have to sign up for a three-year contract one year longer than their American counterparts to buy the 16 GB version for $199 or the 32 GB version for $299.

Rogers Wireless and its Fido subsidiary both posted their pricing online Tuesday night andconfirmed that the phones will be available June 19, the same day they become available in the U.S.

As of that date, the 8 GB iPhone 3G will also be available in Canada for $99.

However, the special prices for the 3G and 3G S both require Rogers and Fido customers to sign up for a three-year voice and data plan.

As of Wednesday, Rogers had not yet revealedits no-contract price for the phone. However, Keith McArthur, senior director of social media and digital communications for Rogers, confirmed on Twitter that the phones will be available for purchasewithout a contract.

Apple announced Monday atitsWorldwide Developers Conference in San Franciscothat the3G S would be available in the U.S. to customers who sign a two-year contract with AT&T for the same prices listed by Rogers and Fido in Canada, but in U.S. dollars.

With Canada's dollar currently trading at about about 91 cents US, Canadian buyers are getting anine per cent discount. That will change if the loonie gets stronger, as some have forecast.

Rogers also announced that as of Tuesday, it would be once again offering all iPhone users a data plan that allows users 6GB of data per month for $30. The promotional pricing would be available for a limited time, McArthur said.

3G userscan useMMS, tethering

McArthur noted that some of the new iPhone features announced when the 3G S was unveiled by Apple on Monday will be available to 3G users who upgrade their iPhone operating system after version 3.0 becomes available on June 17. For example, those customers will be able use MMS (multimedia messaging service) and internet tethering. MMS allows users to send photos, video and rich text messages to other cellphone users via a service similar to text message and internet tethering allows computers to connect to the internet via a wireless cellphone network.

McArthur added that tethering will be free to all customers with data plans over 1GB until the end of the year, but MMS will require a plan that specifically includes MMS.