On Thursday, Mar 11, Puleen (Pir8 on these boards) and Don (Great Big Dog), and I met with RogersMary and senior management at Rogers head office in Toronto.
I have been very critical of Rogers (some have even accused me of going overboard at times) and I will continue to be critical of Rogers when they deserve it, but after this meeting I think i can say that some of the perceptions we've had about Rogers (while understandable) were off the mark in some cases.
I've written a post about it on my blog here: I Want My One Point Six - Demanding Android 1.6 for our Rogers HTC Magic & Dream, and LG Eve Phones
I can't say too much about some of the specifics we discussed in the meeting. They wanted it to be very candid, and so they asked us to keep in confidence some of the things we were told. I can tell you that these Rogers employees (Managers and directors) shared with us very confidential information about their goals for Rogers, their relationship with HTC, and working with other manufacturers to bring new Android phones to Canada. As a result, I believe them.
I think the most important thing we discovered in this meeting is that we were right, Rogers didn't really understand Android when they started with the HTC Dream and Magic, and they were extremely surprised by the reaction of the community. They have never seen the kind of reaction to a product that they've seen with Android. You should take that as an important revelation, because it means they know we want something special from them to continue to be Rogers Android customers.
Believe me, they want to continue with the Android platform, and they will want to keep a competitive advantage over the competition.
In the end, Rogers is a business, and they are there to make a profit. Android, while growing exponentially, is still a very small niche market for them, but one they'd like to see grow. As a result I don't think it's realistic to expect everything we want, but believe me, some of the things we are going to get are a direct result of the feedback we've given them.
We can expect to see better communication about Rogers Android products, and an attempt to make the Rogers Android experience a better one.
We discussed the true meaning of Android as an open source platform with them. We discussed rooting, and why it is so important to us. I think they have a much better understanding now of why we want to be able to root. I'm not sure if we will ever get anything official from them to be able to root the Magic and Dream again, but we've put the bug in their ears.
We also talked about the Dream, and their continued insistence that it doesn't have enough memory to expand beyond Android 1.5. We pointed out repeatedly to them that the memory excuse doesn't wash because the memory of the Dream is the same as the G1. I suggested that if the issue is the customization done to the ROM (and Sense UI) that is a memory issue, then maybe they need to consider the possibility of offering a "vanilla" version of Android for users who prefer it. Who knows what might come of that.
As far as the 911 issue goes, they wouldn't really get in to the details of it, but I can say that they were unhappy with the way it went down, and acknowledge that it could have been handled better. They have learned from the experience, believe me. I also believe them when they say that locking the SPL was not the intention of forcing the update. Again, we expressed to them the desire to root, and it is certainly something they are taking in to consideration. There is a difficult balance for them between consumers and what they can get from manufacturers (who seem to be the real "spanner in the works" for rooting).
In the end, it was a good meeting, and I really hope they keep their promises to work with all of us to see a great Android experience.
Now, I imagine some of you will disagree with me, or maybe even think I'm being to easy on them in this post, but i was there, and either they're all really good, well-trained actors, or they honestly believed what they were saying to us. This wasn't a meeting full of marketing drivel, it was open and candid.
Let me know if you have any questions, I'll see if I can answer them.
I have been very critical of Rogers (some have even accused me of going overboard at times) and I will continue to be critical of Rogers when they deserve it, but after this meeting I think i can say that some of the perceptions we've had about Rogers (while understandable) were off the mark in some cases.
I've written a post about it on my blog here: I Want My One Point Six - Demanding Android 1.6 for our Rogers HTC Magic & Dream, and LG Eve Phones
I can't say too much about some of the specifics we discussed in the meeting. They wanted it to be very candid, and so they asked us to keep in confidence some of the things we were told. I can tell you that these Rogers employees (Managers and directors) shared with us very confidential information about their goals for Rogers, their relationship with HTC, and working with other manufacturers to bring new Android phones to Canada. As a result, I believe them.
I think the most important thing we discovered in this meeting is that we were right, Rogers didn't really understand Android when they started with the HTC Dream and Magic, and they were extremely surprised by the reaction of the community. They have never seen the kind of reaction to a product that they've seen with Android. You should take that as an important revelation, because it means they know we want something special from them to continue to be Rogers Android customers.
Believe me, they want to continue with the Android platform, and they will want to keep a competitive advantage over the competition.
In the end, Rogers is a business, and they are there to make a profit. Android, while growing exponentially, is still a very small niche market for them, but one they'd like to see grow. As a result I don't think it's realistic to expect everything we want, but believe me, some of the things we are going to get are a direct result of the feedback we've given them.
We can expect to see better communication about Rogers Android products, and an attempt to make the Rogers Android experience a better one.
We discussed the true meaning of Android as an open source platform with them. We discussed rooting, and why it is so important to us. I think they have a much better understanding now of why we want to be able to root. I'm not sure if we will ever get anything official from them to be able to root the Magic and Dream again, but we've put the bug in their ears.
We also talked about the Dream, and their continued insistence that it doesn't have enough memory to expand beyond Android 1.5. We pointed out repeatedly to them that the memory excuse doesn't wash because the memory of the Dream is the same as the G1. I suggested that if the issue is the customization done to the ROM (and Sense UI) that is a memory issue, then maybe they need to consider the possibility of offering a "vanilla" version of Android for users who prefer it. Who knows what might come of that.
As far as the 911 issue goes, they wouldn't really get in to the details of it, but I can say that they were unhappy with the way it went down, and acknowledge that it could have been handled better. They have learned from the experience, believe me. I also believe them when they say that locking the SPL was not the intention of forcing the update. Again, we expressed to them the desire to root, and it is certainly something they are taking in to consideration. There is a difficult balance for them between consumers and what they can get from manufacturers (who seem to be the real "spanner in the works" for rooting).
In the end, it was a good meeting, and I really hope they keep their promises to work with all of us to see a great Android experience.
Now, I imagine some of you will disagree with me, or maybe even think I'm being to easy on them in this post, but i was there, and either they're all really good, well-trained actors, or they honestly believed what they were saying to us. This wasn't a meeting full of marketing drivel, it was open and candid.
Let me know if you have any questions, I'll see if I can answer them.
I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with them. Truly, until the Android thing I never had a problem, and I've been a Rogers wireless customer for about 15 years. I'm in Oakville, so I have Cogeco for cable and internet.
) to make a cell phone plan that is so spectacular as to make me want to lock in again with them. To be honest my wife is now thinking that she needs a cell phone and she is not even interested in talking to rogers because she has seen (and heard) all my issues with rogers over the past year+. As well I now have two step daughters that are now starting to ask for cell phones. You see my points here I hope 
