People from the US are pretty much stuck up with AT&T when it comes to iPhone 4 carriers, but luckily Canadians have a chance to pick or choose the carrier but for a price.When the iPhone 4 goes on sale in Canada on Friday, it will bring with it something relatively new for Canadian wireless customers — the ability to pit the big three service providers against each other.Apple on Monday said it will sell its wildly popular device to customers online and through its own retail stores, as well as through Bell, Rogers and Telus.

The difference with buying the phone directly from Apple is that it will be unlocked and contract-free, so customers will be able to shop around for a service plan with the big three.The iPhone 4 is compatible with all three companies’ networks, so customers would only have to pop in a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, which carriers generally sell for between $5 and $10, to make it work.

Customers will also be able to switch providers whenever they like and use the phone in other countries with SIM cards from local carriers, which will allow them to avoid roaming charges from Canadian providers.Industry analysts say Apple’s move puts a higher value on the iPhone 4 in Canada than in the United States, where customers currently have only one carrier, AT&T, as an option for the device.

As i said above that this does come with a price.The 16-gigabyte unit will sell for $659 while the 32-GB version will cost $779 and $549 for the 8GB iPhone 3GS.The US conversion would be about $637 / $753 / $530, respectively.This price will put a serious dent in anyone’s budget. Naturally, they’ll all be a lot cheaper with a multi-year contract. Still, if you really don’t like one particular carrier or don’t want to be locked in for a long period of time, maybe the price is worth paying.The selling of unlocked iPhones already exists in other countries as well, but this can help make Americans even more jealous of their northern neighbors.

There’s room for prices to come down and eventually we might have a fairly large proportion of the market that buys phones up front,” telecommunications consultant Johanne Lemay of Lemay-Yates Associates said. “Some people will want it and there will be a market for it, but on the other hand it’s still a very high price.”

Rogers and Telus currently sell the 3GS for a similar price without a contract, but the device is locked to their respective networks. Customers can get the iPhone unlocked through a third party, but doing so incurs an extra charge.If you’re planning to grab a handset in Canada on release day, be sure to let us know which option you’ll be going for in the comments box below. And if you’re planning on buying an unlocked phone, which carrier will you be choosing?

Via CBC News

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