Apple to Rogers: "You Guys are Screwed for iPhone"

First, an employee of Apple Canada sends a text message to my source that says something to the effect of: "You guys are screwed for iPhone," but will not respond to multiple replies asking for clarification.

Next, an employee at competing handset manufacturer RIM (Blackberry's parent) sends my source a text soon after saying there are rumours of an Apple-Rogers fallout. 

Then, my source receives a call notifying him that all the part-time staff who had been hired for next week's launch have been fired without notice.

And finally, a senior Rogers rep confirms to my source that Apple has decided to divert a large percentage of their planned Canadian shipment to Europe and that each Rogers store may now be getting as few as 10-20 units. This is ostensibly possibly due to Apple's displeasure over Rogers' high data and voice rates.

Not surprisingly, given the passions surrounding the iPhone 3G release in Canada, Smith’s “plausible rumour” soon took on a life of its own. By Monday it had risen to the first page on the Techmeme news aggregator and spawned more than a dozen secondary posts.

But none of the follow-ups have been able to provide independent confirmation of any details in Smith’s story, and now Smith himself is backing away from some of his claims.

Stores may be getting just 10 to 20 iPhones each and are being told to "exercise caution" not to promise ample stock on launch day, according to the rumors.

At the same time, Rogers is also claimed to be promptly firing the part-time staff that had been hired to handle an expected deluge of customers at some stores.