Rogers will soon start selling the the Nokia N97 Mini.  The phone has started shipping to dealers across Canada.  The price is $499.99 without contract or $99 with a 3 year contract.  [BoyGeniusReport]

In a report that contradicts an earlier rumor that Apple will be releasing an 8GB iPhone 3G S, a Rogers spokesperson has denied that claim.  Gizmodo wrote a post on Monday that said that the Rogers website shows a checkmark by the 8GB row in the iPhone 3G S column.  But on the same website the image below appears.

“You’re right, there is no 8GB 3G s iPhone. There is a formatting error on our website. It is being corrected asap,” stated a Rogers spokesperson in an e-mail to Gizmodo.  There you have it folks, a Canadian phone company has been able to verify what the folks in Cupertino are up to.  Although I wish it wasn’t true and that Apple would make an 8GB iPhone 3G S.

Rogers Wireless, Canada’s biggest telecomm company has made the cost rise on three year contract prices for BlackBerry devices.  The price increase made the cost of the Curve 83xx raise to $149.99 (up $50), Curve 8900 to $224.99 (up $25) and the Bold go to $299.99 (up $50).  The reason for the price increase was because executives at Roger realized that their budget for acquisitions was $30 million in the red.

“On Wednesday, the senior executive team realized that they were over budget $30 million dollars on their cost of acquisition. How I don’t know why it took so long. [sic] They then did their knee jerk response. Your DBM’s and other local managers know nothing more than this and are in the dark as much as we are on this other than we were told VERBALLY that in market quotes would be honored for 30 days from today. The exception lists are due Monday and only for non named accounts. I have requested in every region for a positioning statement and to this moment have not heard a response. If it makes you feel any better the retail has even more uncertainty,” stated a Rogers VP.

What has Rogers been buying?  Five years ago, Rogers bought Microcell Telecommunications for $1.5 billion.  Rogers Media also bought out Citytv two years ago.  Rogers Communications Inc. bought out the Toronto Blue Jays about 9 years ago.  Rogers has bought several other telecommunications companies and TV/radio stations earlier in the decade.

[via BGR]

The media division of Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI), has announced that they have acquired PoolExpert Inc.  PoolExpert is one of Canada’s biggest fantasy sports websites.  The value of the transaction was undisclosed.

PoolExpert’s owners are Ron Watson and Steve Hulford.  Both of the owners met while swimming for the University of Toronto and the Canadian National Swim Team.  They acquired PoolExpert in 2005 after working in several corporate finance and sports media companies.

“The last three years has been an unbelievable experience working with such a passionate community at PoolExpert,” stated Watson. “Rogers is the perfect home to continue the rich history of building a cutting edge hockey pool management experience.”

Watson and Hulford are now working on Filemobile.net, a social media tool company.  Filemobile’s clients include CTV, TSN, MuchMusic, Molson/Coors, MTV, and CBC.

“Rogers’ breadth of sites, and brands will be able to leverage the PoolExpert technology and offer a better service and experience to customers,” stated Hulford.

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