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Apple doesn't have a prominent marketing presence in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, where I live. There are no Apple Stores - indeed the nearest one of those is two provinces and some 900 road miles west in Montreal. There are fewer than half a dozen (that I'm aware of) storefront Apple Authorized Resellers serving Nova Scotia's population of roughly 950,000, plus a number of university computer stores selling to education customers.
Bell Aliant, Atlantic Canada's largest information and communications technology provider, and the largest (or only in some parts) dialup and DSL Internet Service Provider serving Nova Scotia, has announced that it is expanding its relationship with Apple to add the iMac to the Aliant Computer Purchase Program line-up. Aliant is the first company to launch an Apple desktop computer and Internet package in North America. Back in May the company added an Apple notebook - the MacBook - to the Aliant Computer Purchase Program, becoming the first North American service provider to launch an Internet package with an Apple notebook.
The Aliant Computer Purchase Program, introduced in 2005 with PC computers only and a first for the telecommunications industry, was designed to connect more Atlantic Canadians (Aliant, a subsidiary of Canadian telecommunications and broadcasting conglomerate BCE Inc., serves all four Atlantic Canadian provinces - New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Nova Scotia) with online technology by combining Internet services and computers together for one monthly package price on the same bill. The Aliant Computer Purchase Program gives customers a convenient way to purchase a laptop or desktop and also connect with Internet access in one, no-hassle package.
"Over the past several years we've been helping our customers get online with the latest computers," says Joe Mosher, vice-president of residential marketing for Aliant. "Value, choice and convenience are very important to our customers and Apple's popular desktop computer - the iMac - should prove to be another great option for our Atlantic Canadian customers."
The iMac Aliant will sell comes complete with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 GB of memory, and a 250 GB hard drive. iMac features include a built-in iSight camera (for video chatting on the go), iLife '08 (iMac's photo, movie, music and web suite of programs), Front Row (iMac's media centre), and a large glossy 20-inch widescreen display for as low as $52/month in an Aliant Value Package.
The MacBook Aliant offers is the base model with a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn Processor, 1 GB of memory and a 120 GB hard drive, and is available now for Aliant Internet customers starting at $47/month over 36 months. You can even add an AppleCare Protection plan for an extra $8 a month over 36 months.
Aliant's package includes a MacBook computer and your choice of Internet service, or add the computer to an existing Internet Value Package - broadband where available or dial-up - with monthly payments added to the customer's Aliant bill.
For more details on the Aliant Computer Purchase Program, the MacBook and Aliant's Internet services, visit:
http://www.aliant.net
Charles W. Moore
Tags: News ď
