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Although I'm not surprised by the number of comments we received to  my story on Friday about what Rogers will charge customers who buy Apple's iPhone 3G, I must say I'm a little taken aback by their vitriol.

The writers have blamed the high rates Rogers is charging on the company's “monopoly” in cellphones using the GSM technology, on the federal government for “allowing” monopolies,  on a Communist conspiracy, on price gouging and even on Rogers itself, for intentionally pricing itself out of the market so it can hide its “anemic network capacity.” Some have even blamed me for not protesting loudly enough, as though Rogers listens to journalists when devising its pricing plans.

There's something to be said about each of these accusations and I agree that the prices seem to be pretty high, especially with a data-consuming device like the iPhone. Especially because no one can really predict how much data we will either be forced to consume (in the manner of updates and so on), or how much we will want to consume. Rogers is the only iPhone provider (so far) that is not offering an unlimited data plan , and that's unfortunate, and I'm in sympathy with the people who want lower rates.

But these responses tell me something else: People feel that the iPhone is something they're entitled to, like medical care, legal representation or the freedom of religion.

Excuse me? The iPhone is a cellphone, for heaven's sake. We've been using cellphones for years, and the arrival of the iPhone might represent an interesting development in technology and esthetics, but it certainly is not the end of cellphone development as we know it.

There are lots of cellphones on the market, and two very tough iPhone competitors are about to be released as well: RIM's  BlackBerry Bold and Samsung's Instinct . According to their advance press, both these phones offer the same things as the iPhone.

If Rogers slaps the same price plan on the BlackBerry Bold (which it might), would the uproar be as loud?

I doubt it.

The reason is obvious: The iPhone is made by Apple, and Apple has long nourished an us-versus-them persecution mentality among its faithful, in which the rest of the world is supposed to “hate” Apple for dimly explained motives. The high price of owning a Rogers iPhone just feeds into that paranoia.

The fact is that we do not have to own iPhones.

If Rogers has been keeping up with the cries of outrage on our site and on many others, they must be learning a major lesson in consumer revolt.

But if they refuse to budge — perhaps because they know a lot of people simply cannot live without an iPhone — the company will have to listen if you do something else:

Don't buy the iPhone. Do what you, as sensible Canadians, will do when confronted by prices you can't stand: Leave the iPhone on the shelf.

No message gets through to corporations as quickly and efficiently as a crash in sales.