Smartphone ownership in Canada is significant and growing, but the majority of Canadians do not yet own smartphones. One reason for the slow adoption may be traced back to the long-term contracts that consumers are forced to agree to by the major mobile providers. Three-year contracts are commonplace, with significant buy-out fees imposed for early contract cancellation: consumers may make do with their feature phone for longer than they’d like to, rather than pay the fee to cancel.

“Talk only” packages may be relatively easy to understand, but rates for SMS text messaging can be more complex. Smartphone owners also may be reluctant to use more advanced features on their devices for fear of high data charges.

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