Sam Biddle
Aug 18, 2011
http://gizmodo.com/5832245
AT&T's killing their $10/1,000 text plan. Now, you'll have to choose between $20 for unlimited, or forgo a plan and pay $0.20 per message. AT&T calls this "streamlining." We call it what it is: an outrageous, gigantic scam.
It's important to note, before considering anything SMS, that text messages are essentially free. Not for you, of course, but for companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Unlike uploading a video to YouTube from your phone, which eats mobile bandwidth, text messages ride the same itsy bitsy communication channel your handset uses to check in with local towers to make sure it's turned on. Each text hitches a ride on an infinitesimally small data packet, chugging through traffic that would've been there anyway. For AT&T, it's basically a freebie—160 bytes of data. A trifle. Compared to the rest of what they're transmitting, AT&T's texts are like amoebas on the back of a tyrannosaurus.
For you, it's quite the opposite. For you, text messages cost money. A lot of money. How much money? Well that all depends. Starting next week, the only texting options for new AT&T subscribers will be a $20/month unlimited buffet, or paying per text, which is insane.
And here's why it's insane. Absolutely, skull-implodingly, village-razingly, jump-out-your-window-into-spikes insane.
AT&T offers a 2 gigabyte per month phone data plan for $25. By breaking this down, we can find out how much they think each text's worth of data costs. And according to this value, when you're using the same amount of data to send a text without a messaging plan, they're charging you 100,000 times more. Yes. Blink a few times and read that again. When AT&T calls data texting, it costs 100,000 times more than when it's in the form of photos, music, email, or anything else. They're ripping you off with the force of a nuclear bomb.
Here's how it breaks down:
AT&T charges $25 for 2 gigabytes of mobile data, which states how much they think their bits and bytes are worth. That comes out to 80 megabytes per dollar. 80 megabytes will get you 500,000 text messages—assuming you're writing the largest possible message, which you're often not (i.e. "Hey" "Nothing" "lol").
Now divide that dollar by the 500,000 potential texts. That comes out to $0.000002 per text—two ten thousandths of a cent. A very, very, very small amount of money.
Now, let's say you send 5,000 texts a month. That's a large, though wholly realistic number. Multiply that by the above worthless cost per text, and you've got—hold onto your wallet!—$0.01. A penny for five thousand texts, according to how much AT&T says its data is worth in a data plan.
But outside of the data plan? Oh boy! Things get very different very fast. And by very different, I mean inordinately overpriced. Those same 5,000 texts, at a rate of $0.20 per message, will cost you $1,000. Not a penny—a grand. Two very different prices for literally the exact same thing.
They're not alone—every other carrier charges similarly grotesque rates for texting without an SMS plan. The difference here is that AT&T's taken away new customers' option to spend less, whereas carriers like Verizon still offer tiered texting plans for varying budgets. (Though don't be surprised if they follow suit—AT&T's been leading the industry in its data/pricing, often in the worst ways.)
When the blue curtain's pulled back and you see the enormous money tree they're shaking, there's nothing to conclude but outrage. Texting messages are as costly to AT&T as blowing bubbles, but they sell them to you like they're vomiting molten gold.
Showing posts with label Sprint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sprint. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
U.S. gov’t mandates special chip in all cellphones
Users can’t opt out of presidential messages
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
http://macdailynews.com/2011/05/11/u-s-federal-govt-mandates-special-chip-in-all-cellphones-users-cant-opt-out-of-presidential-messages
According to The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) is a new system that allows users who own an enabled mobile device to receive geographically-targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. The alerts, currently being rolled out in New York City and Washington D.C. and expected to be in place in those cities by the end of 2011, would be done through a special chip to be installed on new handheld devices. It will use GPS technology and will send some of the alerts based on the location of the phone user. The alert system is expected to be instituted in rest of the U.S. by April 2012. Certain high-end cell phones are PLAN-enabled, but starting next year, all cellphones will be required to have the chip that receives alerts.
The Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act requires participating wireless carriers to activate PLAN technology by a deadline determined by the FCC, which is April 2012. Participants that will offer PLAN ahead of schedule include AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
How Does PLAN Work?
• Authorized national, state or local government officials send alerts to PLAN.
• PLAN authenticates the alert, verifies that the sender is authorized, and sends it to participating wireless carriers.
• Participating wireless carriers push the alerts from cell towers to mobile phones in the affected area. The alerts appear like text messages on mobile devices.
These “text-like messages” are geographically targeted. For example, a customer living in downtown New York would not receive a threat alert if they happen to be in Chicago when the alert is sent. Similarly, someone visiting downtown New York from Chicago on that same day would receive the alert. This requires a PLAN enabled mobile device and participation by the wireless provider in PLAN.
Users are automatically enrolled, as PLAN allows government officials to send “text-like messages” to all subscribers with PLAN-enabled devices if their wireless carrier participates in the program. Users do not sign up for this service. Users do not pay to receive “text-like messages” from PLAN which will be accompanied by a unique attention signal and vibration, which is particularly helpful to people with hearing or vision-related disabilities.
According to FEMA, users will receive three types of alerts from PLAN: (1) alerts issued by the president; (2) alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life; and (3) Amber Alerts. Participating carriers may allow subscribers to block alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life and/or Amber Alerts, but not presidential alerts. Presidential alerts are required of cellphone users and cannot be turned off.
MacDailyNews Take: We get “text-like messages” all day long; no “special chip” required. What else, if anything, does this “special chip” do? Is it just us or did the slope just get slipperier?
Yeah, yeah, we know: This is for our protection. It’s only for public safety. The government chip is “special.” Take off the tinfoil hats. This is a “Good Thing™. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
We have to wonder, though. What’s next? Maybe we’d all be “safer” if the government could use their federally-mandated “special chip” to turn on your cellphone cameras in “an emergency” in order to get a look at what’s going on around you? And your phones’ microphones, so the government can hear, too? How else could government-mandated special chips be used to make us “safer?”
Has anyone read Nineteen Eighty-Four recently?
You know what? The world is a dangerous place and you can’t protect everyone from everything. We’d rather retain what freedoms we have left and take our chances than to be forced to carry special government-mandated chips and receive presidential “text-like messages” that we can’t turn off, if we simply want to carry our cellphones.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
– Benjamin Franklin
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
http://macdailynews.com/2011/05/11/u-s-federal-govt-mandates-special-chip-in-all-cellphones-users-cant-opt-out-of-presidential-messages
According to The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN) is a new system that allows users who own an enabled mobile device to receive geographically-targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. The alerts, currently being rolled out in New York City and Washington D.C. and expected to be in place in those cities by the end of 2011, would be done through a special chip to be installed on new handheld devices. It will use GPS technology and will send some of the alerts based on the location of the phone user. The alert system is expected to be instituted in rest of the U.S. by April 2012. Certain high-end cell phones are PLAN-enabled, but starting next year, all cellphones will be required to have the chip that receives alerts.
The Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act requires participating wireless carriers to activate PLAN technology by a deadline determined by the FCC, which is April 2012. Participants that will offer PLAN ahead of schedule include AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
How Does PLAN Work?
• Authorized national, state or local government officials send alerts to PLAN.
• PLAN authenticates the alert, verifies that the sender is authorized, and sends it to participating wireless carriers.
• Participating wireless carriers push the alerts from cell towers to mobile phones in the affected area. The alerts appear like text messages on mobile devices.
These “text-like messages” are geographically targeted. For example, a customer living in downtown New York would not receive a threat alert if they happen to be in Chicago when the alert is sent. Similarly, someone visiting downtown New York from Chicago on that same day would receive the alert. This requires a PLAN enabled mobile device and participation by the wireless provider in PLAN.
Users are automatically enrolled, as PLAN allows government officials to send “text-like messages” to all subscribers with PLAN-enabled devices if their wireless carrier participates in the program. Users do not sign up for this service. Users do not pay to receive “text-like messages” from PLAN which will be accompanied by a unique attention signal and vibration, which is particularly helpful to people with hearing or vision-related disabilities.
According to FEMA, users will receive three types of alerts from PLAN: (1) alerts issued by the president; (2) alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life; and (3) Amber Alerts. Participating carriers may allow subscribers to block alerts involving imminent threats to safety of life and/or Amber Alerts, but not presidential alerts. Presidential alerts are required of cellphone users and cannot be turned off.
MacDailyNews Take: We get “text-like messages” all day long; no “special chip” required. What else, if anything, does this “special chip” do? Is it just us or did the slope just get slipperier?
Yeah, yeah, we know: This is for our protection. It’s only for public safety. The government chip is “special.” Take off the tinfoil hats. This is a “Good Thing™. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
We have to wonder, though. What’s next? Maybe we’d all be “safer” if the government could use their federally-mandated “special chip” to turn on your cellphone cameras in “an emergency” in order to get a look at what’s going on around you? And your phones’ microphones, so the government can hear, too? How else could government-mandated special chips be used to make us “safer?”
Has anyone read Nineteen Eighty-Four recently?
You know what? The world is a dangerous place and you can’t protect everyone from everything. We’d rather retain what freedoms we have left and take our chances than to be forced to carry special government-mandated chips and receive presidential “text-like messages” that we can’t turn off, if we simply want to carry our cellphones.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
– Benjamin Franklin
Friday, August 20, 2010
“It’s just like an iPhone”
http://scottworldblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/its-just-like-an-iphone/
“It’s just like an iPhone”
August 13, 2010
tags: Blackberry, iPhone, AT&T, Google, Android
Scott Rose
“It’s just like an iPhone.”
That’s the phrase I hear every single day, from dozens of people who have bought Android phones instead of the iPhone.
That phrase makes me cringe, because I know that there’s simply no comparison to the iPhone and that it’s downright insulting to compare other phones to the iPhone.
The iPhone is a real OS X-based computer in the palm of your hands, that just happens to double as a phone. Android phones are phones first, with all the other features tacked on as poorly-implemented afterthoughts (that were ineffectively stolen from Apple).
But that, I believe, is the real problem here for Apple. At this point, anybody who hasn’t already purchased the iPhone doesn’t really want a full computer in their hands. They just want a phone that successfully makes calls… oh, and hopefully it has a couple of cool extra features on the side like checking email & checking Facebook.
So therefore, the vast majority of people don’t care about the vast differences in quality between the iPhone and the Android. For the vast majority of people, Android is close enough to an iPhone. And most importantly of all, Android is available on all cell phone carriers in the United States.
And therefore, I am forced to hear this annoying phrase every day:
“It’s just like an iPhone.”
If you haven’t already bought an iPhone at this point, I’m guessing that you, too, really want to make phone calls first and foremost. It is widely known and widely reported that AT&T is the nation’s worst cell phone carrier. I love my iPhone 4 and I would never trade it in for a crappy Android phone, but even I have to take deep breaths several times a day to calm myself down over dozens of AT&T dropped calls or AT&T dead zones. And not just in Los Angeles, either. The same thing happened when I was visiting Boulder (Colorado), San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago.
This is a serious problem for Apple.
Just like Apple lost the Mac vs. PC marketshare war (even though their product was superior), Apple is on the path to losing the cell phone marketshare war (even though their product is superior). And it’s all because Apple hasn’t brought the iPhone to other carriers.
For the average consumer, there’s simply no advantage to why they should purchase an iPhone. For the average consumer, Android’s horrible touchscreen is good enough. For the average consumer, Android’s unintuitive user interface is good enough. For the average consumer, Android’s lack of security is good enough. For the average consumer, all the crappy Android hardware out there is good enough. For the average consumer, Android’s small app selection is good enough because most of the apps they want to use (Facebook, Google Maps, Dropbox, etc.) are available on Android. Even iPhone 4's FaceTime videochatting isn’t an advantage to the average consumer. For most people, FaceTime is a novelty — something you do once or twice, then you go back to texting & phone calling again. And if Apple makes FaceTime open source like they say they are going to, then you could eventually buy ANY Android phone and still do FaceTime videochatting on it anyways. So again, where’s the iPhone advantage to the average consumer?
For the average consumer, there is simply one looming disadvantage to the iPhone: AT&T.
Nobody wants to be with AT&T. Not even the people who are with AT&T.
And please do NOT get me started on AT&T’s complete hypocrisy with roll-over minutes for phone calls but no roll-over data. Um, AT&T, it’s all the exact same data going through your cell towers! Don’t even get me started on AT&T charging their customers 3 separate times for the same exact data: iPhone, iPad, and iPhone tethering. And don’t even get me started on AT&T’s outrageous text messaging fees. (By the way, Verizon isn’t any better when it comes to their fees.) So above and beyond AT&T’s horrible phone call quality, we’ve also got to deal with AT&T’s predatory financial practices as well. I was only paying $60 a month back when I was with Sprint on my Treo 650 — and that included tethering and unlimited data.
And so, I have to grit my teeth every time I hear that phrase:
“It’s just like an iPhone.”
On top of the AT&T problem, let’s throw in the perceived iPhone 4 antennagate problems too. Every day, I receive emails from average, non-technical consumers asking me when Apple is going to “fix all the problems with the iPhone 4?. I simply refer them to Apple’s press conference video. Real or not, consumers believe that the iPhone 4 is flawed. Real or not, there is so much bad word-of-mouth spreading about AT&T and the iPhone 4 that the average consumer really doesn’t want to jump into that pool of sharks right now.
Here are just a few stories about people I know who just bought Android phones, and now they’re locked into 2 year contracts without an iPhone. At the end of the 2 years, it’s highly likely that they’ll feel so comfortable with the Android OS that they will continue to purchase another Android phone.
My dad just bought an Android phone because he is not going to leave Verizon for AT&T. He gets NO AT&T signal at his home, at his office, or at his winter home in Florida. And no thank you, he is not interested in buying $150 AT&T Microcell 3G towers for every place that he could possibly be in a given day. A Microcell tower isn’t going to help him while he’s dropping AT&T phone calls on the freeway. He just called to tell me, “My new phone is just like the iPhone.”
A friend of mine just bought an Android phone because she is on Sprint and has an incredible $50 per month unlimited everything plan that she’s been grandfathered in on. She has no plans on ever leaving Sprint for her entire life. She told me, “My phone is just like the iPhone.”
A client of mine just bought an Android phone on T-Mobile because she doesn’t get any AT&T signal at her home, she loves T-Mobile’s customer service, she has a super cheap monthly plan, and she has always been with T-Mobile. She said to me, “My phone is just like the iPhone.”
Another friend of mine just bought an Android phone because she lives up in the Hollywood Hills, where AT&T has never had any cell towers at all and where there is absolutely no signal at all. You guessed it. “My phone is just like the iPhone.”
Hell, a friend of mine who is ALREADY WITH AT&T just bought an Android phone because “I’ve heard horrible stories about the iPhone 4. I’m waiting until the iPhone 5G comes out.” And then for good measure, he added, “My phone is really just like the iPhone.”
When it comes down to it, Apple is losing the war here. They’re losing mindshare, they’re losing marketshare, and they’re losing any effective way to distinguish themselves from the other phones on the market. As a result, Android phones are selling at the astonishing rate of 200,000 per day, and is now the 3rd most popular phone OS in the world. Apple is #4.
Is Apple going to wake up in time? Or is this going to be a redux of the Mac-PC war, where Apple’s superior technology loses once again, and we enter into another 20 years of technological dark ages, driven by companies like Google and Verizon that are driven solely by greed and not what is in the best interest for the consumer?
If Apple doesn’t wake up quickly, we’re all going to be living in an Android world.
And that is one world that I don’t want to live in.
I want to live in a world where people are able to realize for themselves:
“No, it’s not just like an iPhone.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed this article. If so, please donate a small amount so that I can continue to post blog articles in the future.
“It’s just like an iPhone”
August 13, 2010
tags: Blackberry, iPhone, AT&T, Google, Android
Scott Rose
“It’s just like an iPhone.”
That’s the phrase I hear every single day, from dozens of people who have bought Android phones instead of the iPhone.
That phrase makes me cringe, because I know that there’s simply no comparison to the iPhone and that it’s downright insulting to compare other phones to the iPhone.
The iPhone is a real OS X-based computer in the palm of your hands, that just happens to double as a phone. Android phones are phones first, with all the other features tacked on as poorly-implemented afterthoughts (that were ineffectively stolen from Apple).
But that, I believe, is the real problem here for Apple. At this point, anybody who hasn’t already purchased the iPhone doesn’t really want a full computer in their hands. They just want a phone that successfully makes calls… oh, and hopefully it has a couple of cool extra features on the side like checking email & checking Facebook.
So therefore, the vast majority of people don’t care about the vast differences in quality between the iPhone and the Android. For the vast majority of people, Android is close enough to an iPhone. And most importantly of all, Android is available on all cell phone carriers in the United States.
And therefore, I am forced to hear this annoying phrase every day:
“It’s just like an iPhone.”
If you haven’t already bought an iPhone at this point, I’m guessing that you, too, really want to make phone calls first and foremost. It is widely known and widely reported that AT&T is the nation’s worst cell phone carrier. I love my iPhone 4 and I would never trade it in for a crappy Android phone, but even I have to take deep breaths several times a day to calm myself down over dozens of AT&T dropped calls or AT&T dead zones. And not just in Los Angeles, either. The same thing happened when I was visiting Boulder (Colorado), San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago.
This is a serious problem for Apple.
Just like Apple lost the Mac vs. PC marketshare war (even though their product was superior), Apple is on the path to losing the cell phone marketshare war (even though their product is superior). And it’s all because Apple hasn’t brought the iPhone to other carriers.
For the average consumer, there’s simply no advantage to why they should purchase an iPhone. For the average consumer, Android’s horrible touchscreen is good enough. For the average consumer, Android’s unintuitive user interface is good enough. For the average consumer, Android’s lack of security is good enough. For the average consumer, all the crappy Android hardware out there is good enough. For the average consumer, Android’s small app selection is good enough because most of the apps they want to use (Facebook, Google Maps, Dropbox, etc.) are available on Android. Even iPhone 4's FaceTime videochatting isn’t an advantage to the average consumer. For most people, FaceTime is a novelty — something you do once or twice, then you go back to texting & phone calling again. And if Apple makes FaceTime open source like they say they are going to, then you could eventually buy ANY Android phone and still do FaceTime videochatting on it anyways. So again, where’s the iPhone advantage to the average consumer?
For the average consumer, there is simply one looming disadvantage to the iPhone: AT&T.
Nobody wants to be with AT&T. Not even the people who are with AT&T.
And please do NOT get me started on AT&T’s complete hypocrisy with roll-over minutes for phone calls but no roll-over data. Um, AT&T, it’s all the exact same data going through your cell towers! Don’t even get me started on AT&T charging their customers 3 separate times for the same exact data: iPhone, iPad, and iPhone tethering. And don’t even get me started on AT&T’s outrageous text messaging fees. (By the way, Verizon isn’t any better when it comes to their fees.) So above and beyond AT&T’s horrible phone call quality, we’ve also got to deal with AT&T’s predatory financial practices as well. I was only paying $60 a month back when I was with Sprint on my Treo 650 — and that included tethering and unlimited data.
And so, I have to grit my teeth every time I hear that phrase:
“It’s just like an iPhone.”
On top of the AT&T problem, let’s throw in the perceived iPhone 4 antennagate problems too. Every day, I receive emails from average, non-technical consumers asking me when Apple is going to “fix all the problems with the iPhone 4?. I simply refer them to Apple’s press conference video. Real or not, consumers believe that the iPhone 4 is flawed. Real or not, there is so much bad word-of-mouth spreading about AT&T and the iPhone 4 that the average consumer really doesn’t want to jump into that pool of sharks right now.
Here are just a few stories about people I know who just bought Android phones, and now they’re locked into 2 year contracts without an iPhone. At the end of the 2 years, it’s highly likely that they’ll feel so comfortable with the Android OS that they will continue to purchase another Android phone.
My dad just bought an Android phone because he is not going to leave Verizon for AT&T. He gets NO AT&T signal at his home, at his office, or at his winter home in Florida. And no thank you, he is not interested in buying $150 AT&T Microcell 3G towers for every place that he could possibly be in a given day. A Microcell tower isn’t going to help him while he’s dropping AT&T phone calls on the freeway. He just called to tell me, “My new phone is just like the iPhone.”
A friend of mine just bought an Android phone because she is on Sprint and has an incredible $50 per month unlimited everything plan that she’s been grandfathered in on. She has no plans on ever leaving Sprint for her entire life. She told me, “My phone is just like the iPhone.”
A client of mine just bought an Android phone on T-Mobile because she doesn’t get any AT&T signal at her home, she loves T-Mobile’s customer service, she has a super cheap monthly plan, and she has always been with T-Mobile. She said to me, “My phone is just like the iPhone.”
Another friend of mine just bought an Android phone because she lives up in the Hollywood Hills, where AT&T has never had any cell towers at all and where there is absolutely no signal at all. You guessed it. “My phone is just like the iPhone.”
Hell, a friend of mine who is ALREADY WITH AT&T just bought an Android phone because “I’ve heard horrible stories about the iPhone 4. I’m waiting until the iPhone 5G comes out.” And then for good measure, he added, “My phone is really just like the iPhone.”
When it comes down to it, Apple is losing the war here. They’re losing mindshare, they’re losing marketshare, and they’re losing any effective way to distinguish themselves from the other phones on the market. As a result, Android phones are selling at the astonishing rate of 200,000 per day, and is now the 3rd most popular phone OS in the world. Apple is #4.
Is Apple going to wake up in time? Or is this going to be a redux of the Mac-PC war, where Apple’s superior technology loses once again, and we enter into another 20 years of technological dark ages, driven by companies like Google and Verizon that are driven solely by greed and not what is in the best interest for the consumer?
If Apple doesn’t wake up quickly, we’re all going to be living in an Android world.
And that is one world that I don’t want to live in.
I want to live in a world where people are able to realize for themselves:
“No, it’s not just like an iPhone.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hope you enjoyed this article. If so, please donate a small amount so that I can continue to post blog articles in the future.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Verizon and the iPhone
http://scottworldblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/verizon-and-iphone.html
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Verizon and the iPhone
Scott Rose
As you already know, the iPhone has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S. Nobody in the public knows when this exclusivity deal ends, at which point Apple would be able to bring the iPhone to other U.S. carriers such as Verizon or Sprint.
There is absolutely NO DOUBT in my mind that the iPhone will someday be available on both Verizon's and Sprint's networks, because if you go to Apple's Job Opportunities website and search for "CDMA" (which is the cellular technology that Sprint & Verizon use), you will see an increasing list of engineering job openings at Apple that are currently available.
But here's the interesting thing that most people DON'T know: Apple approached Verizon *FIRST* when creating the iPhone and asked Verizon if THEY wanted to be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone. And are you ready for this? Verizon turned Apple down. They scoffed at Apple. Their bull-headed executives refused to see the value in the iPhone, because they had a problem with two things that Apple wanted: (1) Apple wanted a small percentage of the subscribers' monthly fees in exchange for Apple putting all of their marketing muscle behind the iPhone, and (2) Apple wanted Verizon to make some small changes to their network so that "visual voicemail" would be available to their customers. "Visual voicemail" is the #1 best invention to come to phones since the invention of voicemail itself! It lets you visually see your voicemails like email messages, choose whichever voicemail you want to play in any order, and fast forward/rewind your messages like a song on your iPod. Verizon, showing that it doesn't care about ease-of-use for its customers either, said that they'd rather not provide this to their customers.
So now that the iPhone is the #1 selling smartphone in the U.S., what is Verizon's competitive strategy until they finally get the iPhone for themselves?
Check out this quote from Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg on how he plans on competing with Apple:
"Steve Jobs eventually will get old . . . I like our chances."
This guy's strategy is waiting for -- and wishing for -- the old age of Steve Jobs?
What an ungrateful, disrespectful, and ineffective ass.
Not only did Steve Jobs approach him FIRST and he said NO, but without Steve Jobs, the ENTIRE technology world -- including cell phones -- would be in the complete dark ages right now. Seidenberg should be kissing the ground that Steve Jobs walks on, to thank him for pushing technology ahead so boldly for so many years. We saw practically NO innovation (or ease-of-use) in the cell phone industry until the iPhone hit the market, and now suddenly, everybody has a copycat touchscreen device that they're hawking to unsuspecting customers. Buyer, beware, however... these other products are pieces of crap, to put it kindly. For example, check out these reviews & news stories about the Blackberry Storm, Blackberry's first foray into touchscreen devices and Verizon's current answer to the iPhone.
But this is nothing new for Apple. Apple has always been the innovation leader in the technology world. Everybody else always tries -- and fails -- to copy Apple.
In fact, during the time from 1985 to 1998 when Steve Jobs was unceremoniously kicked out of Apple, we humans entered the darkest time ever in technology history, when there were practically no new technological inventions on computers outside of CD burning and zip drives. In fact, if you look closely at the history of computers, every important technological invention that made a difference in the world has originated at or been popularized first by Apple... then everyone else in the industry scrambled to catch up to Apple. These include:
- The first graphical user interface
- The mouse
- the first trackpad
- Wireless Internet access! Apple was first with this, by over 2 years before any PC's got this!
- the all-in-one iMac
- USB (USB was a floundering technology destined for the dustbin until Apple decided to make it the one & only port type on the first iMac).
- FireWire: created & invented by Apple
- Mac OS X (rock solid stable, no viruses, no crashes, easy to use, built on UNIX)
- Bluetooth (again, this didn't become the de facto standard until Apple brought it to all of their Macs)
- the iPod
- the iPhone
- MULTITOUCH capability (on the iPhone and all of Apple's laptops) - this is different then regular "touch" capability, which doesn't recognize multiple fingers simultaneously.
- I could go on & on for pages.
And most of all, Apple still has the one thing that competitors have never been able to copy: EASE OF USE. Apple's products JUST WORK. And they're EASY TO USE. I feel that Apple is the only U.S. company that delivers on its promise to consumers: to deliver the greatest & easiest-to-use technology products in the world.
Labels: Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Verizon
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Verizon and the iPhone
Scott Rose
As you already know, the iPhone has an exclusive deal with AT&T in the U.S. Nobody in the public knows when this exclusivity deal ends, at which point Apple would be able to bring the iPhone to other U.S. carriers such as Verizon or Sprint.
There is absolutely NO DOUBT in my mind that the iPhone will someday be available on both Verizon's and Sprint's networks, because if you go to Apple's Job Opportunities website and search for "CDMA" (which is the cellular technology that Sprint & Verizon use), you will see an increasing list of engineering job openings at Apple that are currently available.
But here's the interesting thing that most people DON'T know: Apple approached Verizon *FIRST* when creating the iPhone and asked Verizon if THEY wanted to be the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone. And are you ready for this? Verizon turned Apple down. They scoffed at Apple. Their bull-headed executives refused to see the value in the iPhone, because they had a problem with two things that Apple wanted: (1) Apple wanted a small percentage of the subscribers' monthly fees in exchange for Apple putting all of their marketing muscle behind the iPhone, and (2) Apple wanted Verizon to make some small changes to their network so that "visual voicemail" would be available to their customers. "Visual voicemail" is the #1 best invention to come to phones since the invention of voicemail itself! It lets you visually see your voicemails like email messages, choose whichever voicemail you want to play in any order, and fast forward/rewind your messages like a song on your iPod. Verizon, showing that it doesn't care about ease-of-use for its customers either, said that they'd rather not provide this to their customers.
So now that the iPhone is the #1 selling smartphone in the U.S., what is Verizon's competitive strategy until they finally get the iPhone for themselves?
Check out this quote from Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg on how he plans on competing with Apple:
"Steve Jobs eventually will get old . . . I like our chances."
This guy's strategy is waiting for -- and wishing for -- the old age of Steve Jobs?
What an ungrateful, disrespectful, and ineffective ass.
Not only did Steve Jobs approach him FIRST and he said NO, but without Steve Jobs, the ENTIRE technology world -- including cell phones -- would be in the complete dark ages right now. Seidenberg should be kissing the ground that Steve Jobs walks on, to thank him for pushing technology ahead so boldly for so many years. We saw practically NO innovation (or ease-of-use) in the cell phone industry until the iPhone hit the market, and now suddenly, everybody has a copycat touchscreen device that they're hawking to unsuspecting customers. Buyer, beware, however... these other products are pieces of crap, to put it kindly. For example, check out these reviews & news stories about the Blackberry Storm, Blackberry's first foray into touchscreen devices and Verizon's current answer to the iPhone.
But this is nothing new for Apple. Apple has always been the innovation leader in the technology world. Everybody else always tries -- and fails -- to copy Apple.
In fact, during the time from 1985 to 1998 when Steve Jobs was unceremoniously kicked out of Apple, we humans entered the darkest time ever in technology history, when there were practically no new technological inventions on computers outside of CD burning and zip drives. In fact, if you look closely at the history of computers, every important technological invention that made a difference in the world has originated at or been popularized first by Apple... then everyone else in the industry scrambled to catch up to Apple. These include:
- The first graphical user interface
- The mouse
- the first trackpad
- Wireless Internet access! Apple was first with this, by over 2 years before any PC's got this!
- the all-in-one iMac
- USB (USB was a floundering technology destined for the dustbin until Apple decided to make it the one & only port type on the first iMac).
- FireWire: created & invented by Apple
- Mac OS X (rock solid stable, no viruses, no crashes, easy to use, built on UNIX)
- Bluetooth (again, this didn't become the de facto standard until Apple brought it to all of their Macs)
- the iPod
- the iPhone
- MULTITOUCH capability (on the iPhone and all of Apple's laptops) - this is different then regular "touch" capability, which doesn't recognize multiple fingers simultaneously.
- I could go on & on for pages.
And most of all, Apple still has the one thing that competitors have never been able to copy: EASE OF USE. Apple's products JUST WORK. And they're EASY TO USE. I feel that Apple is the only U.S. company that delivers on its promise to consumers: to deliver the greatest & easiest-to-use technology products in the world.
Labels: Apple, iPhone, Steve Jobs, Verizon
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
T-Mobile could acquire Sprint
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/84654
Reports: T-Mobile could acquire Sprint
Fri Mar 7, 2008
Talk about some a strange possibility: Could the nation's fourth largest cellular carrier, T-Mobile, gobble up the third largest, Sprint Nextel? Analysts are saying that in order to maintain competitiveness and help avoid a price war in the cellular space (though that's already happening, to be honest), T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, could make a play for beleaguered Sprint.
The scenario is particularly possible because of DT's foreign ownership; a weak dollar means Sprint can be had for far less now that it would in better economic conditions, and Sprint's stock is down nearly 50 percent since the beginning of the year.
Of course, technical challenges would be incredible if the two companies were to merge: T-Mobile is a GSM network (as is DT overseas), while Sprint is a CDMA network. When Sprint bought Nextel it was put in the position of integrating itself with Nextel's old iDEN network, something that has gone so poorly that some say Sprint might actually spin Nextel back off into its own company. (The combined Sprint Nextel aggravated customers of both companies, who have fled in droves.) With three types of networks to manage, it's hard to fathom how a smallish operation like T-Mobile could cope. Or would T-Mobile bite the bullet and force all Sprint customers into GSM handsets?
That said, the idea of a cellular merger at least creates the opportunity for a great new corporate name. Sprint blew an awesome opportunity when it failed to name its new corporation something like Sprextel. Now T-Mobile has a chance to do something bold. T-Mobisprex for the win.
Reports: T-Mobile could acquire Sprint
Fri Mar 7, 2008
Talk about some a strange possibility: Could the nation's fourth largest cellular carrier, T-Mobile, gobble up the third largest, Sprint Nextel? Analysts are saying that in order to maintain competitiveness and help avoid a price war in the cellular space (though that's already happening, to be honest), T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, could make a play for beleaguered Sprint.
The scenario is particularly possible because of DT's foreign ownership; a weak dollar means Sprint can be had for far less now that it would in better economic conditions, and Sprint's stock is down nearly 50 percent since the beginning of the year.
Of course, technical challenges would be incredible if the two companies were to merge: T-Mobile is a GSM network (as is DT overseas), while Sprint is a CDMA network. When Sprint bought Nextel it was put in the position of integrating itself with Nextel's old iDEN network, something that has gone so poorly that some say Sprint might actually spin Nextel back off into its own company. (The combined Sprint Nextel aggravated customers of both companies, who have fled in droves.) With three types of networks to manage, it's hard to fathom how a smallish operation like T-Mobile could cope. Or would T-Mobile bite the bullet and force all Sprint customers into GSM handsets?
That said, the idea of a cellular merger at least creates the opportunity for a great new corporate name. Sprint blew an awesome opportunity when it failed to name its new corporation something like Sprextel. Now T-Mobile has a chance to do something bold. T-Mobisprex for the win.
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