..out of the dark

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/06/14/living-in-a-prepaid-world-and-how-apple-failed-to-change-the-economics-of-mobile.html

Apple blew it. There, I said it. They totally blew it.

America was ripe for change. Apple, with the iPhone, showed people the potential of having a device in your pocket that could browse the internet. Apple showed an entire country that a mobile phone is not just a tool, but a lifestyle product, to paraphrase Michael Mace. They created a device that changed people's minds, at least on one side of the pond, of what a mobile is capable of doing and with the App Store launching later this summer they legitimately earned themselves the title of smartphone manufacturer. Could it have been that much harder, that much more revolutionary, to have sold the iPhone unlocked and unsubsidized and changed consumers views on how mobile phones should be purchased?

Go read the rest. It's a bit one- dimensional, and the "legitimate smartphone due to the Apple store" is pretty funny - but, the carriers problem is a very, very good point, and a very good observation. Because with large markets like the UK and the US being mainly financed through contracts - there's just no point for the mobile operators or manufacturers to really push ahead and do something new. Indeed, they have their own calculations that predict a roof and a constant on the amount of sales in the market, and money people will spend on the phones - and will aim to target a percentage of that market through this and that method. So any manufacturer hung up on this will simply not have any need to really produce something new, not even occationally, as long as people sms and call each other. And anything that does stand out can effectively be squeezed out of the market by carriers who simply dislike the new direction, and the way it might upset the market. Hence, it won't be sold, and it won't pay off to produce one.

Meanwhile, in the marvellous european mobile market, Opera 9.5 won't be released for UIQ3 outside selected devices, and SE gave up on the p1 several months ago, apparently consciously deciding to ignore clear program faults before managing to release the g700/900 with the same bugs. I posted my e- mails with someone at SE support over at uiqblog.com. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, other than never buy an SE phone again.

I want to make this a real problem for SE, but I've learned that no papers or blogs are willing to accept printing articles about how SE is screwing over their customers, launching buggy devices, and then refusing to fix the problems - no matter how well documented it is. Presumably because it's simply too critical.

It's a curious way of thinking, like over at mobile review - they've got no problem smearing SE to a pulp and elevating nokia to the heavens.... in general unspecific terms, while covering up personal opinion in lofty sounding predictions about how everything is going to be a nokia in a short time (because that's exactly what everyone wants). But print an actually critical article that points out specific faults with firmware, and how limitations in manufacturer software design philosophy ruins the appeal of the device in the market very effectively.. No, that's not possible. Smacks too much of being unhappy with a pre- packaged device that doesn't have any real possibility of being expanded, even though that is the entire idea behind the platform, now doesn't it.. While accepting that criticising a manufacturer for ignoring known bugs with their devices for years might be worthy of comment, and valuable to users when shopping for devices (even nokias...). And we wouldn't want to have dangerous thoughts like that encouraged in nokia- world, now would we?