No matter how much cellular operators slice and dice airtime plans, they need to maintain, if not increase, their ARPU. That's why they continue to push plans with unlimited voice, even though many people are using fewer minutes. The operators need to justify their prices.
T-Mobile will offer some inexpensive plans, but they hope to make up revenues with hardware sales, the more expensive plans (especially data services) and millions more subscribers than they have now.
The majority of tablets sold are with just WiFi because most people don't want to pay for cellular on tablets, even if its prepaid and month-to-month. Also, although voice minutes are decreasing, people still want their phones to have cellular because WiFi access just isn't sufficiently widespread.
As for tablets being used as a person's primary phone, that's an interesting situation as more "phablets are being released. How large a device will mainstream consumers accept as their primary phone?
I know you like WiMax, but Clearwire's future is LTE.
Well, LTE was designed for data and has the lowest Ping out there. So that's a possibility.
In what band is T-Mobile planning to deploy its LTE?
One problem I see with not subsidizing devices is that its aimed at customers that bring their devices from AT&T but the frequencies are not the same so the 3G won't work, etc.
I am completely in agreement with you, Alan. If roaming is possible then connectivity between providers is possible for sure. Existing technology can help to reduce struggle but then providers need to find a way to justify the cost.
Seems like "Mobile" carriers are doing everything possible to convince us that it takes a $75 dollar a month plan to have low bandwidth two way voice channels when more and more we do our communications with text messaging and social media applications. I keep waiting for them to build the Un-Phone which is only a tablet or phablet with only broadband access to a pervasive network like Clear wimax. Other than 911 emergency, as long as we can get the Ping time down, voice calls run on the Internet anyway. And with social media, text, email even, we remove the Directory problem of finding people.
It's interesting that you mention the Galaxy Note because people who get that phone/phablet probably are more techie/knowledgeable than most.
However, I won't argue about Americans being confused about cellular in general and operating systems specifically. It is confusing! Everything about cellular is confusing, and many Americans hate (or at least dislike) their cellular operator, especially when reading confusing/inaccuate bills and dealing with incompetent or inflexible customer support representatives.
That's why I see a big opportunity for T-Mobile, assuming it can deliver on its promises. If it can deliver -- offering better pricing, less confusing bills, excellent support, etc. -- it could influence the other cellular operators, especially AT&T, which is T-Mobile's main target.
More importantly -- for Internet Evolution's readers -- T-Mobile's strategy, including eliminating handset subsidies, could affect how enterprises look at their hardware requirements. Of course, this also could greatly affect employees who bring their own devices.
Cellular operators sometimes want connectivity and sometimes don't. For example, it took years for cellular operators to agree to interconnect their SMS systems so users could transmit text messages to all operators. With interconnection, the operators realized they could generate more revenues.
Cellular operators certainly would like to keep subscribers within their "sphere," but they also realize that they can't -- and don't -- cover the entire U.S., so it's important to have roaming agreements with other operators, such as AT&T and T-Mobile, and Verizon and Sprint.
T-Mobile and Sprint need roaming agreements the most because their coverage isn't as extensive as the top two operators.
Of course, roaming on another operator's system often costs more for users.
Alan - I am absolutely not arguing that Americans are dopes. I do think they have other priorities than knowing what operating system their phone runs.
My sense is they do know the kind of phone they're running. But they don't know that, say, a Samsung Galaxy Note and Droid are both running the same operating system.
Agree, Alan. We should be able to provide connectivity between providers which have different systems. That would not be problem at all, the main reason is that this is not what providers want.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Social media has been with us for a decade -- but employer policies and the law are anything but firm about the most appropriate usage of this powerful tool.
Businesses often struggle to decide which domain to use. When it comes to purchasing a domain name, you have plenty of extensions to choose from, ranging from .com and .net, to .me, and even .mobi. But which one should you pick?
I've been writing about how the next evolution of the Internet might just be an advertising revolution, and how corporate IT can stay involved as the enablers and providers of the technologies that make this possible.
In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
