How to beat the iPhone

[SteveW]

I thought this essay, from the longtime technology journalist, Tom Yager, was interesting and more relevant to a general audience than readers of the iPhone forum. I admit to sharing his dim view of the carriers. The core argument is:


Can anything beat iPhone? Handset makers, here's how.

Infoworld
Posted by Tom Yager on June 10, 2008 02:06 PM

[...] Most wireless customers are sick of their wireless carriers. After years of overbilling, lousy support, spotty coverage, being locked out of bargain rate plans available only to new customers, and worst of all, being stuck with carriers' anemic hand-picked catalogs of devices, customers wish wireless carriers would just go away.

That's what Apple did. iPhone makes wireless carriers go away. At first, carriers went through the motions of negotiating with Apple to retain ownership of subscribers. But then a funny thing happened. The most possessive of all carriers, AT&T, discovered that it doesn't really like taking care of customers (surprise!). iPhone gives AT&T the benefits of customer ownership -- rate plan lock-in and term contracts -- with none of the hassle of support, advertising, or plan competition. Word got out that AT&T likes it, and Apple quickly knocked over carriers worldwide with its simple "lean back and get paid" plan.

[...]

If a handset maker came to me looking for advice on competing with iPhone, I'd offer a place to start. Break wireless carriers' blockade on handsets. Release new handsets worldwide, simultaneously, and offer them in North America free of carrier locks and subsidies. Opt out of the charade that carriers have to validate individual devices on their networks before allowing users to buy them. With high-end handsets, customers will welcome the freedom to choose the handset first and the carrier second. Carrier and device choice will be powerful competitive weapons.

Don't be so price-sensitive about your handsets. People will pay $399 or $499 for a feature-rich handset for the privilege of owning it free and clear. Buyers in that price range understand that term contract subsidies are a rip-off.

Get your developer program act together. If you can't create the tools and the community you need to build the kind of vital third-party mobile app market that Apple is constructing for iPhone, find and fund some champions in the open source realm. Get devices out to developers; even refurbs would be welcome. Most mobile developers don't have enough devices against which to validate their code.

Expose the advantages of your platform at a high level. For example, iPhone does not have the ability to run simultaneous applications or to open arbitrary TCP or UDP sockets over a wireless connection. Consider the applications that these limitations make impossible, and show that your platform makes them available.

Get aggressive about firmware updates, and unify them so that one image updates a large category of devices. The industry's habit of making customers buy new devices to get the latest functionality is wrong-headed. Here, too, handset makers should do an end-run around carriers and push updates directly to customers.

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SW

[RJB]

Feature and build the iphone could be accomplished.

Popularity not a chance.

[sanchezkk]

Wirelessly posted (Samsung SCH-U900 FlipShot: SCH-U900/1.0 NetFront/3.0.22.2.9 (GUI) MMP/2.0)

I need the iPhone.