I think there needs to be a seriously major revolution in the cell phone industry.
Right now, all the major carriers are king. They control the pricing of the phones (through subsidy), the ridiculously high rates, then if that’s not enough, they tack on costs for things that should be free (e.g., wi-fi tethering, map navigation (which, for Android, is part of the OS), etc.). Then they stick you with a two-year agreement which you cannot get out of unless you’re willing to fork over almost $200 (closer to $400 if you use a smartphone). Then, if there’s a software update for your phone, and that update is buggy because it contains various elements from the OS provider, hardware maker, and carrier, then all the carrier does is offer to replace the phone with another one of the same model, which does nothing to solve the problem because it’s software-related, and that replacement phone will of course use the same software. In addition to all this, the carriers force all kinds of unwanted software on the phone that take up storage space, and some of them run in the background and you can’t shut them down, so they take up RAM and processor power, and drain the battery. You also can’t uninstall them, and some carriers will void your warranty if you dare root YOUR phone to be able to uninstall what you don’t want, and therefore take control of YOUR phone. No one should *have* to root their phone – the customer should have full control over it anyway, like with anything else.
Now what part of anything I said above is customer-friendly? None of it, of course. All these things are EVIL on the part of (mostly) the carriers. These things MUST CHANGE. We the customers need control over our phones and decide what carriers we want to choose, with any phone. For that to happen, all cell phones/smartphones need to have a global standard – and one that doesn’t drop calls. Then we can pick any carrier we want, who would compete only on service and coverage. Not dominate the whole phone-buying process and imprison you with a contract that takes two years out of your life. I can still go to Wal-Mart or Best Buy and pick up a regular ol’ landline phone and plug it into my wall jack at home, and separately set up service with whatever service provider is in my area (unfortunately, usually that’s still a monopoly, but that’s a whole other rant). Likewise, if I want good ol’ fashioned wired internet in my home, even broadband, I can buy whatever computer I want and bring it home, hook it up, and call up Time Warner, Suddenlink, Clear, or whoever I want and get the Internet signal to my home. None of them ever dink with my computer, force certain pieces of software to download, or anything. I also can pay month-to-month and cancel anytime without penalty (like the early termination fee). I can even wipe my hard drive and do a clean install of Windows, Linux, or whatever I want (which I’ve done dozens of times now), and still re-connect the broadband internet and it works. My broadband provider is none the wiser, and they don’t dictate how I use my computer and they certainly don’t determine its performance because I control what OS I put on it and what software I run on it. The same should be on cell phones and smartphones.
What needs to happen is this: I purchase a cell phone or smartphone DIRECTLY from the manufacturer – in a big box retail store or a retail or outlet store that the manufacturer opens up. I need to test drive the device before I buy. I know the carriers provide subsidies to get the phone prices much cheaper than full price, but because of the issues I outlined above, I still consider it slavery and misery. For that reason, I’d rather pay full price if I have to – but let me finance the phone, especially if it’s a $600+ smartphone like a top-of-the-line Android handset. (And why do these smartphones cost $600+, even if they’re a bonafide mini-computer? Netbooks typically range from $300-$400, and even for the phone part it could all be VoIP.) So then the customer chooses the carrier, no matter what the make and model of phone, just like it is for landline phones. If we had a true global cell phone standard, this wouldn’t be an issue. And actually, while we’re at it, get rid of this whole distinction between voice and data – it’s all data, just have data plans and have all voice on VoIP. Unlimited everything for about $30-$35 a month, period. Nothing else (unless it’s a real value-add, like a music streaming service, where you have to pay the record companies, I understand that). That’s what us old-schoolers are used to paying for standard, good ol’ landline service. Stop this insatiable GREED, carriers. And no forced bloatware on the phone. In fact, carriers, don’t have any say whatsoever on what goes on the phone or gets taken off – that’s between the manufacturers and us. You just carry the signal – that’s it. That’s the way it should be. I think I speak for many here when I say WE CUSTOMERS ARE SICK TO DEATH OF THE STATUS QUO in the cell phone industry, and WE DEMAND REAL CHANGE. Even if some of us weren’t so geeky for the latest smartphones, we’d still have to get cell phones of some kind because we’re all forced to have cell phones these days because nearly all the pay phones are gone.
Google, I’m really sorry that your Nexus One failed to create this revolution. If you were to continue the Nexus series, and take another crack at this business model, I would highly suggest you do the following and you will WIN:
• Offer your phone simultaneously on all four major U.S. carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile). To do this, you need to manufacture a phone that is universal between GSM and CDMA. At least for the time being. Eventually, you should offer a phone that only runs on IP, so everything is data-based and hopefully, the carriers could offer a data-only kind of plan. Maybe I’m dreaming.
• Offer interest-free financing on the phone. If you offered two-year financing for a $600 smartphone (the same length of time as a typical contract), that would amount to $25 a month for the customer. Maybe you could offer a Google Card for the interest-free financing.
• Set up Google Stores or at least Google stands in shopping malls, so people could try out the phone.
• Make it the absolute best Android phone possible, with Super AMOLED screen and so many other features that beat the iPhone, then market the heck out of the phone and hype it up as the must-have phone, so you will have the control that Apple seems to have with its iPhone, so no carrier (well, at this point only AT&T) has a say in how the phone is configured or even labeled/branded. Who knows, they might even be intimidated into selling data-only plans so people can take advantage of Android’s free VoIP (via Google Voice) service and not have to shell out such big bucks on the hefty voice plans.
• Don’t allow any carrier or manufacturer to push bloatware on the phone. Don’t let your manufacturer put on any “skin” on Android. If any customer wants a skin, or wants a certain carrier-provided software (which they should not be in the business of, they should just provide the signal), they should be able to do so from the Android Market. ANY piece of software should be removable.
Well, that’s all I can think of, but yes, it’s a lot. There’s a lot wrong with the cell phone industry. Let’s fix it and keep these carriers’ GREED in check.
