I think the iPhone looks cool and is going to ultimately be a big factor in pushing mobile convergence forward. A survey released last Friday said there’s massive demand – that 19 million people are highly interested in purchasing the iPhone. Who? Why?
The same survey says people are willing to switch network providers in order to get one, which obviously they have to thanks to a marketing coup by AT&T. It’s pretty amazing how after wireless carriers invested so much in new infrastructure to provides enhanced and differentiated service capabilities they’re still so generic. I’ve been looking at new service and frankly the only compelling reason I can find to use one carrier versus the other is the free in-network calling. The pricing is all the same, and while there are some hardware differences these bake out pretty quickly. And then just become annoying. For instance, I can’t use my Sprint Treo on Verizon even though they’re both CDMA. This not only doesn’t make sense, but I also don’t think it’s the retention aid carriers think it is. I’m trying to trade Treos with someone, but if I can’t do it soon I’ll just let Verizon subsidize the purchase of a cool new phone till I can find a trading partner. Of course most devices wouldn’t even cause you to do that – you’d just toss the old one. Someone explain how people throwing away perfectly good phones is good for wireless carriers?
With the iPhone exclusive to AT&T for 5 years, it will be interesting to see what effect this has on the handset market. I know people won’t go throwing away their $500 iPhones, which bodes well for AT&T. I don’t know who these people are who are clamoring for one.
Posted by hbart 
