A new bisiness model for cell phones
Sep. 23rd, 2007 08:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
paserbypWhy I couldn't buy today a cell phone that didn't have a camera in it?
Lets take for example a new Samsung A707. It's got a camera (that I never use). Web access (that I've only turned on by mistake), an address book, a calendar, and an integrated MP3 player. However, it only download songs from PCs, not Macs and I found that there's a company called Datapilot that makes software that transfers not only MP3 from Macs, but address book and calendar entries, even image files. Unfortunately the A707 is not supported...
Even through I am AT&T cellular customer, I was informed that the iPhone isn't supported by my particular plan. So, being a member of the non-preferred class (an existing customer), if I want an iPhone (for $400 and earlier it was $600) I'll wind up paying about 30% more for my service.
It looks like there are two winners and one loser in this deal. Apple sells an iPhone, and AT&T can jack up the rate while avoiding the cost of a subsidized handset. Guess who the loser is? May be when the initial sales slow down they'll get desperate, start bottom feeding, and find me!
Michael Finneran is president of dBrn Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm in Hewlett Neck, NY.
Lets take for example a new Samsung A707. It's got a camera (that I never use). Web access (that I've only turned on by mistake), an address book, a calendar, and an integrated MP3 player. However, it only download songs from PCs, not Macs and I found that there's a company called Datapilot that makes software that transfers not only MP3 from Macs, but address book and calendar entries, even image files. Unfortunately the A707 is not supported...
Even through I am AT&T cellular customer, I was informed that the iPhone isn't supported by my particular plan. So, being a member of the non-preferred class (an existing customer), if I want an iPhone (for $400 and earlier it was $600) I'll wind up paying about 30% more for my service.
It looks like there are two winners and one loser in this deal. Apple sells an iPhone, and AT&T can jack up the rate while avoiding the cost of a subsidized handset. Guess who the loser is? May be when the initial sales slow down they'll get desperate, start bottom feeding, and find me!
Michael Finneran is president of dBrn Associates, Inc., an independent consulting firm in Hewlett Neck, NY.
