wresnick
join:2003-08-03
Union City, CA
| The customer is always right
Cell phone manufacturers see the carriers, not the users, as their customers. Additional features are preferred if they can generate revenue.
On some of these points, the industry does not get it. They spent a lot of money so their infrastructure will handle the sending of photos, but consumers did not embrace it. The business model is wrong, and they can't figure out what to do about it. I'd just as soon use email, and free public WiFi for this sort of thing. But the manufacturers will cater the phone to the technology of the carrier.
In the long term, I'd like to see cell phones move away from the carriers as much as possible. If, in the future, hot spots start to proliferate, VOIP might be a more viable option for the typical call on a hand held device than what the carrier offers.
Ultimately, carriers with traditional land line service spent a lot on infrastructure and charge a lot less for calls. Cell phone companies have potentially lower infrastructure costs, and can afford to pass on the savings. Device manufacturers also have a high mark up that gets passed on in terms of subsidies, and you end up paying for their junk. If they went by what users wanted instead, and the carriers kept you as a customer by providing good service, then we'd have a much better system. |
