We don’t have much to add to this article, since it’s very well done — plus, we’ve said much of this in the past, and plan to repeat it in the future. However, it is a credible voice reporting on the issue we feel is most important in wireless right now. Amol Savra of Virgin Mobile USA issues a scathing illustration of the state of the industry:
“The wireless industry is stuck in 1994,” said Amol Sarva, a co-founder of Virgin Mobile USA and chief executive of Txtbl. “Back then, AOL controlled how people surfed the Internet and what content they could access. And that’s what the current wireless market is like today under the control of mobile operators.”This evokes an idea that runs rampant in every aspect of business: those in power oppose change because they perceive change as not good for them. Take the music industry, for example. Back in the day, they said that the recorded album would destroy the live performance. Wrong-o. Now they’re saying that digital music — piracy specifically — will ruin the record industry. Wethinks they’re wrong again. This is how we view the wireless industry’s practice of locking phones. Pardon us for quoting again (it won’t be the last time), but we find a high truth in the statement that “[i]n some cases, mobile operators are actually turning off features or disabling application so consumers cannot access them.” ::cough:: Verizon ::cough:: Columbia Law School professor Tim Wu gives his take on the issue. We like it just as much as Savra’s:
“Imagine buying a television that stopped working if you decide to switch to satellite,” Tim Wu, a professor from Columbia Law School, told lawmakers last Tuesday at a House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing that examined wireless innovation and consumer protection. “Or a toaster that died if you switched from Potomac Power to Con Ed. You’d be outraged, for when you buy something that usually means you own it. But it’s not quite so when it comes to wireless devices.”That’s why we think that this whole locked phone business is just a temporary hurdle in the overall wireless scheme. Companies are pressing for control, and this is the one thing they really have going for them. We expect Congress to rule against unlocked phones in the future. Maybe not this year, maybe not next, but soon. Hopefully within this decade. [CNet News]]]>
Posted in Consumer Issues