Can T-Mobile Become the Heroic Mobile Carrier We Need? A so so article in Business Week by Rachel Hinman. that got me thinking of the bigger picture. I think T-Mobile USA with HotSpot@Home and MyFaves has the best value plans out there. T-Mobile USA does a very good job marketing, managing their network and customer service, however they have lagged behind everyone else in providing users with advanced handsets and a 3G network.
I think they believe they are rectifying the situation with the Android based G1 and their painfully slow roll out of 3G. It will take years for them to catch up to Sprint, Verizon and even AT&T who is behind it's EVDO (Sprint & Verizon) counterparts.
On the Android G1 side, T-Mobile USA believes they have found a marketing edge by touting openness. However, I wonder what their definition of openness is?
Is it Applications: It seems pretty clear that they will allow developers to build anything they want. Does this differentiate them from Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Not really, Windows Mobile is an open platform from that standpoint and the same can be said for Jailbroken iPhones. So I don't think Android has any real advantage in this area, although Google would like you to think so. On the SDK (Software Development Kit) front; from what I hear the APIs (Application Programming Interface) in Windows Mobile are still way ahead of the iPhone, however Apple is catching up with its almost monthly updates for developers. The Android SDK is still in its infancy and we will have to see how Google controls the enhancement process.
Is it the OS, Radio software and hardware drivers: This is the more interesting area. Will T-Mobile USA allow different Open Source versions of the OS, Radio software, and hardware drivers? The question is whether Google, HTC or T-Mobile will provide the base source code required for developer's to create their own hardware drivers or fine tune the Radio drivers. I doubt it, it could be detrimental to their network. Look at what happened to AT&T's network when the Apple iPhone 3G Radio software was clearly creating a problem. I believe allowing developers to easily modify drivers could prove to be the innovative area that could catapult or sink Android. We will have to wait and see what the developer community does and what the carriers/Google allow.
But for now I think a lot of developers are waiting for the launch to see how well it is received by the consumer. If the G1 had HotSpot@Home and MyFaves, I would have probably been tempted to try it, but without that there is really nothing there to grab my interest...
Once again, a writer missing an important part of the picture: many consumers just want their cellphones to make phone calls.
T-Mobile offers good value, good service, and (based on all I've heard plus my own experiences) good customer service. They don't offer 3G or snazzy, feature-filled phones, but so what? Quite a few people don't want that at all.
The author talks like T-Mobile needs to reinvent or rehabilitate itself... as if it's not doing a fine job as is. This smacks of a person blinded by flashy gadgets that the vast majority of customers just don't use.
Maybe at some point down the road consumers will start demanding more from their phones, but even that's not assured. For T-Mobile to take resources away from what it's doing right now to run towards R&D could be a terrible move.
Posted by: Chris Carlin | October 06, 2008 at 09:31 AM
Chris,
I agree with you in principle, except that T-Mobile may be spending money on G1 R&D. For myself I would like to see more advanced handsets but you are right that most people do not need the bells and whistles.
Posted by: Stephen Skarlatos | October 06, 2008 at 04:11 PM