I Wuvs Ya T-Mobile

I just dumped the iPhone for a G2 from T-Mobile. I am so happy. It wasn’t a magical transition. T-Mobile transposed my home phone with my ATT celly number, so that took a day, and then there was a bit of a problem with what services I had ordered. That took another day. But through it all their customer service people were magical. They made it clear that they cared and wanted to put things right.

The G2 is very nice, but not as easy or intuitive as an iPhone. But then, much of the capability of an iPhone was theoretical given that I live in the Bay Area and mostly travel to NYC.

Their Australian partner managed to give me five bars most everywhere I traveled, but ATT itself couldn’t consistently connect me from my bedroom in Oakland.

Oh, I know, the iPhone users on ATT suck down a lot of bandwidth. More than anyone if I remember that market research correctly. But here's the deal, if your network can't handle more iPhones -- phones that cost a mint every month -- perhaps it's time to stop selling them until you throw a few more towers up in t
he SF financial district.

I had no complaints about ATT customer service. There people were lovely as well. Imagine what it is like to deal with jackass digital netizen webizens who are striken with the world’s most overtaxed network.

ATT had been my choice two years ago because of the mind bogglingly dreadful customer service from Sprint. And because they had iPhone. But mostly it was because being a valued Sprint customer, whose calls were very important to them, was equivalent to constant dry heaves.

I swear that their endless IVR reached through the phone and shoved needles in my corneas. Oh my god that company was the worst! I don’t blame the reps. After all, they didn’t create the system that made me wait hours only to tell me I had to call someone else. They weren’t the MFs that sent me four phones I didn’t order, charged me $2000, and then had the audacity to say it was my problem to ship them back. That EVO is darned cool, but nothing is worth the walking on hot coals required to be a Sprint custo—be a warm blooded serf that the Sprint leech drew hemoglobin from.

Off that soapbox. This is about lovely T-Mobile. Cheaper by far than ATT and Sprint were. And get this – I actually have a signal in my living room. Something ATT only managed on cloudless days, and Sprint only managed so they could deliver the cornea needles, or so I always imagined.

I wuvs you T Mobile. I wuvs my new phone. I wuvs actual mobile phone service. I wuvs the T Mobile people. If they got rid of their IVR at the beginning of a call, this would be what I imagine Heaven is like. Being with them hasn’t been perfect, but when they screw up, as everyone and everything does at times, they apologize. That’s all I ask. Well, that and not shoving needles into my eyeballs.

I'm a nice person -- ask anyone. So I suppose I should apologize for my Sprint bile above. But I've wanted to pee on Sprint for years ever since they treated me like so much gum on a shoe solle, and now that I have T-Mobile, I know that a mobile company can actually be pleasant to work with.

Bigtime Mobile Consolidation: First Verizon/Alltel, Now ATT/Centennial

Are there too many mobile providers? That is a bigger question than I could possibly answer. But ATT and Verizon have made big moves this week toward further consolidation of the industry. Big stuff, people.

First was the FCC's approval of Verizon's acquisition of Alltel -- a move that put the big V at the top of the heap subscriber wise, with over 80 MM subs.

Now ATT has announced a buyout of Centennial Wireless, a Midwest provider. This puts ATT's subs total at 76 million.

I have to believe that both will continue to make such moves as they battle for that number one slot.

What of the timing? Well, might it relate to the upcoming change in Presidency, and the possibility that the incoming government will be less friendly to big mergers?

Oh, too big a question for my noggin, but the Verizon acq does represent the disappearance of a low cost alternative to the big lads. Though perhaps Verizon will have to make provisions for low cost plans given that they will lose those value oriented subs if they just jack the rates. With the declining barriers to brand switching, I would expect above average churn in both of these subscriber bases -- I mean, there must have been a reason why someone chose a Centennial or an Alltel instead of the providers with the largest national footprints.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

Comscore: Mobile Video Still Kinda Nichey

The latest data from Comscore indicate that mobile video is still growing fast, but isn't quite what you would call mainstream yet.

6.5 Million Americans access mobile video a month -- nothing to sneeze at but perhaps not something to change your entire TV schedule to the tiny screen yet. Of all of the US carriers, ATT leads the way in terms of mobile vid penetration.



Now why would ATT lead?



And what ARE people watching on them cellys? Well in pro/broadcast content, the leader is music vids, followed by TV shows, movie trailers, and comedy vids.



But actually, amateur vids, especially from YouTube are actually number one on this platform. Just as they (probably) still are on the web.



So, again, the growth is remarkable, but the base is still small. Still, I think we're looking at the inevitable, hunh?

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.

T Mobile G-1 AppleSlayer?

Invincibility is a myth. And perhaps, just perhaps iPhone 3G is no exception. What brings that thought up right now? Well, here's an excerpt from ReadWriteWeb:

Apple may want to be keep a close eye on the sales of T-Mobile's G1 device. The G1 will be the first mobile phone to hit the market running Google's Android mobile OS. This may also be the mobile phone that puts a serious dent in Apple's iPhone sales. The G1 won't officially be available until October 22. Apparently no one wants to experience the same shortage and chaos as those who anxiously waited to get their hands on the iPhone 3G. Reports are in that up to 1.5 million G1 devices have been pre-sold and you can bet that more will be coming in.

Here's why I am impressed. ATT = the number one carrier. T Mobile is number 4, and not what you would call a hip innovator brand. I've always thought of them as a good value brand, not one that attracts tech geeks from the Valley.



So 1.5 million phones pre-sold, and this a full 10 days before the release date. While I have never studied preorders carefully, I would expect the rate to reach a crescendo as we get closer to the date.

Bravo Google, TMobile, and HTC for what appears to be a remarkable future launch.

Opt-In ISP Targeting: ATT Mulls a Different Route

As the NebuAd controversy has materialized, one of the principal criticisms of their agreements with ISPs -- and about BT in general, has been the reliance on an opt-out model. As you know, opt out requires the consumer to actively engage and tell the ISP and BT providers, "No, don't track me." The alternative, opt in, hasn't gotten a lot of traction, at least in the US, principally because there is an expectation that most people would not bother to opt in even if they were fine with the idea of targeted advertising.

Based upon the feedback provided by major ISPs in their responses to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, however, it appears that one major ISP is considering opt in as the right thing to do. This according to an analysis last week in the NY Times Here is an excerpt from Saul Hansell's analysis of ATT's vision:

While the company said it hadn’t tested such a system for monitoring display advertising viewing habits or committed to a particular technology, it expressed much more interest in the approach than the other big Internet providers who also responded to the committee’s letter.

AT&T did however promise that if it does decide to start tracking its customers online, it will “do so the right way.” In particular, the advertising system will require customers to affirmatively agree to have their surfing monitored. This sort of “opt-in” approach is preferred by privacy experts to the “opt-out” method, practiced by most ad targeting companies today, which records the behavior of anyone who doesn’t explicitly ask to not to be tracked.

The passage and entire article interested me greatly because ATT fully discloses their keen interest in participating in the online ad revenue boom, but their parallel determination to ensure that consumers are satisfied with their approach and choose to participate.

This is nothing short of gutsy. I have to admit that I have never seen opt in as a realistic solution for the current approaches to BT because while the consumer does receive value in the form of better online content paid through higher CPMs, they do not get something tangible in their hands for participation. I think this benefit is too abstract for most consuemrs to grasp and value. I do NOT subscribe to the theory that targeted advertising has significant consumer value to the average consumer, at least in the rational abstract.

Is ATT right? I hope so -- this is definiotely a situation in which I would be delighted to be wrong. And perhaps they are anticipating a different consumer value proposition for the solution they ultimately select. Is it possible that ATT is seeking a solution that provides real consumer value in exchange for participation? And I mean REAL consumer value, not their ersatz value trumped by companies like Phorm with their phish protector.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.