Hi Ricardo, Interesting thoughts.
To be honest, I get the impression that the US has yet to get the full benefits of competition enjoyed by most of the rest of the world, who have had GSM all this time, and are now starting to realise what we now take for granted: that buying an unlocked phone is a long-term investment that pays off when you can switch to any carrier, and that the prices you pay for the phone are actually representative of their true value and not the discounted price carriers use to justify locking you to their networks. Before iPhone, and in a future world of low-price, low-margin smartphones, where Apple cannot enforce its interests on consumers by choosing its partners and hardware and software specifications and bringing with them the unwelcome consequences of lock-in, and every carrier works in every phone using GSM, there is at least the possibility for consumers to truly vote with their wallets. Unfortunately, just as with DRM in music, Apple had to sell out to the US carriers in order to grow adoption, and I think Apple has a way to go before being truly free of them. Their new upgrade programme and AppleSIM are a start, as is Google’s Project Fi, but as long as they’re dependent on deals with carriers just to sell their phones at reasonable prices and make basic phone functions work (4G, tethering) and they continue to approve carriers individually rather than just following standards and giving people what they pay for (what am I buying an “unlocked” phone for again?) there will always be a market for cheaper phones that cost so little you don’t need a carrier to subsidise them, or premium phones with less restrictive software features that are not locked to carriers. And the funny thing is, we’re already here. The draw of Samsung and Apple is there, but their grip on the consumer only lasts while they can get away with exerting that kind of control. My carrier in the UK couldn’t support the iPhone correctly without selling iPhones themselves; I temporarily moved to O2 to get the iPhone (and moved back to the VNO when they started selling iPhones and I could use 4G and tethering). And remember, all using GSM. And going in the other direction, Fi or AppleSIM or whatever, would only expose us to the potential misdeeds of our favourite vendors, now unconstrained by the competition offered by carriers, even as they support every band in the world on their flagship phones, to the potential benefit of consumers, but also potentially to the detriment of their wallets. You may think Apple can do no wrong, and I hope you’re right, but it worries me. So yes, my comment was flamboyant, but it’s not wrong. Apple still puts carriers before consumers, sadly. And not for nothing, either. :) On the App Store, which I agree is a more pleasant and sustainable experience for iOS developers, I simply meant that Apple makes money now from streaming app developers and helps the carriers by not using its FM chip. Having said this, I also believe Apple needs to recognise that developer interest will switch to the platform that is most rewarding, and both Google and Microsoft are desperately rolling out the red carpet to make that happen. As soon as alternatives become sufficiently tolerable and guarantee a decent income, you can be sure that the majority will win again. This is simple economics, of course. All the vendors you mentioned, plus Apple and Microsoft, are on the Play Store, for instance. You need to be there, because that’s where everybody is. I hope that Apple realises that developers are important, just as Microsoft did. I would hate to see iOS go the way of the Mac, and become just another underserved niche. A happy new year to you too. :) -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
