Analyst Angle: What I want from my wireless Santa

Editor’s Note: Welcome our Monday feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Strategy Analytics’ Chris Ambrosio, M:Metrics’ Seamus McAteer and Current Analysis’ Peter Jarich.
Every year when it’s getting colder we all start pulling out our Santa Claus wish lists. My five year old son John’s list is especially large because all year long when we go to a toy store and he wants something instead of telling him “No” I tell him to put it on the List for Santa. It works great but his memory is getting better and better. My list for the Wireless Santa is much shorter than his, but I hope he does not forget what I want either. Maybe if I am good next year (oh, I can wish, now can’t I?) Santa will grant me some of my wishes:
My first wish is a basic phone for seniors. I see how my 72-year-old mother is struggling with phones that my five year old is having no problem handling. Unfortunately, the wireless industry and senior citizens are increasingly drifting apart, which is even more tragic because the senior segment is the least penetrated segment left in the population. The older you get the more your eyesight, hearing, and manual dexterity diminishes; at the same time wireless phones are becoming smaller and smaller and increasingly loaded with functionality. As much as I love the added power in a smaller unit I recognize that not everyone shares my enthusiasm. A lot of people would just like to have a basic phone that makes calls really well without all the additions like cameras, music players, etc. Larger buttons, larger letters, and better speakers in a nice size form factor would do the job. As Le Corbusier once famously said “Less is more.”
My second wish would be cross-carrier consistency. I understand the need for differentiation and supposed stickiness of applications, but why turn this into a combination of the Tower of Babel and a massive pain in the neck. My favorite pet peeve right now is “ringback tones.” Oh wait, aren’t they Callback Tones, or Answer Tones, or whatever concoction someone utterly bored at a wireless carrier or branding firm has come up with. Is it messaging, texting, SMS? While it is part of the beauty of a language to be able to say the same thing in many different ways, it confuses the heck out of customers wanting to buy something. If everyone uses the same name, service adoption levels might very well increase because of the cross-carrier halo effect. The same applies to things like voicemail menus. Virtually every voicemail provider has a different menu structure which filters through to the carrier. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, then it could be a Drake or a Hen? Maybe CTIA could bring some cross-carrier consistency that would benefit consumers over all, and I don’t think someone will be more or less likely churning just because the voicemail menu structure is identical across the industry.
My third wish would be clear marketing messages. In my opinion just marketing messaging and especially tag lines have to answer the “So What?” question right away. The better the “so what” question is answered and the more it rings true with customers, the more powerful the message. I understand “It’s the Network;” I understand “Least dropped calls;” I understand “Nextel Done”-unfortunately in more than one way; I understand “Get more for less.” Where I am starting to lose it is “most powerful network” and “stick together.” One gives me the impression of getting jolted by my phone and the other reminds me of overcooked rice.
My fourth wish is stuff that actually works as expected. Welcome back to the basics. When I did an informal poll among my friends who are not connected to the wireless industry and I asked them what they wanted from their Wireless Santa the response was in unison “Less dropped calls and better coverage.” After these decades of wireless service, the industry is still sorely lagging behind customer expectations. It’s partly the industry’s fault by letting expectations race ahead of the ability to deliver, combined with the fact that there are still local zoning boards that in blatant violation of federal law are delaying or even blocking the building of cell sites.
With ever more capable connected devices it becomes ever more difficult to get the thing to work. For example, the handset manufacturers and wireless carriers across the board have done a good job in delivering usable music software on the handset. The moment the phone is connected to the PC all hell breaks loose. Some are integrated very well, some offer a bare bone utilitarian approach, and others I am still struggling to get to work and when the PC software upgraded everything went haywire.
My fifth wish is less hype, especially from the WiMAX crowd. The more waves one has to make, the less substance there is. Making unrealistic claims may impress lay people, but make you lose all credibility. Nobody is going to repeal the laws of nature (and some claims certainly require that), and if you do please concentrate on feeding the hungry and bringing world peace-it’s a worthwhile goal. Just be able to deliver on what you promise. Also while we are at it, could we stop the religious wars about technology in general? We have been good for a while but things have been heating up again in 2006. These wars are about as senseless and silly as it gets.
My sixth wish is a TV reality series with wireless executives as main characters. The two most despised professions in America are lawyers and doctors-and look what’s on TV. Shows about lawyers and doctors. About time that the mediocre reputation of the industry translates into some prime time TV show.
But in closing what I would like most is peace, health and happiness to all of you and your families. May Santa make all your wishes and dreams come true.
Questions or comments about this column? Please e-mail Roger at roger.entner@ovum.com or RCR Wireless News at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.