Worst of the Week: Text me to your leader

Hello!
And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
So, as hard as it may seem to comprehend, some weeks it’s difficult to pluck something out of the wireless industry that is worthy of being judged “Worst of the Week.”
Lucky for me, this was not one of those weeks. You see, while general news from the wireless industry was a bit light this week, the meat-and-potatoes news was extra chunky. And after spending several minutes going through a stack of potential candidates, I think I found a worthy candidate: “U.S. cellphone users open to texting their vote for president.”
This might not seem like much on first read, but after letting the potential of this sink in, I think you will realize how awesome this is.
You see, our friends at Samsung commissioned a survey asking 300 teenagers and 500 parents of teenagers about their interest in voting for president via text message. The results showed that 61% of respondents of legal voting age said, “Sure, I would be open to voting by text, as well as ordering lunch by text and driving my car by text.” (The last two were not actually what they said, and in fact the first one might not be exactly what these people said, but you get the gist.)
And not surprisingly, 80% of teens between 13 and 17 years old said: “If I was allowed to vote, I would do it by text messaging rather than going to the polls, but of course I would do the voting thing only after I bought my friends and me tickets to an R-rated movie and then went to the movie in a rental car.” (Again, the last two comments were not actually reported in the survey, and the first one probably should not be included in quotes.)
After reading through these results, it dawned on me that people have become so comfortable sending text messages to vote for their favorite wanna-be pop star or favorite person who can dance who is also a washed-up celebrity, that the jump to sending a text message to vote for who should be the face of this country on the international scene is a natural fit.
And even better, I thought, why not combine these text-based passions and have presidential candidates sing and dance for our votes rather than debating each other, kissing babies or taking shots of whiskey with locals. (Not that there is anything wrong with kissing babies or taking shots of whiskey, just make sure you do it in the correct order: shot of whiskey first, kiss baby second.)
Now, let me note that I am not a big fan of these television shows, (all those “American Idols” and “Dancing with the Stars” clogging my DVR belong to my wife! Really!) but from what I have heard, these are great forums in which to pick the best person in not only the specific task at hand — singing or dancing I presume — but also the overall worth of that person and his or her ability to become a true leader for the country.
I say we just book all the presidential candidates on these shows, let them do a little singing and dancing, and let America’s thumbs pick not just our next leader, but also the next pop star and top dancer.
OK! Enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this Worst of the Week column. And now, some extras:
–Our friends at Fortress Technologies said they were selected to assist in the development and delivery of a “prototype mobile ad hoc wireless network for deployment in the wireless tactical battlespace.” The deployment is set to include a mesh network, which — thanks to the wireless tactical battlespace component — makes this the most awesome mesh network deployment of all time. Take heed wireless industry, if you are going to launch a mesh network it now has to compete in the wireless tactical battlespace to be relevant.
–Looks like it’s getting pretty safe to say the MVNO bubble has just about burst, or is at least losing air at an alarming rate. The most recent MVNO to hit the skids was Hispanic-focused operator Movida, which was acquired by APC Wireless late last week. Movida joins such MVNO luminaries as Disney, ESPN and Amp’d Mobile as brands that could not find traction in the highly competitive wireless space (even though a number of analysts said it was ripe for MVNO competition). Of course, APC, which also picked up struggling MVNO Liberty Wireless, said it plans to continue the Movida operations, with an APC executive adding: “We’re just trying to salvage everything and keep everyone happy.” Keeping everyone happy might not be the best way to run a business, but it does bring back memories of contentious family gatherings. Good times.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@crain.com.