Hello! And welcome to our Friday 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 RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
An awesome report was released this week that showed one-third of current iPhone 4 owners think their device is compatible with “4G” networks. And why wouldn’t they? The phone does have a “4” attached to it, and it being the iPhone and all I can only assume people who own this device view it as being the most advanced piece of equipment ever invented using alien technology. Plus, with just about every carrier now screaming “4G!” from the top of their well-funded advertising lungs, I sort of get the feeling that any consumer product with the number “4” in its name is “4G” enable.
(Don’t feel bad iPhone owners, 24% of BlackBerry owners also thought their devices were “4G” despite the fact the company does not produce such a model and none of their devices have a “4” in their name.)
This survey got me thinking about the current state of the mobile space and how the amount of innovation that comes out of this industry is mind boggling. Just think, there was a time not too long ago where we had devices with actual buttons, screens that were not bigger than a postage stamp, network speeds that were measured in kilobits instead of megabits and playing a game like Tetris on our device was considered pushing the edge. How did we ever survive?!?
And now? Well I can only assume that the device I carry around in my pocket can launch nuclear missiles, cause the sun to implode and solve a Rubik’s Cube. And that’s all before I even turn it on.
However, while that amount of change is something those of us in the industry and perhaps even some outside the industry applaud, I get the feeling that a vast number of people are not as impressed. I will call these people “the common folk.”
Beyond this most recent report, this phenomenon was highlighted to me a few weeks ago when I handed down a Palm Pre to someone in my family who had dropped their phone in a cup of coffee. (Of course I did not believe this tale.) This dropped phone was a “messaging” device with a rather small screen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and did not have “3G” access.
Watching this person try to come to grips with the Pre has been an educational experience. Here is a device that when launched was at least as technologically advanced as anything else on the market using an operating system that I found to be the easiest to use. I had figured there would be a bit of a learning curve with the device, but nothing a few days would not cure.
Unfortunately – or fortunately if you enjoy seeing people suffer through an apparently steep learning curve – those first few days were a painful lesson in just how not intuitive mobile devices really are. From listening to the issues encountered you would think the Pre was programmed to display language only the citizens from the Lost City of Atlantis could decipher and that it had a mind of its own bent on causing humans to go crazy.
I kept telling this family member that all they needed was to take some time to learn the device, a mantra that is probably key for just about anyone that is stepping up to a smartphone, which according to reports is just about everyone. However, this is where I think the industry has gone wrong. Most people just don’t have that much time in their lives to “learn” how to use a phone. What? They have lives or something?
The industry was able to witness such rapid growth over the past 15 years not only because calling prices dropped, but also because mobile phones were just slightly different from their landline cousins. (Who can forget having to explain to their parents why their new mobile phone did not have a dial tone?) The advent of text messaging was also a slight advancement that seemed to take several years to take hold, but is now something that just about everyone can master.
But, this jump to smartphones with operating systems that if not updated on a twice-weekly basis are seen as archaic seems to be leaving the masses behind. Sure, people are buying these devices, which I can only assume is because they hear so much about them and feel that if they don’t have one they are being left behind. But, I think few are actually tapping into the potential of these devices beyond making calls or sending text messages. Activities any free phone from a prepaid provider can do just as well.
After a few weeks, this family member can now make and receive phone calls and it appears they can also send and read text messages. But, there is no shot in hell they are ever going to tap into even one-tenth of the capabilities the device can perform and it seems that if anything those capabilities just get in the way of people trying to use their devices for what should be their first goal: communication.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Hilarious is all I can think over the uproar caused by Netflix raising the price of its online streaming and DVD rental service. Here was something that took off because it was so cheap that you were almost stupid to not sign up, and now that the company is raising the price to a level that is still cheap, everyone is going bat-shit crazy. Good to know that the wireless industry is not alone in causing rancor amongst the masses for charging what something is worth.
–And now, we dance!
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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