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:
Wait … 2012 is over? What the what the?!?
I was just beginning to get comfortable writing “2012” on all my checks and documents, my plans for the end of the world were just coming together and I was still going through some personal stuff trying to comprehend the whole AT&T/T-Mobile USA break-up, and somehow a year passed by? Dang!
Well, with that on tap, and just about every other publication putting together a look back at what we have labeled the year 2012, I guess now is as good a time as any to put my own thoughts down on what the hell happened over the past 366 days (that’s right, 2012 was such an awesome year that those whacky science guys stuck an extra day in there). However, in context to what this column looks to do, I figured instead of trying to make a list of “things” that happened, I would just
If I were to use one word to describe the wireless world in 2012, that would be “predictable.” (Why just one word? Well, if I were to use two words they would be “predictable” and “salami,” thus you see the need for me to just limit my description to one word. What they hell does “salami” have to do with wireless anyways?)
I say “predictable” because unlike 2011, the past year did not host any one thing that dominated every conversation or years from now make us look back and use 2012 as some sort of marker to make our recollection of wireless history any easier. Sure, there were numerous events that happened this year that will have an impact on the wireless industry going forward, but nothing jumps out as a watershed moment, or something that just came out of the blue and knocked everyone for a loop.
Too me, the big news always revolves around merger and acquisition activity amongst the industry’s larger players; anything spectrum related; or revolutionary device launches. While there were events this year that fall into all of those categories, none appeared big enough to help the Mayan gods bring about the end of the world.
It was not a surprise that large M&A deals were for the most part absent this year, following the beat down AT&T suffered last year in its failed attempt at acquiring T-Mobile USA. That’s not to downplay the deals that were announced, but I am guessing most are not losing sleep over T-Mobile USA trying to acquire MetroPCS, Softbank picking up a large share of Sprint Nextel or Sprint Nextel acquiring Clearwire.
Of course, most of these deals revolved around spectrum, and more importantly in gaining more of it. This need for that invisible gold was insatiable this year, with what seemed to be dozens of deals surrounding the accumulation of more megahertz. Verizon Wireless and AT&T were voracious in this, scoring several acquisitions designed to fatten their portfolios, while smaller players were also active in picking off deals wherever possible.
The biggest disappointment along the spectrum front was the lack of a spectrum auction in 2012. I love these things! Billions of dollars being thrown about in some sort of EBay frenzy Losers complaining that they were unfairly marginalized. Lawsuits. Spectrum auctions are awesome, and if I can make one recommendation in making 2013 better it would be to have at least one spectrum auction.
Device launches were also a bit muted this year, with the larger players in the space relying on the American adage of “bigger is (must be) better.” Samsung and Apple super-sized their previous efforts to critical acclaim. Tablets, or “fat-phones” as I like to call them, continued to generate interest with seemingly a new model launched every week, though the wireless industry remained content to keep this segment at arms length.
If anything, what was most surprising across the device space was the ability for one-time giants Nokia and Research In Motion to continue their downward trajectory. Did the people running those companies really lose the plot to this extent? I know Nokia is showing some sense of straight ahead with its Windows Phone-based devices, and RIM has a lot riding on BlackBerry 10, but the ticking clock on these initiatives has not shown well on management at either company.
Like I said, 2012 was a year of predictability. But, looking back on that, I am good with that. Sometimes too much change for the sake of change is a bad thing. Not sure about you, but I get all flummoxed whenever something I finally get used to has to all of a sudden change, leaving me feeling somewhat dumber in the process.
Will I be so lucky in 2013? Probably not. But then again we should view the coming year really as playing with house money considering some thought we wouldn’t make it out of 2012. And as we all know, when playing with house money you throw all caution to the wind.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an email at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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