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:
It seemed like I picked a bad year to not attend the annual Mobile World Congress event, as from the sounds of it there was a really interesting dinner party that I am sure I would have been invited to.
According to some serious sources, Facebook founder and Jesse Eisenberg look-alike Mark Zuckerberg hosted a dinner with a number of executives from wireless carriers. While the actual details of what was said at that dinner – or even if there was a topic of conversation for the dinner – seem to be mere conjecture, the outing did manage to provide plenty of fodder for what might have been discussed.
That fodder included claims that Zuckerberg was either looking to smooth things over with wireless carriers as the whole basis for Facebook’s growth will depend on its continued un-fettered access to the wireless networks those operators spent billions of dollars to build and further billions to operate, or that Zuckerberg merely wanted to pull out his wallet and tell those CEOs that he would continue to have un-fettered access to their networks or he would use his American Express Black card to buy all of them out.
Of course, this second possibility is the funniest as it would infer that some sort of threat was being made by Zuckerberg (a young, but grown man of average build) towards those CEOs (older men of about the same average build), using not brawn, but wealth. Not that I don’t love the thought of people with no business of threatening anyone actually threatening everyone, but I would think the dinner conversation was rather gentle.
Also, does anyone actually think Zuckerberg has any interest at all in running a wireless network? I mean, who in their right mind would want the headache involved with having to deal with all of the moving parts involved running a wireless operator?
We all saw the movie. All Zuckerberg wants to do is party and code. Party and code! That’s living.
Of course, the dinner conversation could have been tied to Zuckerberg’s plan to partner with up to five wireless operators in an attempt to provide free mobile access to the Internet for everyone on earth. Of course, what those people do once they are connected (sign up for Facebook or WhatsApp) is up to them. One would hope those people who aren’t currently connected to the Internet may use that sort of opportunity to educate themselves about new ideas (or post selfies on Facebook) or ways in which they can improve their lives (perhaps by sending messages through WhatsApp). You know, meaningful things.
My take is that the best part of the evening was when they brought the bill and all the carrier execs immediately looked to Zuckerberg to foot the bill, only to have him say: “OK, I will pay for the food, but not for the plates or utensils needed to eat the food.”
That Zuckerberg. What a crack up.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Not that the fracas between Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen and LightSquared needs to get any hotter, but it has.
Bankruptcy court proceedings this week concerning LightSquared’s future took a delicious turn as lawyers for the beleaguered spectrum license holder and satellite communications provider claimed Ergen went Dr. Evil in his attempts to gain control of LightSquared’s assets. The story claims:
“LightSquared accuses Ergen of orchestrating a year-long effort to secretly purchase the bankrupt company’s debt, using shell companies to circumvent restrictions against such purchases by competitors, as part of a plot to acquire LightSquared’s valuable wireless spectrum on the cheap.”
Sure, this is just one side of the story, but whenever the word “shell” is used in reference to “companies” that usually indicates some sort of wealthy evil is happening.
In Ergen’s defense, the story notes that:
“During the trial, Ergen … testified that he spent more than $800 million to buy LightSquared’s debt because he liked it as a personal investment.”
I know buying debt is a common occurrence for those with more money than things to do with that money, but doesn’t it sound like all you are doing is buying someone else’s misfortunes? Or maybe in the case of LightSquared, it’s just a case of buying someone’s bad decisions. Regardless, let’s hope this case continues to drag on.
–Finally, Samsung’s desire to ape all-things Apple took a decidedly un-Samsung turn this week as the consumer electronics giant rolled out its latest flagship Galaxy S device. Samsung, which seems to launch a new halo-device every six days, unveiled its Galaxy S5, which is of course the successor to the … wait for it … Galaxy S4.
However, instead of bringing something to market that actually warranted a new name, Samsung seemed to have brought out a new device that only someone reading the specifications sheet would realize is a new device. Sure, the chip powering the device received a boost in speed and I am sure there will be comments that it possesses the processing power of the Space Shuttle or something. Plus, the camera is supposed to be superior to what was previously offered, but only so much that more people will now think it’s OK to hold their phone up to take pictures at every public event thus enjoying that public event through the screen of their smartphone.
But, is that really enough to warrant a new number? Why not just follow Apple’s lead and tack on a letter or something?
Samsung did out-do Apple in that it at least continued to increase its screen size, though the move from five-inches to 5.1-inches would likely need younger eyes than mine to discern. But hey, bigger is progress.
However, Samsung continues to be trumped by Apple is in the materials used to finish the device. While Apple has gone with various glasses, metals and other exotica, Samsung continues to stick with tried-and-true plastic as the main material of choice outside of the glass screen that is. This issue might not be quite the issue for many who as soon as they get their hands on their latest mobile device, swath it in a hunk of metal/plastic/rubber so that when the inevitably drop the device while attempting to talk on the phone and chew gum at the same time, it doesn’t end up looking like it was attacked by a bear.
Overall, I would say Samsung dropped the ball with the S5, though luckily the S6 is set to launch next Wednesday.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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