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:
T-Mobile US this week unveiled the last of its rival-specific promotions aimed at getting consumers to switch their allegiances to the pink brand. And, I have to say that I was somewhat underwhelmed.
The promotion targeted current Verizon Wireless customers by offering a free year of Hulu service and 50% off of accessories. Don’t get me wrong: free stuff is always good, but I would think it might take a bit more to lure someone from Verizon Wireless and was hoping T-Mobile US’ last offer would be a humdinger.
Verizon Wireless has a history of having some of the most loyal customers in the mobile space, especially for its postpaid service. These are people of the “cold, dead hands” variety that have allowed the carrier to post a seemingly endless streak of sub-1% monthly postpaid churn rates for years on end.
Perhaps T-Mobile US knows it’s really not going to get many Verizon Wireless customers to switch, so figured it would let its “B” team come up with the carrier-specific promotion. A free year of Hulu service? Does anyone actually watch Hulu? This would seem to be more of a promotion offered by Hulu to get people to know Hulu existed.
I would think this sort of offer would be more appealing to Sprint or AT&T Mobility customers, who seem to be more willing to switch to T-Mobile US without a promotion, let alone getting a free year of something they will probably never use, but can at least say they received as part of the deal. Instead, those customers were offered up $200 in cold, hard cash, and basically a $200 iPhone credit, respectively. Those are the sort of offers I would think might get a Verizon Wireless customers to at least consider a switch.
In fact, I think T-Mobile US’ offer to its own customers of unlimited smartphone data for three months was the best deal of all the promotions offered up, though I guess it’s nice to see a carrier actually throw a bone to its own customers rather than always offering the best promos to new subscribers.
Plus, I figured T-Mobile US was building up to something really big with these carrier-specific promotions. Unlike Sprint, which just came right out and said 50% off pricing for all T-Mobile US, AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless customers, T-Mobile US was cagier with its move. First targeting Sprint by throwing down some cash, moving to a similar valued promotion for AT&T Mobility.
And, with T-Mobile US having previously gone through the bother of hiring a skywriter to fly over Verizon Wireless’ New Jersey headquarters, I thought for sure it would bring out the big promotional guns. But, alas the final act was a bit of a letdown.
Perhaps T-Mobile US was just saving its voice?
Oh well: in like a lion, out like a lamb.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. Here is a quick, but satisfying extra:
–It’s not very often that I talk about new smartphones in this space, unless that smartphone comes from Apple, Samsung or Motorola. The reasons for that are anything from Apple obviously needs to be talked about in some form or fashion; anything from Samsung gets a mention only in that it’s likely identical to an Apple product and I am easily confused; and Motorola is the only device maker willing to throw a battery the size of a backpack on their devices, thus tackling what I consider the biggest smartphone pain point.
However, today I am going to look a bit further beyond my nose and talk about a newly announced device from the folks at Kyocera that addresses an issue nearly as important as battery life: cleanliness.
Kyocera launched its new DIGNO smartphone that it claims is “resistance against foaming hand soap” and “features hot water resistance that enables use while washing hands or taking a bath.” The only downside to this device is that it’s currently limited to KDDI in Japan.
Let’s let Kyocera and KDDI explain:
I know some of you might think this is a frivolous feature that is of no real practical use, sort of like the rear camera on a tablet. But, I have seen how and where people use their smartphones and think a little soap and water would do those devices a bit of good.
Wash up folks!
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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