Worst of the Week: Getting Job’d

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 RCRNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
So, how about that Steve Jobs? Not that I’m paranoid or anything, but I’m increasingly getting the feeling that those of us in the wireless industry are just pawns in a master game being orchestrated by one Steve Jobs, aka Charles Montgomery Burns. That’s right, the man of black turtle-neck and blue jeans fame sitting behind his desk muttering “excellent” at everything.
How have I come to that conclusion? Well, first of all, I believe Burns, I mean Jobs, has enough money to actually buy and sell all people even remotely associated with the wireless industry.
And second-and really all I need are two pieces of evidence to make my point-this week’s announcements by Jobs regarding the drop in price of the iPhone and the new iPod Touch show he is just playing games with the wireless industry, and more specifically, his wireless partner AT&T Mobility.
I will not linger too much on the first point as any discussion of a person worth billions of dollars only tends to send me into an incoherent rage. That leaves me more time to focus on the second point, which is the fun part of the story.
Much has been written about the impact the iPhone has had on the wireless market, ranging from how Jobs has used his little toy as leverage in Apple’s relationship with AT&T Mobility to the device’s user interface, which has left most in the mass media making up superlatives to describe. But Jobs’ move last week to cut $200 off the price of the high-end 8 GB iPhone tops them all.
Who else would have the nerve to chop the price of what is supposed to be the hottest device in wireless-sorry Razr2-only two months after it was unveiled? A mad man worth billions of dollars, that’s who.
This news might appear to be good for AT&T Mobility as the carrier is sure to add even more customers with a device priced at $400 instead of $600, and AT&T was not getting any of the device profit anyway. But, and this is where the evil genius rears its balding head, Jobs also announced the iPod Touch, which is in essence an iPhone without the pesky cellular features or required two-year contract commitment. Oh yeah, it’s also $100 cheaper. POW!
Now all those people complaining about AT&T Mobility’s slow EDGE network or cellular coverage, criticisms that somehow manage to roll off of Jobs’ back, can bypass the wireless industry altogether. And I don’t suspect it will be long before someone writes a VoIP program for the iPod Touch that will enable voice services on the device.
See what I mean? Jobs almost makes Mr. Burns seem like Nedward Flanders.
And what about all those poor saps who waited in line for weeks just to be the first person to plunk down $600 for an iPhone-plus a $36 activation fee to AT&T Mobility and of course the obligatory two-year contract that tacked on an additional thousand bucks or so-and now have to watch as any Tom, Dick or Dano stroll right into their nearest iPhone retailer and buy the same device for a mere $400 (though I do use the “mere” comment loosely.) Kinda similar to when Mr. Burns blocked out the sun so everyone has to rely on power from the nuclear power plant. I did say kinda.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an iPod Touch to buy.
OK! Enough of that. Thanks for checking out this Worst of the Week column. And now, some extras:
–One extra-odd announcement from the Apple presentation was the music deal with Starbucks that would allow people with Wi-Fi-equipped iPods to browse through the music Starbucks plays in its coffee boutiques. I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but on the occasion I have stumbled into a Starbucks to pay $4 for a hot chocolate, I have not once ever thought that the music was worth discovering. I always figured the quasi-elevator Musak piercing throughout the store was to lull you into thinking it was OK to pay a 1,000% premium for a coffee.
–Last week Verizon Wireless unveiled its latest attempt to penetrate every possible market segment imaginable with the launch of its America’s Choice 65 Plus calling plans. Now, if you were like me, you thought that these plans offered 65 anytime calling minutes plus some cool additional feature like unlimited text messaging or free hot dogs. But no. The “65 Plus” is to signify that the plan is targeted at people 65 years old or better. No word if someone under the age of 65 is automatically enrolled in AARP if they sign up for the plan.
–Just months after announcing its company-saving Foleo product, Palm earlier this week canceled the device just moments before it was to hit the market. While Palm’s recent history shows that this was not unexpected, it’s still sad to see this one-time market leader stumble down the market share ladder. Of course, that’s nothing a new Treo can’t fix, right?
–A few weeks back we mentioned that a company called Spot Inc. was planning to launch a satellite-based text message service. We noted the device’s $150 price and $100 for service seemed excessive, but then Spot noted that the service was not targeting the traditional SMS market, but those adventurers that travel to the ends of the earth and sometime need assistance or want to keep in touch when outside of traditional cellular coverage. Fair enough. Perhaps those individuals are not phased by such pricing.