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:
Traditionally, competitive juices in the wireless communications space flow between companies in the same market segment. We have often seen this when one carrier touts its “superiority” to a rival or even when one handset maker tries to convince us its slab of plastic is more life changing than another.
However, this week we witnessed a rare cross-segment throw-down in which T-Mobile US raised the blood pressure of traditionally polite Canadian device maker BlackBerry by hinting that perhaps BlackBerry was not what it used to be. Of course, nearly every consumer, enterprise and analyst firm has been making the same claim for years, but I digress.
The ruckus reportedly began last week when T-Mobile US sent e-mails out to current BlackBerry customers enticing them to trade in their devices on a new Apple iPhone 5C. For those who have lives, Apple’s 5C is its “entry-level” model that has not been selling in quite the volumes expected from an Apple device, but still in enough volume to out-sell just about anything BlackBerry has put together in the past several years.
When news of this offer finally made it across our northern border, BlackBerry became enraged, or at least as enraged as Canadians can get. BlackBerry’s recently installed CEO John Chen took to the blog-waves condemning T-Mobile US’ move.
“I would like to remind you that our long-standing partnership was once productive and profitable for both BlackBerry and T-Mobile,” Chen blogged. “I hope we can find a way forward that allows us to serve our shared customers once again. Notwithstanding the current challenge, we remain very excited about BlackBerry’s future.”
Scathing. Especially when read with a Canadian accent.
T-Mobile US appeared to have caught wind of the impending crisis, with its social-media legendary CEO John Legere taking to Twitter days after the e-mail’s went out stating that just because the company made the offer, customers did not have to take it. Of course, Legere later took a dig at Chen via the Twitter, tweeting: “Was going to engage John Chen on Twitter, but turns out he’s not here. I’ll check MySpace.”
Now, while it might be true that Chen is more likely a member of the MySpace than the Twitter, perhaps he is a member of neither as he is more focused on trying to turn around an ailing company instead of typing out cute 140-character quips.
Sensing that perhaps there was indeed a relationship that had been tweaked, T-Mobile US Chief Marketing Officer John Sievert took the blog-waves to respond to Chen’s blog-cast with a quasi-offer for current BlackBerry customers. That offer allowed customers to trade in their current BlackBerry device for a $250 credit towards a new BlackBerry … or a $200 credit towards any other smartphone offered by the carrier. I am no psychologists, but I would think that maintaining BlackBerry loyalty may cost more than $50.
Sievert then went on to add:
“Again, I love all the passion I’ve seen pouring in from the BlackBerry loyal these past several days. Thanks for the Tweets. We hear you. We simply have a different point of view on the matter of choice than the one expressed yesterday by Mr. Chen. The Un-carrier is fundamentally about delivering real flexibility and freedom to wireless customers. It’s just not in us to lock customers in to annual service contracts, make them wait for upgrades … or limit them to one or the other type of device or OS. That’s not what we’re about. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to express these values once again.”
Sure, everything Sievert said is indeed correct and in keeping with T-Mobile US’ attempts to continue growing its business. And indeed Chen’s response is also correct in that he is attempting to keep BlackBerry relevant in a market that seems to have passed the once-dominate player right on by.
But, come on folks. All of this cross-market-segment bickering is just taking you away from flinging arrows at those in your markets that you should be focusing your attention on. Let’s keep that aggression pointed in the right direction.
OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:
–Speaking of devices, LG this week announced plans to unveil a “mini” version of its G2 smartphone at next week’s Mobile World Congress event. The smaller G2 will sport a 4.7-inch screen, otherwise known as a screen size larger than any current Apple iPhone or most smartphones available to consumers. Mini indeed.
–While on the topic of smartphones and screens, Sprint recently was gracious enough to send along an LG Flex demo device for me to check out.
Now, traditionally I have steered clear of device reviews as I feel I lack the patience and caring needed to do a thorough job in detailing all the features and specifications of current smartphones. However, every once in a while a device is launched with something unique enough that I just have to get my hands on one to see what is what. And that was the case with the Flex and its six-inch, curved screen.
Having now had the device for a week or so, my first review comment would be that LG should change the name to the “Commitment” as it takes a committed consumer to pack this mammoth device around as they would a traditional smartphone. This thing is huge!
Sure, the curved screen takes a touch off of its overall length and width, but it just make the phone thicker. As someone who regularly wears pants with larger-than-normal pockets, I was still amazed at just how difficult it was to cart this thing around. Though I eventually did not go there, I did think about possibly breaking out my Hello Kitty backpack in order to transport the Flex.
I hope to spend a few more weeks with the Flex, in which time I will also attempt to flesh out more details on the device worthy of a true review. But, in the meantime just know that purchasing this phone is to take on a serious commitment.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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