(((Yet, since we all know they're cut-throat, side-slamming hucksters, Rachel Hinman's diagnosis here is like an awesome alternative-world fantasy.)))
(((Who knows, maybe Google can get somewhere fantastic with Android simply by refraining from being evil.)))
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2008/id2008101_342142.htm
Link: Can T-Mobile Become the Heroic Mobile Carrier We Need? - BusinessWeek.
U.S. mobile carriers are known to most as the gruff, insensitive bullies of the mobile landscape. They hide behind balkanized billing services, huckster-style contracts, and technical obscurity, all the while creating strained and contentious relationships with those who cross their path. Handset manufacturers must submit to the carriers' tyranny or risk having their distribution channels choked. Customers feel pain with each preposterous roaming charge or confusing billing statement. (((Every word is true. How refreshing to hear it said in BUSINESS WEEK.)))
Last week, T-Mobile took a brave step toward rehabilitating itself. As the first U.S. carrier to release a handset that runs Google's (GOOG) open Android platform, T-Mobile is trying to break with the past and seize the opportunity to emerge as a consumer hero among carriers.
How can T-Mobile capitalize on this moment? How can a brutish mobile phone carrier become a hero? Here are some ideas:
Welcome Openness (((and goodbye revenue... oh well, we'll see.)))
Android's Apache license allows carriers and device manufacturers to control their code: Parts of the system can be crippled or disabled so that carriers offer only approved applications in the Android store. More than anything else, T-Mobile should refrain from doing this.
Applications will be essential to deliver on the mobile Internet's promised experience. If T-Mobile reflects the spirit of the Android platform and the Internet by allowing consumers the freedom and flexibility to do what they want, its service will embody an emerging trend customers have grown to want: Openness. T-Mobile should banish yesterday's walled gardens and ridiculous proprietary ringtone stores and choose instead to embrace all that Android stands for.
Invest Directly in the User Experience (((Hire somebody who can created "cellphone 2.0")))
Carriers have historically made minimal investments to deliver exciting user capabilities because the return on such investments has not been readily apparent to them. An insensitive cultural heritage, combined with the pressures that afflict capital-intensive businesses, has left little room for carriers to develop empathy for their customers. The result is a history of strained, often contentious relationships with consumers.
The process of interacting with U.S. carriers is abysmal....
