First is the fact that AT&T service plans suck. Plain and simple. Customers are charged too much for services that other carriers are providing for much less. AT&T remains the longest running carrier in the US and one would think that at this point they would be able to offer such services at much more competitive prices. But no. An average iPhone bill, as understood, runs about $100 a month. The other carriers offer much better plans (many more minutes, more texts, more data....even unlimited in some cases) and they do it for much less. If they can do it, why can't AT&T?
Secondly, I think this exclusivity with AT&T is actually hurting Apple sales of the iPhone, and ultimately their profit margin. Had it been open to any carrier of course the maker of 'the Jesus phone' would have had a lot more sales. Why they chose to partner with AT&T and limit their sales numbers may have probably been to keep the phone an exclusive item, but that does not hold, totally. AT&T may have been the ones to bend the most to their demands and so they beat out the other potentials. Why else?!
But here comes the good news. Along comes war hero - John Kerry. Kerry, chairman of the Commerce Subcommitee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, along with Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klouchar are taking up the case for consumers and questioning/challenging carrier-cell phone exclusivity deals. Hearings will be occurring soon to discuss such alliances and their harmful, anti-competitive nature.
Oh Happy Day
Not just yet. We still have to wait and ride the matter through...and we all know how long the political system takes. But of course ultimately this is great news for the millions of us who want to get the iPhones and/or Palm Pre's but can't because that would mean we would have to leave our current carriers to migrate to those who have exclusivity offers of those phones. Often such transfers involve an increase in our monthly bill alongside a reduction in actual service we receive.
But to be fair to the matter - we don't necessarily hate other carriers, we chose our current carriers because they offer what we want at prices we can afford. Tmobile service is not for all, Verizon service is not for all and likewise AT&T service is not for all. But they are for those they are for. We don't want to have to leave our current carriers and switch over to another when we don't want to because there is a particular phone that we really want. We just want to buy any phone we want, and we want an iPhone, and be able to use it with our current carrier. Plain and simple! Cell phone-Carrier exclusivity deals not very competitive and not consumer friendly. We deserve better.
Story posted on 9to5Mac. Read article here.
Thank you for taking this step John Kerry, Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klobuchar. Let's get this going.
Update: 7/6/09
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice has launched a review (not an investigation...Yet) into the exclusivity deals of telecoms. At this point the review is focusing on AT&T and Verizon.
[Read Article]
"The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter."
Let's hope the best comes out of this.
