>>But the Plano test could be very profitable for AT&T. Unlimited calling may sound like an all-you-can-eat moneyloser, but it cuts way down on "churn," the costly practice of customers switching freely between wireless carriers.>>
Arnie:
AT&T is desparate.
They know voice over IP is about to blow away the value of their LD franchise, for every Tom/DickorHarry will eventually have their own CO's (central office-like switch) to the public internet or an Extranet that handles voice/data/video traffic in IP (internet protocol) packets.
Giving away FREE local calls is a desparate move. They realize their investment in Telecommunications and Teleport CAN'T be leveraged fast enough.
For as fast as they might want to rewire and reprogram Telecommunications infrastructure over to their local, long distance and data/video network, there are dozens of BIG names who are simply using public and private versions of the internet to do exactly the same thing.
It's going to cost I-Link a fraction of the cost T is paying to wire 150+ cities by this June with their own IP-based CO's. These are little "clean slate" new IP-based digital packet conduits that don't bother with any legacy whatsoever.
As for having 5 wireless phones floating around the house. Wait until Mom and Dad start hearing complaints about losing them. Or the fact that they break down frequently. I know the appeal and power of local cellular service that's FREE, but I'm sure when T plans to go or not go with this - the stakes are going to be much higher. It seems like they are willing to eat themselves into a slow arbitrage death with competitors chewing them up in traditional LD as they seek to somehow offset this with their costly trailblazing in local wireless.
With voice over IP cos such as I-link I'll have a very simple solution:
- one Ameritech line
- my own conduit box for $200-400 that plugs into my Ameritech line which supports 28 separate lines AND phone numbers through that ONE box.
- ability to have phone adaptors extending from any PC located anywhere in the house.
- And if I want to get really craxy, the ability to have 28 separate local wireless phones for use in and around the house.
LD is going FLAT this year across many many companies in this new emerging field. I think I-link has a great edge, but I realize its a huge competitive horse race.
All of this is being driven by the explosion of bandwidth. Unlimited bandwidth will force AT&T to give up ALL marketing and distribution control of ALL their LD and local products that services to end users.
This means doing whatever they can to empower these local LD/IP-based providers to use their T1 lines, NOT Sprints or MCI's or Quest, etc.
T's game is over. From a branding perspective, the end client/user couldn't give a rats ass where they get their LD or local calling service from.
I say ALL these commodity-like services are going to be sucked into locally channelled and serviced virtual distribution networks such as the one I am building here in Chicago with 200+ Nextel phones. These Nextel phones allow me and others to pioneer the development of local, neighborhood and community-based distribution networks that are tied together by linked channnels of trust between and among individuals.
The internet has CHECKMATED EVERY CORPORATION WORLDWIDE. Every company has lost control over their distribution and marketing model. Individuals with keyboards, websites and wireless phones in their hands have the ultimate power: the power of choice, access to live information, electronic agents that shop for us and the potential to be tied into any number of locally based distribution networks composed of individuals who have come together for a "greater good" to save on time, money, stress and aggravation.
Brands are DEAD unless they are able to get off their high horses and come meet us in the home and make us feel warm and fuzzy as they humbly try to get us to buy away from network ABC which the individual - NOT the corporation - has the potential to build, maintain and grow over time.
I know this all sounds crazy, but I am continuing to follow this in the real world and I can tell you this - the power, energy and vision behind what we are doing is incredible. It takes people's breath away. It's like, "man!...yea!....great!...."
Individuals have the power to reclaim their channels of trust between and among people they know while working in ways that will benefit both parties individually.
Business relationships are going to be balkanized. What's private and public are now going to merge. Who I know from a business standpoint should have just as much standing as who I know privately. Corporations have claimed the trust their employees generate as relationships and networks are built while at work. Well, with the internet, email, wireless phones and these emerging Nextel networks - soon to be cross-DAPable - trust,time and value are really the only final frontiers in business.
Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com knows this.
Excuse me as I share this from the Novell thread over on MF on AOL:
Posted recently....
>>Internet Wave 2 is going to force ALL corporations to unbundle, open up and rewire their enterprises in ways they never would have dreamed of even just 6 months ago.
The new platform is the Internet and unlimited bandwidth is the killer app. The "client" will move right into our hands - handhelds, digital PCS, PDAs and digital wireless devices of all shapes and sizes.
TV becomes the next silver screen; the PC and TV fuses with the Internet to become the next broadcast platform; handhelds will get wired to more locally-based business and and personal distribution networks for information, goods and services; shipping cos like FedEx go ballistic; and unlimited bandwidth continues to sqeeze the bejeesus out of prices.
The end game becomes: trust, relationships, value.....time.
Time is the LAST frontier. It's the only thing we CAN'T get more of in our lives. Efficient use of TIME to create and sustain personal value will be the only game in town.
And I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will look back on this consumer madness that drove us all crazy and wonder if it was all some BIG conspiracy. It sucked away ALL our time and energy, driving us to GET, rather than GIVE.
Pause....alsys, I will allow you to now play your "Age of Aquarius" album.....
With the internet, the tables have finally turned and the place settings are being made: "giving" as opposed to "getting"; time rather than possessions; "making" a difference rather than "controlling" the difference....all these have become the new "beam of growth" and development for individuals, companies, communities, societies, nations and the world.
In essence, man has finally leveled the playing field with technology in this beautiful model of connectivity that originates from the internet and knows no limits.
Forgive me as I get down off my soapbox again. But I am an Aquarian. And I do sing. And I am very sorry to have offended anyone with all this mush......>>
Nextel's next frontier IS the internet. Watch when this happens. This stock will explode into the stratosphere.
People are beginning to slowly realize the "viral, raw value" of this franchise. Nextel gives up more control to end users than any other digital wireless provider. I keep saying they need to move their entire service and maintenance model to the internet:
Just imagine:
- live videoconferencing - clickable via the net.
- live billing updates
- live links to the internet direct from your phone via this new HTML language MOT is pushing.
- access to this growing viral networking tribe of users who see and understand the huge opportunity to grow their own virtual distribution franchises locally, regionally, even nationally.
TRUST and TIME - the only games left to play out.
If T doesn't put their cards on the table and invite its end users into their business model, then the arbitrage sucking sound will be that much greater.
I feel, see and hear a lot of this sound coming from folks like McCaw and this wonderful empire he's building. Craig knows that the individual, NOT the corporation is in control from here on out.
I just hope he keeps Nextel long enough to goose the maximum leverage he can to fullfill his vision.
All the best. |
