working hand-in-glove with handset makers, base station suppliers and the carriers that deploy both
About those carriers...
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from: Rich Luhr, Publisher, Airstream Life Magazine
ATTENTION ALL MOBILE OPERATORS: I'M YOUR CUSTOMER
(You might remember me as The Shosteck Group’s Director of Technology Strategy from 1992 - 2003). I haven’t lost touch with the industry nor with The Shosteck Group – just diverted from what you would call the “norm” to live a mobile lifestyle.)
Three years ago, I left the wireless industry to start a travel magazine, “Airstream Life".
As you might expect, that means I travel -- a lot. I run every aspect of my small business from a 30-foot Airstream travel trailer. For those of you who don’t know what an Airstream is, it is a recreational vehicle, or as they are called in Europe, a caravan. It's hard to get more mobile than I am. "Home" is defined by where I park the Airstream and where I can get online. That includes 49 US states, Canada, Mexico, and soon -- Europe.
As a result, my current career has been very useful for getting a handle on the meaning of "mobile data services", not only from my own perspective but from the perspective of the hundreds of frequent travelers I meet every year.
As The Shosteck Group’s Technology Strategy executive, I often wrote about the futility of network operators trying to restrain services for added profit. In fact, in May, 2000 I was the lead author of The Shosteck Group’s groundbreaking study entitled “Wireless Internet Content: Any Content, Any Device, Anywhere.” In it we analyzed the long-term effect that the convergence of the Internet and wireless would have on the wireless industry. We didn’t realize how ground-breaking the study was at the time nor how prescient we were. But for sure I do now!
In the years following that study, every time I was briefed on a wireless operator strategy to offer "added-value", the corollary was a restriction of other emerging services in order to artificially create demand where there wasn't any. In other words, give the customers what the network operators want.
So has anything changed since the beginning of this decade with regard to mobile data?
As a customer, I buy a multitude of data and communications services. I buy cellular voice to bypass the landline carriers. I buy Vonage to bypass the cellular carriers. I buy eFax to bypass the need for extra equipment. I buy IP pipes from Verizon and Sprint -- I'm not opposed to Cingular or others but have chosen to go with Sprint and Verizon -- to get primary mobile access to the Internet, and when they aren't available or they are too slow, I find free Wi-Fi just about everywhere.
The point is that I'll buy the services that give me what I want, and I'll play one against another, and there's nothing you can do about it. I have no loyalty to anyone -- I just want what works best for me at the cheapest (preferably free-est) price.
And with those great cellular IP pipes I get the rest of the services I need: email, web, FTP, iTunes, location-based information, and much more. I get up to 5 gigabytes of whatever I need for a flat $60 per month, which comes out to about a penny a megabyte. Cheap enough that I don't worry about it.
My phone is great for talking, but as a serious full-time traveler, I don't use it for anything else. Neither do any of my compatriots. We don't need turn-by-turn directions from my phone -- the GPS does a better job. I like my iPod better then any music phone on the market, and it's cheaper too. Location based services such as directions and directory listings are better as provided by Mapquest and Google on my laptop than on any phone-based services I’ve used. In fact, I haven't seen a non-voice service yet from my phone that wasn't done better -- and more conveniently -- by my laptop and mobile data card.
Frankly, you've given us absolutely great service in that $60/month data card. It's awesome. The thing works great, you can get one for practically free these days, and it enables many people to detach from the cubicle and enjoy a traveling lifestyle. Recreational Vehicle (RV) owners in the USA are buying them in droves. Get them a little cheaper and you'll start to see the numbers really grow. After all, RV'ing has been the fastest-growing form of recreational travel since 2001.
What do we want? We want it cheaper. We want better coverage so we can go even more places. We want fatter pipes with faster downloads so we can access services more readily. Other than that, you've already given us what we want. Congratulations.
Now, there is one really foolish thing you can do. Just try to restrict our access to services. Try to charge us differential rates for "added value" or for certain types of content. You might as well send us all gold-embossed invitations to switch to the competition. Bad press won't be the tip of the iceberg.
For consumer travelers, trying to force forward a new content or service model based on restricting access to what we have, would be almost as bad as ending senior citizen discounts at the local diner or pub! You already sold us on the product. We're used to the bargain. There's no going back. Now, your primary challenge is to make the product better.
We'll be watching. FYI…I have a very active blog -- 400+ entries and thousands of photos -- if you want to ask me anything about my Airstream lifestyle.
So in sum, what can you as operators do best -- nothing glamorous here…Without ubiquitous coverage, I’ll find whatever the competition is offering. More coverage is better, that’s all. |
