As a consumer, I generally don't consider myself to be owned by neither operator nor phone maker. They, Orange and Nokia, should be able to find some middle ground, and make a package which is best for the consumers needs.
If Orange and O2 don't want to sell mobile phones which advertise use of a competitor product, then don't. But don't whine about not owning the consumer, especially when the consumer is in fact given more options through the Skype application.
Why not smart pipes instead of dumb pipes? I think there's an opportunity for a "Southwest" or "Ryan Air" of the mobile phone business. The one who wins is the one who does the best, most efficient job of getting bits from A to B. Stop offering "meals" (i.e. value add) and "duty free" (i.e. 'services') and just focus on the core of the business.
Nokia has spent 40 million GBP a year on building a brand. Wow! Well actually not wow. The mobile operators have invested gazillions on networks, spectrum, equipment, customer support, branding, blah blah. I'm sure they never intended to buy spectrum bandwidth for billions only to find companies that have made no such investment taking away the core voice business. Unfortunately the mobile business was once strong, with a great commercial model, but is now becoming weakened by thinking from the internet industry; and industry with a poor commercial model. My advice to Operators; Stick to your guns, charge your customers (like all good businesses should), and shut out anyone who is going to erode your customer relationships and the massive investments you made in them. And stop listening to the defectors from the internet world – they couldn't make money there, and they won't do it in mobile either!
Roger: you're clueless, whistling past the graveyard as IP networks lay low the business models of yore. Wireless carriers will follow the path of wireline carriers whether they like it or not, becoming the dumb bit pipe they appropriately should be. Yes, they'll go kicking and screaming, but eventually end up like the music industry and newspapers if they don't get on the train. The apps and intelligence belong on the edge of the network, not in it.
Current wireless coverage (voice or data) is so disparate and so crap, you'd think carriers could find a mission in just working hard to solve that problem. Instead, they keep throwing fits over devices and applications that actually make their networks appealing to use. What idiots.
As a consumer, I generally don't consider myself to be owned by neither operator nor phone maker. They, Orange and Nokia, should be able to find some middle ground, and make a package which is best for the consumers needs.
If Orange and O2 don't want to sell mobile phones which advertise use of a competitor product, then don't. But don't whine about not owning the consumer, especially when the consumer is in fact given more options through the Skype application.
Why not smart pipes instead of dumb pipes? I think there's an opportunity for a "Southwest" or "Ryan Air" of the mobile phone business. The one who wins is the one who does the best, most efficient job of getting bits from A to B. Stop offering "meals" (i.e. value add) and "duty free" (i.e. 'services') and just focus on the core of the business.
Nokia has spent 40 million GBP a year on building a brand. Wow! Well actually not wow. The mobile operators have invested gazillions on networks, spectrum, equipment, customer support, branding, blah blah. I'm sure they never intended to buy spectrum bandwidth for billions only to find companies that have made no such investment taking away the core voice business. Unfortunately the mobile business was once strong, with a great commercial model, but is now becoming weakened by thinking from the internet industry; and industry with a poor commercial model. My advice to Operators; Stick to your guns, charge your customers (like all good businesses should), and shut out anyone who is going to erode your customer relationships and the massive investments you made in them. And stop listening to the defectors from the internet world – they couldn't make money there, and they won't do it in mobile either!
Roger: you're clueless, whistling past the graveyard as IP networks lay low the business models of yore. Wireless carriers will follow the path of wireline carriers whether they like it or not, becoming the dumb bit pipe they appropriately should be. Yes, they'll go kicking and screaming, but eventually end up like the music industry and newspapers if they don't get on the train. The apps and intelligence belong on the edge of the network, not in it.
Current wireless coverage (voice or data) is so disparate and so crap, you'd think carriers could find a mission in just working hard to solve that problem. Instead, they keep throwing fits over devices and applications that actually make their networks appealing to use. What idiots.
So who thinks the app will disappear from the handset?
about time, these short sighted telcos are holding technology back and deserve to go the way of typewriters.