Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: About the Dark Side
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:38:09 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Bob Drzyzgula <bob () drzyzgula org> Date: September 30, 2007 3:19:35 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Re: [IP] Re: About the Dark Side On Sun, Sep 30, 2007 at 01:16:37PM -0400, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com> Date: September 30, 2007 1:06:20 PM EDT To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: About the Dark Side Reply-To: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com> Apple will argue that they have more control of the "experience" if they work closely with a carrier, and will point to Visual Voicemail as an example of something that requires network tweaks. While this may be true, it is either something that just can't scale or some kind of hidden GSM feature that everyone could easily implement. In either case (and no, I don't know the answer) I don't think it is important enough to restrict an entire market segment: those who simply want to buy a phone for its features and who will happily get service from any carrier as they choose.
It strikes me that this starts to toy with one of the fundamental differences between Apple and everyone else in the world: For most smartphones, this would be an opportunity for product differentiation. Carrier A goes on about how, on their network, the Foobar Brand Smartphone can slice carrots, while Carrier B goes on about how when it's connected to *theirs*, that same phone can dice them as well. But this is anathema to Apple. In Apple's view of the world, when someone buys an iWidget Femto(tm), it will work precisely the same as absolutely every other iWidget Femto sold, localization notwithstanding. It will dice carrots if and only if Apple claims it will dice carrots. In Apple's view, it's all about Apple, and the Apple-branded product. When it starts being about the distributer/retailer/carrier, even just a little bit, Apple has lost something. --Bob ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
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- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)