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IntoMobile reports, “The meeting scheduled to take place on October 8th will be an important one in history since those 4 operators together sever roughly 1 billion customers in Europe. Some possible outcomes including imitating China Mobile, who made the oPhone operating system based on Google Android, but with all the Google stripped out of the OS and replaced by their own services. Another possibility is that Symbian gets some new legs and becomes the default operating system for operators. Yet another is the creation of a middleware layer that users will interact with instead of the stock operating system.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bring it on! MeeGo, BeeGo, PeeGo! Whatever. The more confusion, false starts, and dead ends there are out there, the better it is for Apple. People want consistency, reliability, and the assurance that the company making their device/OS will be doing so for many, many years. Only Apple can really offer such things. Buyers do not want fragmentation, empty promises, and risk.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gideon R.” for the heads up.]
How can they have 1 billion customers? The population of Germany, France added together is at most 150 million! Only China and India have population of over 1 billion.
Apple stealing the customer relationship is the best thing that could happen to a cell phone carrier. AT&T will back me up on this.
MDN says it again.
The old “We do not want to be a dumb pipe syndrome.” Sorry, take what you can get!
“…since those 4 operators together sever roughly 1 billion customers in Europe.”
At first I thought “sever” was a typo, but realize it’s spot on describing what the Brain Trust of these carriers want to try to achieve with their own OS.
The only service I want from any telecom is a big pipe, and that includes television.
@stevewithmanyjobs… Good catch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_of_Europe
If you count all of Europe, in 2009, the population was less than 900 million. I call BS on the claims of serving rougly 1 billion customers in Europe. Geesh… does anyone care about facts anymore?
Networks should be dumb pipes, just like your water and power.
There should be Public Connectivity Districts. (<—–socialism!!!!)
The Europeans have again and again proved that when they can’t legitimately compete they run to the courts. I just hope they don’t trump up some false anti-competition lawsuit against Apple just to prop up their own failing products.
European cell phone companies are just now waking up to the Trojan Horse potential of the iOS? We’ve been saying that in this forum since the 2007 introduction of iPhone.
“Computer makers aren’t just going to walk in here and learn how to make cell phones..” – former Palm CEO Ed Colligan
Well, cell phone companies aren’t just going to walk in and make an OS..
The relationship that is being stole from the carriers is that of a sheep being led to the slaughter, not that of a paying customer.
Any carrier that has problems with the iPhone should consider the alternative…. becoming nationalized like the power company where they have to get govt approval for rate hikes etc.
Just a thought,
en
If this works out properly, then the winners will be us the customers. That is, those of us who will think that switching from an iPhone to whatever is a better move.
Competition to Google, M$, Slackberry and all other OS’s has to be a good thing if it reduces the cost to the customers and increases “good choice” availability.
Finally, if the new OS does not stalk the customers, then even better for Apple inc. who have already claimed the moral high ground.
Good luck to them all, they will need it, especially as the convener of the meeting has the worst service record for its customers in recent years so that many of them have left for 02 this has happened even after Orange merged their cell towers with those of T-Mobile.
European cell phone makers invited to (maybe) get together to begin discussing the potential of (maybe) creating a mobile OS to compete with iOS and Android?..
Never-Gonna-Happen.
Buy more AAPL!!
OMG, the carriers would have to go back to being carriers again and compete on price, features and customer service!
No longer will consumers be confined to dysfunctional third rate UI garbage features they get with their carrier endorsed phones!
Oh what the horror!!!
You know what’s ironic? We consumers want choice, but when Apple locks down the iPad to programs only from the App Store, then we praise them as being innovative. Strange huh?
How about a iPad OS like Ubuntu where has the option to change anything about the OS they like and do anything they like. Innovate and create new programs and features to their hearts content. If one abuses the carriers networks, they get cut off. Simple concept. Huh?
Symbian *was* their attempt to create a common, next-gen cell phone platform. Why do they think an alternative Google-based alternative will fare better? Even if they can agree on specs and a reference platform, the end result will be a commoditization of the market.
“The view, from the operators, is that operating systems like Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are a ‘Trojan horse’ that steals the relationship with the customer from them and gives it to outside software vendors and service providers.”
Duh! Apple’s secret plan to disrupt the mobile carriers has been exposed!
And, Google will be exposed for giving the power back to the carriers, by allowing them use Android to stack their devices with only carrier-approved crap.
This reminds me how much better everything is in Europe.
Down in Teabaggerland (Chattanooga, TN) the city is using stimulus funds to build fiber to the home throughout the city. Funny since both Republican Senators and all of the Republican House members from Tennessee opposed the stimulus from jump street. Kinda like BJ (La Gov) going to local events with big cardboard checks handing out money for local projects paid for with stimus funds, despite the fact he opposed it along with all of their GOP members.
This is good news. Now I am waiting to see what becomes of that Windows OS phone.
At first glance it looks awful to me.
The dinos are realizing extinction is just around the corner and are bucking.
Bizzarro,
What is Ubuntu? How many degrees in computer science would an ordinary consumer need in order to know how to do all those things to their OS (to their heart’s content)?
Our planet Earth is a walled garden; I mean, we are imprisoned here, unable to go anywhere else, compared to the vast universe surrounding us.
What I’m saying is, walled garden is a very, very relative concept. It feels like it ONLY if you keep hitting those walls. Vast majority of consumers (as well as tech nerds) never get to come near any of those walls. For all intents and purposes, to them, this ‘walled’ garden seems wide open, no matter in which direction they want to go, as they are able to do pretty much anything they can think up, and they can get an app for pretty much anything they would want, not to mention thousands of apps for things they never even thought of.
The meaning of ‘open’ is very, very relative, and the word (and the concept) is being thoroughly abused in discussions regarding iOS vs. Android and similar.
@C1
C1 is displaying what some might call “sarcasm.”
Vodafone: 347 million customers (on 6 continents, including China, India, and its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless)
O2: 202 million wireless customers on 3 continents (Europe, Central, & South America)
T-mobile: 150 million subscribers on 2 continents (Europe & USA)
Orange: 110 million mobile customers on 5 continents (overlaps with Vodaphone in UK)
Total for all 4: 809 million customers on 6 continents
I loves me some facts.
Telek/coms “Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are a ‘Trojan horse’ that steals the relationship with the customer”
Since it took the Telek/coms 3+ years to realize that, and it took Apple about 10 years to evolve its OS to where it was in 2007, IT DOES NOT LOOK GOOD for Telek/coms.
In fact, I would say there aren’t enough competent programmers to get them in the game before they are locked out.
“The view, from the operators, is that operating systems like Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are a ‘Trojan horse’ that steals the relationship with the customer from them…”
Nasty thieving hobbitses stole my Precious!