Schaffner writes, “In talking with iPhone owners, just about everyone seems to love the phone except for one aspect, the locked arrangement with AT&T. In my conversations, admittedly not a scientific sampling, the carrier is the thing people would most like to change about the iPhone. As real as all of these problems are, the constant media attention to yet another issue that further lowers the market perception of AT&T. And as we all know, perception can be as important as reality.”
Schaffner writes, “By limiting carrier choices, Apple has given competing products an easier entrance into the market. I believe that if Apple had not tied the iPhone to just one carrier, the iPhone’s market share could have been even higher and would have been that much more difficult to displace as competing products come out.”
“All of this is a life lesson for IT leaders. If at all possible don’t give up control of core components of your operations,” Schaffner writes. “If you must, as Apple had to because it’s not a network carrier, keep your options open and I’d strongly recommend shorter contracts with multiple providers, even if it costs a little more.”
Schaffner writes, “I’m sure Jobs and all the iPhone users would rather be talking about all the good aspects of the iPhone rather than the problems with the carrier. Letting your partner define you is a risky proposition. Let’s hope Apple ends all of this soon by giving us some better options.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Even if he can’t, or won’t, see it, hopefully Mr. Jobs can at least hear it. The drumbeat grows stronger with each passing day.
For reference, please see Walt Mossberg’s review of Apple’s iPhone 4.
@Rob:
Only morons label those who complain about consistently poor service as “whiners”. Here’s a secret message just for you: STFU.
Only have one thing to say to people who constantly complain about AT&T;: Life’s a bitch and the you die. Every service provider has problems, get a landline phone from Qwest if you think AT&T;is bad.
I don’t know why this even warrants discussion any more. If Apple had gone with Verizon then everyone would be complaining about their lack of data capacity.
Personally, AT&&T;Mobility works great for me. I’m fairly certain that I’ve ever experienced a dropped call with my iPhone.
I do take issue with you railing on AT&T;so hard though. I live in a small town (pop. 35,000 +/-) in mid Michigan. We have no 3G service here (understandably).
I saw another employee in the office lobby using an iPhone 3GS. He had no bars and was trying to surf the web with horrible performance. I’m right next to him and I have 3 bars showing surfing the web not blazingly fast, but steady. I’m not sure it’s all AT&T;. Apple could be a little culpable in this iPhone performance thing.
Just saying …
# of dropped calls since switching from Verizon to iphone (ATT)=
………………Zero.
Not. Even. One.
Steve knows what he’s doing. Why would ANYONE
*cough* MDN *cough*
doubt Steve?
MDN is just getting so tiresome. If iPhone sales lag I would blame MDN as a very big reason. Your hatred of AT&T;is horrible. You know, AT&T;never said anything bad about you. Live and let live you jerks.
AT&T;blows. It’s not dropped calls here in the bay area it’s crappy coverage. Even when I had a crappy old blackberry on vzn I could get coverage anywhere. I love my iPhone but am not loving the carrier. Sigh
You have to remember this is the same MDN that also sends out a steady stream of sympathetic Rush Limbaugh postings–how intelligent do you think MDN really is?
spinoza2, MDN is a whole lot smarter than you. Jeeze, my dog is smarter than you. You are an idiot!
You all are missing the point. To just expect us to sit down and shut up and be grateful for what AT&T;has done so far is to ignore what could be improved on. Eventually AT&T;is going to have to see the writing on the wall and either improve their infrastructure or risk losing customers. No, Apple won’t say anything in the lead-up to the announcement. Yes, I’m sure Apple realizes the problems with AT&T;. But if AT&T;keeps acting like it’s not a big deal, then when an announcement of a deal with another carrier does appear, then AT&T;will take a swift kick to the stomach and not realize what hit them. At least with all the customer drumbeat, they have some warning, and maybe they can do something (anything!) to prevent it.
How ever. More than 2 independent research tests from mobile network research companies shows that ATT actually has the fastest 3G network of all the carriers. Both verizon and Sprint place very bad compared with ATT. But every one is determinated to be down on ATT so they fast forget about these studies. AT&T;may have problems with dropped calls but their data network cruches Gerizon and Sprint.