Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer, T-Mobile USA has posted the following open letter, verbatim:
We’ve heard from many customers who love their T-Mobile service, but are disappointed that we don’t carry the iPhone. To these customers, first, thank you for your business. Please know that we think the iPhone is a great device and Apple knows that we’d like to add it to our line-up. Today, there are over a million T-Mobile customers using unlocked iPhones on our network. We are interested in offering all of our customers a no-compromise iPhone experience on our network.
In the meantime, we continue to bring to market some of the most advanced, cutting-edge Android devices. Today, I had the chance to take the stage at the Mobilize event in San Francisco and introduce our fastest 4G smartphones ever, the Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Amaze. We’re very confident that these Android smartphones rival or beat any smartphone out there in terms of functionality, speed, overall experience and features – including the iPhone.
MacDailyNews Take: Whoops! Good luck getting it now, Cole.
Android has evolved quickly from geek to chic. In many ways, Android is rivaling and even outpacing the iPhone, including consumer adoption, market share and capabilities like support for faster 4G networks. Moreover, Android offers consumers the freedom of choice. You can choose from a variety of colors, screen sizes, slide-out keyboards, price points and customization options, as well as enjoy the numerous benefits of open source innovation, cloud services and amazing apps.
MacDailyNews Take: Cole left out increasing fragmentation, rampant insecurity (please see related articles below), and the fact that T-Mobile customers are forced to settle for pretend iPhones because T-Mobile can’t seem to figure out a way to land a deal with Apple for the phone people really want. As for Android’s amazing apps, please read: Starbucks exec: Android apps often ‘watered down’ and Fragmandroid: Angry Birds developer apologizes for Android fragmentation issues. Furthermore, only Apple offers iCloud which Cole seems to know only too well.
This is why, for now, our focus continues to be giving customers the best that Android has to offer, coupled with 4G speeds that let you browse the Web faster than on average home internet*.
Check out our latest and greatest in Android 4G: www.t-mobile.com
*Speed comparison based on average download speeds on T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ 42 Mbps capable devices and network in four markets versus average home internet speeds per independent third party testing.
MacDailyNews Take: They ought to change Cole Brodman’s title to Pig Lipstick Applier.
The fact is that T-Mobile’s focus continues to be giving customers an insecure, fragmented imitation of the real thing because they clearly aren’t getting Apple’s iPhone any time soon.
No letter at all would had been far better marketing, Cole.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple’s iOS unaffected by malware as Android exploits surge 76% – August 24, 2011
Android malware records phone calls; iPhone users unaffected – August 2, 2011
Symantec: Apple iOS offers ‘full protection,’ Google Android ‘little protection’ vs. malware attacks – June 29, 2011
Malware apps spoof Android Market to infect Android phones – June 21, 2011
Google forced to pull several malware-infested apps from Android market – June 8, 2011
Android malware sees explosive growth; even faster than with PCs – April 27, 2011
Virus-laden apps infest Google’s ‘open’ Android platform; iPhone unaffected – March 3, 2011
Security firm warns of new Android trojan that can steal personal information; iPhone unaffected – December 30, 2010
Trojan infects Android smartphones; iPhone unaffected – August 10, 2010
Millions of Android phone users slammed by malicious data theft app – July 29, 2010
Unlike proactive Apple, reactive Google doesn’t block malware from Android app store – June 4, 2010
Malware designed to steal bank information pops up in Google’s Android app store – January 11, 2010
All lies
Sorry T-Mobile customers for having a Steve Ballmer clone when it comes to lack of professional courtesy. Slam the iPhone and you can forget it ever going to T-Mobile
Androids suck! Watch customers continue to bolt en masse!
That’s the douchiest letter I’ve read in a long time. Is there any question why Apple doesn’t trust these people with the iPhone?
Back in the States I used to be a T-Mobile customer. This memo would have had me cancel the service over the phone. I don’t enjoy being patronised.
Excuse me everybody, but what exactly would you say if you were in his shoes? “Hey- everybody bolt to AT&T, Verizon and soon Sprint because we don’t have the iPhone. Hell, our fast network is worthless without the iPhone. I just can’t understand why we’re still in business” ??!! I mean, really people- he’s the CEO of the soon-to-be only U.S. carrier not carrying the iPhone. What else, exactly, can he say (without getting fired)?
And, I’ll have you know that there are a LOT of people out there who are very happy with their Androids. The fact that these are the same people who are very happy with their Windoze computers isn’t wholly relevant. Some people just don’t know better. It’s not always their fault- sometimes they get what their (obviously uninformed) friends get, sometimes they’re the victim of slick sales con-men. In the end, they may one day see the light. But until then, Android will dominate for a while.
AMEN! After (almost) 7 long years, I can say I love my T-Mobile service, my plan, my options. Not to mention the consistent 8.5-9mbps I get using my T-Mobile G2. This “insecure” rhetoric is garbage, it’s no more insecure than my PC would be without antivirus, which I used to forego any AV solution for years due to the price. If you watch what you’re doing on an Android device, or a PC for that matter, you won’t get “bit” by any bug. Cole has done a lot of good for the company, and is just as good of a spokesman as our new consumer-friendly face, Carly. Like he said, over one million unlocked iPhones are on T-Mobile’s network, and those customers are happy because they have T-Mobile’s amazing customer service, rate plans, and network. Sure, there’s no 3G, but why not pick up a mobile hotspot and use wifi if you want faster speeds? Seems to solve that issue, now doesn’t it?
If you like to carry a second device with a battery life that is much shorter than the iPhone itself. A mobile hotspot is good only if you carry a charger or battery backup to charge it. I perfer to just carry on device. The iPhone has horrid speed on TMo. First Gen iPhone On edge with ATT trounced the iPhone on TMo. But it depends on the indiviual, one device for most is more convenient.
OK, we get it, you work for T-Mobile. I wish they would get the iPhone also, but your “solution” of carrying an old iPhone AND a T-Mobile hotspot is just plain silly. The biggest reason people switch to T-Mobile is they can get a cheaper monthly plan – now you’ve just gone and ruined that reason by having to pay for a mobile hotspot as well.
A BIG reason for the iPhone was that I no longer needed to carry a Palm Vx and a mobile phone, and I could get more functionality, not less. So until T-Mobile makes carrying man-purses manly, I’ll stick with a network that actually has the iPhone.
Chief Marketing Officer, not CEO.
Figures.
If you can’t speak the truth, why speak at all?
It’s one thing to suggest that Android based phones are a great alternatives, but to suggest that they are superior (particularly with bits like “[in] overall experience and features” and “[m]oreover, Android offers consumers the freedom of choice”) his subjective opinions sound desperate, sore loser-speak, and filled with misinformation. As MDN has rightfully suggested, that’s no way to win Apple’s favour, even with future unlocked phones.
I think the best course of action for him may have been to keep the silence.
Through all the years that Sprint didn’t have the iPhone, Hess always spoke of the iPhone and Apple with fond regard.
That T-Mobile girl’s still hot.
Agreed but, not that hot.
She’s no Catherine Zeta-Jones… Budget cuts?
Budget cuts? No. Old Age!
Maybe both, but you’d still like her to show up at your house with a new phone!
Nah, too skinny.
This letter was obviously produced under coercion. The AT&T mafia put a gun to Cole Brodman’s head and forced him to write it.
Oooh. High speed! In four markets? Wow. Hold me back. Use your jailbroken phone on our system? Yikes. Weren’t these guys to be folded into AT&T? That’s the end of these monkeys…
He’s really just trying to prevent the flood of customers migrating to Sprint and Verizon until ATT is mercifully allowed to absorb his company. I’m sure he gets less money in the deal if he has substantially less customers.
Also, wonder if Apple didn’t bother with TMobile because why bother with their higher ups when their higher ups are about to be ATT higher ups. Seems efficient
Yeah Android is HOTTT!! If your urban and working on your GED, boy have they got an OS/Handset for you!!
Especially the 4G Android phones, because their batteries are burning up trying to keep the phone running.
A better letter would be,
Dear Customers,
I get hounded daily about you guys wanting to get the iPhone on T-mobile. However, we sold out to HTC, Google, and Samsung but know the iPhone is better and that is why I’ve been allowing them on our network otherwise, I would loose a lot of customers.
Hope you understand,
Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer, T-Mobile USA
P.S. The hot girl is a great marketing ploy.
The truth is out there… A better letter would be,
Dear Customers,
Please don’t leave! Please… Please!! Please don’t leave! I’m imploring you… begging… in fact on my knees, please don’t go! Stay with us… Please! Pretty Please!! With a cherry on top! or our T-Mo Girl on top… your choice. Just don’t choose to leave. Please! Pleeeease, don’t go, don’t, don’t gooooooo. Pleeeease….
Still beggin on my knees,
Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer, T-Mobile USA
P.P.S. We tried going the Carl’s Jr./GoDaddy route with the hot girls, but my mom said I couldn’t do it.
I’ll say it again for the record… Is this man the CMO of a technology company OR a cereal box manufacturer?? If he is playing the CMO of a technology company and he publicly states that he’s ‘waiting for the call’, then he is the WORST CMO in the history of mankind… IF, I am a stockholder of any part of this company, I would be protesting in the streets for this clowns head – TODAY !!
JUST AWFUL… I’m a customer for two more months and after 12 years – I’M DONE…
He had me at “slide out keyboards”.
You made me laugh out loud, and choke, and green tea came out my nose.
It stings.
You happy now?
When I bought a second gen iPhone I was on TMobile.
I called them up, and the tech said “Well I can’t do it for you, but whats your email address?”
I gave him my email, and then he says “OK. Oh and what are your plans for your existing black berry? Are you going to use it or do you plan on replacing it with your iPhone?”
I said its going to sit and rot in a drawer and he responded by saying “I figured as much, let me put in a ticket stating that you are going on international travel and need the device unlocked for roaming. You’ll get an email with instructions on how to unlock it. After its unlocked you can do whatever with it… maybe sell it and recoup some of your money you spent on the iPhone… I don’t know”
So 20 minutes later I’ve got 2 emails from this guy.. the first one had very clear instructions on how to setup my iPhone to work with TMobile and the second one showed me how to unlock my old Black Berry…. which I then sold on Craigslist for almost as much as I spent on the iPhone.
Now I may have just lucked out and got the tech from heaven on that one but it was hands down one of the best customer support experiences I have ever had.
They may not be able to carry the phone , but they sure went out of their way to make sure I was up and running on their network with mine.
Eh I don’t know. My wife and I have had iPhones for years on tmobile. Unlimited text and data for base 100$ total a month. It’s a pretty good deal… We of course don’t have 3 or “4 g, but the serviceis pretty top notch. Ra
“We are interested in offering all of our customers a no-compromise iPhone experience on our network. In the meantime…” MASSIVE COMPROMISE! “Android devices.”
Did T-Mobile have a clue what they were saying? Pathetic. 😛
Of all services out there — and I’ve tried them all — t-mobile has by far the best customer service — It is truly outstanding. Remember, “Apple is the only company responsible for the entire experience”( Steve Jobs, 1999)…. except for when it comes to the last step — carrier service. So what if Apple bought out a carrier? t-mobile?
This open letter was a really bad idea.
1. It’s patently patronising. (Hey, there’s a pun in there!)
2. The space between-the-lines of this letter is massive and holds much indication of the writers’ true intent, as illustrated by earlier posters here (“Please don’t go!” “…in the meantime, please settle for an Android phone…”, etc..)
3. If a T-Mobile, Android settler customer has been waiting for a supported iPhone on t-Mobile, this open letter probably just gave them the shove they needed to finally switch, if possible, to an iPhone carrier.
4. As mentioned previously, the letter appears to be written “gun-to-head” style. I think most people can sense that, and this belies the desperation behind its publication.
And the question I immediateky asked myself upon reading this drivel, was “Why?”.
Why was this letter written? It was such an obvious mistake to do this.
Is Google seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is attached to a fast approaching freight train carrying the global judgements in Oracle’s and Apple’s favour, against Android?
Is Google hoping that rising market share will vaccinate them against charges of obvious abnd provable IP theft ?
(After the recent IPTO ruling against Apple, Google might be right. Ugh.).
Saying nothing would have been the best practise here, by far.
Is the Android infrastructure really that close to crumbling?
Dear Department of Justice: I changed my mind. Please let AT&T proceed with the purchase of T-Mobile. The T-Mobile CMO just ended any chance of the company establishing an agreement with Apple for the iPhone. As a result, the company pretty much guaranteed a downward spiral for years to come.
Well, it’s probobly best he gets it over now rather than leaving his customers hanging on Oct. 4th.
The problem isn’t that he wrote that letter, but that they blew it with their customers by not reaching a deal with Apple.
I agree with those who pointed out that that Brodman was between a rock and avhard place. He clearly wants to sell the iPhone, but doesn’t want to be seen as unsupportive of the smart phone manufacturers that Sprint currently carries.
He really couldn’t say that we really want to carry the iPhone, but the phones we sell now are almost as good.
I would cut the guy some slack.
The Verizon amicus brief I find to be much more offensive.
I would like to see Apple conclude an iPhone deal with T-Mobile.
I though Apple already has deals with T-Mobile in other countries but just not with T-Mobile, USA division. Am I wrong?
I doubt this CMO guy’s open letter sit well with T-Mobile’s parent company, and I believe this CMO guy is going to lose his job pretty soon.
my 2 cents…
MDN: make sure ALL the quoted text is Italicized… For clarity.
If Apple does not release an iPhone for T-Mobile, the FCC should and will investigate Apple. How could Apple release an iPhone for Sprint but not T-Mobile when they and AT&T have similar systems. Apple will be hit with racketeering laws and justly so.
AT&T will think not allowing T-Mobile to get an iPhone will help their case in acquiring T-Mobile as customers leave for other networks to acquire the iPhone. This will backfire.