“AT&T’s chief executive regrets the company ever having introduced unlimited data plans, and says worries over loss of revenue from free texting services such as Apple’s iMessage keep him awake at night,” Aabha Rathee reports for Wall St. Cheat Sheet.
“Speaking at a conference in Los Angeles, Randall Stephenson said AT&T’s initial unlimited data plans were a bad decision because it now forces light data users to subsidize heavy ones, instead of the latter simply paying more for more use,” Rathee reports. “Stephenson was also worried about Skype’s growing popularity, as well Apple’s free Internet-based messaging service. ‘You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model,’ he said. ‘Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right? That’s disruptive to our messaging revenue stream.'”
Rathee reports, “However, Stephenson was happy that the then Cingular Wireless, which became AT&T [Mobility], had decided to would support the iPhone… ‘I remember asking the question: Are we investing in a business model, are we investing in a product or are we investing in Steve Jobs?’ Mr. Stephenson said. ‘The answer to the question was, you’re investing in Steve Jobs. Let’s go after this thing. And we went after it, and the rest is history.'”
Read more in the full article here.
“You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model…”
Nevermind that your business model is based on highway robbery!!!
If you don’t want to pay – just stop texting. 10 years ago no one texted. It’s not mandatory to operating in life everyday. Bunch of entitled pricks bit**ing about nothing.
So don’t complain about outrageous overcharging for a service that costs the provider next to nothing? Just stop using the service if you don’t like getting ripped off? That’s brilliant! No wonder that corporate corruption is growing by leaps and bounds!
No tweedledumber – stop using the service. It people like you that complain while the company does nothing to hear your please. This garbage happens daily. The ONLY way to get their attention is to drop the service. Really – it IS 1984 in your universe. If you don’t live by their rules – they can’t tell you what to do. What is so hard to understand about that? Bunch of lemmings.
You’re a nasty piece of work, that’s for sure. Consider seeking professional help immediately.
So he’s saying the unlimited data plan was a bad idea primarily because they can’t stand that their customers have to pay extra money for services they don’t use. And that keeps them awake at night.