but i’ve gotten offtopic.

one of the big reasons that we are behind is that the carriers are trying to make the biggest buck, for the least cost: I.E. CDMA phones. I’ll admit that i’m an amateur at this phone stuff, but hey, i’m from the US. Lol, it took a friend from Poland to get me “in the know” as much as i am now. bah. off topic again. anyhoo, long story short, the sooner we go all GSM like European countries, the better off we’ll be as far as innovation goes.

oh. and just for the record: RAZR’s are POS’s of the worst caliber. i went through 6-yes, SIX- RAZR’s(“manufacturer’s defect” they called it. bloody thing kept shutting itself off, almost lost me my job cause of that) before they broke down and sent me my baby.

Bear
Raleigh, MS

For most people, saying “oh yeah, you can order it from nokiausa.com (or some other website)” just doesn’t work. Most people actually need help making this transition from a shackled carrier handset to a liberated, unlocked handset. And you know what? They need it from an actual person.

Out at a club, my pocket buzzes, I remove my E61i and my N95 to check where the buzz came from…

The guy talking to me looks on in what can only be described as ‘awe’ and said:

“Aww man. You Europeans with your phones….”

Completely different mindset.

That one phrase manage to convey to me all of what is wrong with the US market.
The customer, through the work of the carrier, has no access (and also feels they have no right to that access) to the latest phones on the market.

Yes this situation is changing. But the carriers (as ever) hold all the keys to all the locks to all the doors.
Without them signing up to the cause, the US market will not improve.

I do think the iphone has made people aware of mobile web browsers, but I don’t think it has awakened interest in data plans generally.

My personal call is VOIP. If more unlocked phones would allow VOIP, then perhaps people could see the benefit of establishing a billing relationship to someone besides their carrier.

Except when it’s an iPhone…

Given the continuing high rate of sales and the phenomenal scale of mobile internet use on iPhones, I have a shrewd hunch that the iPhone will be the catalyst to overturning the decrepit US mobile phone sector*. I suspect that all it’ll need to complete the task are a few decent applications (on the way very soon with the SDK release next month), a few million enthusiastic users who can be relied on to show it off to friends and a little time to foment revolution.

Rise up, you downtrodden Yanks!
The future will be built on stylish, ergonomic handsets with beautiful software and unmetered internet connections.

(*with hopefully more than a little help from Android)

I wouldn’t even say Sprint and Verizon, but there is a lot of regional CDMA carriers (like Alltel) that account for a significant percentage of the CDMA market. There are some regional GSM carriers too, but there are fewer of those thanks to acquisitions.

The only thing the iPhone did, in my opinion, was prove that Americans were willing to spend $600 on a LOCKED phone (okay, it’s $400 now, but they sold a bunch of them at $600 too). It also proved that devices can be sexy. The trick now, is getting ALL the carriers to allow non-carrier branded devices on their networks. AT&T does, T-Mobile does, Verizon says they’re going to, and Sprint does.

Ok, there’s one other trick: getting device manufacturers to sell devices directly. Nokia’s starting to do that, though not as aggressively as I’d like. What about the other manufacturers?

Yes, you’re right: most people in the US assume that buying a “phone” means buying a two year contract.

However, back to the original article:

1) iphone isn’t going to change that: it is the most locked down phone in history, and if you unlock it from AT&T you lose a key feature (visual voicemail).

2) again, 1/2 if the US market is tied into Verizon and Sprint

3) When most people worry about buying a new phone is not for new feature — it is when they lose a phone

and it all comes down to this:

People in the US don’t like to pay a lot for their phones. They will buy semi expensive ($400) iphones, treo, blackberry, and WM6 devices, but refuse to pay more than that. (All of which are easily unlocked on the GSM side) Yes, that kills Sony-Ericsson and Nokia sales, but as the only GSM carrier in the US is AT&T, those phone companies need to make some deals or cut some prices if they want part of the US market share.

Proud owner of an unlocked e61 — and I won’t pay $450 for a new unlocked e61i.

American’s disbelief of the mess they’re in in mobile is compounded by their leadership in the previous generation of “personal computing” which they naturally and falsely assume has carried on into the next generation.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear…

Alex
CEO
phonething.com

When I left Britain, your average consumer did similar – only the super-motivated or financially comfortable would buy a phone without a contract, because unsubsidised phones are a lot more expensive. Somewhat like the American market. I’m guessing it’s the same today, but I’m certain.

Guess what.

That didn’t stifle the market from getting the latest greatest phones.

So any argument about subsidised phones, ‘poor’ consumers (yeah right!) etc. is rubbish as an excuse for the state of the American market. The cause is the stranglehold consumers and the government have allowed the cell phone companies to throw around the whole cell phone market.

Apparently only about 7 or 8 people in the whole of America have realised that the “free market economy” has been perverted into a “corporates will screw you any way they can so they can keep shareholders happy and the CEO’s pockets full” economy.

Unfortunately what you’ve highlighted filters down to the rest of US mobile Industry, not entirely I grant you, but to a very large degree. I work for a very large Global Internet company and we have our main Mobile development centre stuck in the US. It can be extremely shocking their lack of awareness about where the rest of the world is going with data services on Mobile.

Any way i wouldn’t worry too much about America for Mobile development, with the rise of mobile in India, China, and even Africa they’ll have to soon accept that the US is third world when it comes to Mobile innovation.

Alright Dave.

@bustafone
RAZR’s are still everywhere. Their time is slowly passing, thankfully.

@josesxi
I can only assume you’re referring to the iPhone. Hottest is a fair statement, “most innovative” is quite arguable, but overall I tend to agree with you. “Hot” means nothing of any measurable value. Innovation however is certainly of value to many of us and society as whole. Innovation for the sake of innovation however holds very little value. The iPhone is insighting a paradigm shift here in the US, and to a certain extent, internationally. It is creating a dialog amongst power users as well as the producers thereof. The idea being moving beyond the keypad. Apple is hardly alone in this arena, the main reason for your perception as a leader in this field is due to that “hotness” factor. Ultimately that factor is what is responsible for all the RAZR’s we all know and love. In the end the iPhone is a great device, I am very happy it came out. If you sat the iPhone in all of its innovative hot glory next to my old school N95-8GB and told me I could only leave table with one phone I’d gladly leave the iPhone sitting there.

Oh, I am pretty sure not a single iPhone was made in the US.

YOU BRITTS ARE SO INSECURE!

AT&T do, but it’s something crazy like 1 cent per K.

Roming charges make data on the expensive side which is why I’d rather use a local SIM.

In most other countries I visit, data is not a problem.

If anyone knows a solution other than locking myself into a monthly commitment that makes no financial sense, I’d be delighted.

Now this is most likely being young and naive, but it seems to me that prices per minute and data as well appears to be cheaper over here. There has to be a factor which I am missing. I obviously haven’t ever experienced their system firsthand. I just know since I imported my first 6230 that I have seen a tech gap you can’t shoot a cannon over.

Maybe the whole unlocked devices will start to take off in the US, So many people happily clap the shackles on their ankles instead, saves them $50 today. Thinking beyond today is pretty hard for some. Even the corporate vultures are becoming more and more focused on the short term profits (this or next quarter, who cares about multi-year strategies). Verizon, das Fuhrer of the networks, seems to be allowing non-verizon devices onto their network sometime next year, that might prove to be an interesting development. Everyone (carriers) went into a tripping over eachother to declare who is, or who will be the most “open”. I am looking forward to see what ANDROID does. I am a pretty damn happy S60 user who is no hurry to jump ship. I think it’ll just be another wave of momentum pushing against the current system of retarded phones peddled upon the masses. Google is one of the few companies held in higher regard than even the holy Apple, and by a much wider swath of people. I respect Mac’s, OS X is pretty nice, but Google, who hates google? Steve Balmer maybe, but he doesn’t count. =P

Point is the market is maturing and should be clear if change is going to happen by the end of this year.

It may be easy to buy an unlocked, unsubsidized phone, but how many people know they can do that, let alone how many actually do it? How many people are stuck on CDMA carriers where swapping phones between carriers is kind of a foreign concept?

From Engadet on October 29th 2007:
“O2, whose rates have been up since day one, has a slightly vaguer “fair usage policy” that gives O2 the right to slap you with extra charges or change your rate plan if you exceed 200MB of use, though they claim this rarely happens.”

Now that being said. I tend to agree with your overall argument. Heck I’d take my own claim there and spin it to say “If you want an American phone you’re going to get an American data plan.” I just came up with that, I’m proud of myself.

The carriers, as you aptly pointed out, have trained America to remain beholden to them. I’ve seen it start to become self supporting. I sadly have met people working for both AT&T and T-Mobile who do not even believe that a non-AT&T branded phone works on their network. Are the salesmen even lying if they are really just that oblivious? Thankfully other parts of our society buck that trend and are possibly pulling us out of the carriers fantasy. And I don’t understand your complaint about the difficulty in purchasing phones at an unsubsidized rate, its easy, Klatu Veraktu Nektie? is all you gotta say. (I hope someone gets that).

American’s are too stupid (Yes I said it) to vote with their pocketbooks. Our economy has been swirling around the bowl for the past 5 years, well even longer, due to issues regarding outsourcing. Personally I don’t like the concept, but I can’t blame anyone for it. You want your free market capitalism you gotta live with the ups and downs. Point being we should have, and still can vote with our pocketbooks. Walmart is more pack every time I go in there (To purchase ammmunition, as no where else nearby sells it). I am a college student w/o a job and yet even I can manage to NOT spend my money on of the major causes of our situation. We’d vote with our pocketbooks, as long as it doesn’t cost more. =\

I’m done.

Yes you can go online–I’ve bought phones off eBay–but how many people know that?

Unlimited data is theoretically cheaper in the U.S., but almost all of the carriers have a “soft” and “unspoken” 5GB limit. So much for “unlimited” data. At least the European plans are generally honest about it.

Also, how many people know about unlocked phones? Not many people, I’m afraid.

The point is, the carriers have trained Americans there is only one way to buy a wireless phone–from the carriers. They don’t make it easy to ‘bring your own phone” using tactics like device locks, incompatible technologies, and utter incompetence of their sales staff regarding these issues. They make it difficult or near impossible to purchase phones at an unsubsidized price as they’d rather have you on a 2 year ball-and-chain.

If Americans knew how badly they were getting screwed, they’d vote with their pocketbooks. Unfortunately, most of my countrymen are sheep that believe the lies being told by the likes of the CTIA and their ilk.

1. Any mall in America has a small army of vendors selling phones. Yes, in all likelihood they are selling crap phones and you have to buy a contract. They will be in the “carts” or other kiosks. Remember for more than half the US market, there are no unlocked phones (Verizon and Sprint) and it is no surprise there are not large retailers selling unlocked GSM phones.

2. If you want a unlocked GSM phone, you go online. Buy.com, Dell.com, amazon, and any number of any choices.

3. Err. Americans do use their phones for things other than voice. It’s called email. What is the marketshare of RIM devices? And the iphone isn’t going to get Americans to buy data plans — they were doing that BEFORE the iphone came out. The carriers are promoting them hard — because nearly everyone already as a mobile already.

4. Unlocked phones are useful in Europe for roaming. We don’t have roaming fees. All plans are national. That’s why there is not a big demand for unlocked phones.

5. Generally speaking, it is cheaper to have a phone/unlimited data contract in the US than it is in Europe. Yes, we don’t have a subsidized N95. But plenty of people before the iphone were able to drop $400 on a treo/blackberry/WM6 device.