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Senators To Examine Exclusive Handset Deals
narramissic writes "Based on a request that a group of rural operators sent asking the FCC to examine the practice of handset exclusivity, four members of the Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet sent a letter to the FCC expressing their concern. Small operators, like U.S. Cellular argue (PDF) that 'exclusive handset contracts divide wireless customers into haves and have nots.' But nationwide operators, including Verizon, maintain (PDF) that 'in the absence of exclusivity agreements, wireless carriers would have less incentive to develop and promote innovative handsets.' The Commerce Committee expects to hold a hearing on the issue tomorrow."
'in the absence of exclusivity agreements, wireless carriers would have less incentive to develop and promote innovative handsets.'
I wasn't aware that the carriers were in the business of manufacturing...
Um... yeah.. carriers would never disable features on cellphones, now would they?
It seems to me that in the absence of exclusivity agreements the carriers would have greater incentive to introduce new features because they wouldn't be allowed to dictate terms to handset manufacturers in order to maintain their current level of mediocre offerings.
"Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day; set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life
"Without longer than a century copyright, I would have no incentive to develop anything useful." "Without being able to patent walking using both feet, I wouldn't have incentive to make anything useful." "Without being able to grant myself a monopoly on something, I would have no incentive to create anything useful." "Without the Shoot Anyone Using Anything But My Stuff Act, I would have no incentive to develop anything useful."
I am getting quite tired of seeing that, and we should really quit listening. If you don't want to, then by all means, don't, and feel free to fade away. In the meantime, those who still have plenty of incentive to do so (by finding creative ways to make money off of it, out of simply enjoying it, out of their own need for a tool to do something or a wish to create something for their own enjoyment, what have you), will do so.
I'm getting less and less tolerant of this temper tantrum. And that's really all it is-"I don't WANNA share!!!!! I thought of it FIRST!!!!" If the dinosaurs mean it, then by all means, their time has come and we should let them go. Good riddance to them, something better suited to modern times will take their place. On the other hand, they do tend to like paying themselves those large bonuses, so I would wager they'll start getting really creative in the absence of these artificial restrictions enabling them to be lazy and rest on their laurels.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
Since when does Verizon or any other carrier have anything to do with the development of a phone? They just take whatever you can get from HTC/Motorola/Samsung, throw a logo on it, change the name to something stupid, and pick 5 random features to cripple for no apparent reason. As for promotion, while I guess that charging customers 200% more for the phone than it's actually worth unless they sign a 2 year contract (if you let them but it unlocked at all) is technically "promotion", I don't think that is really in the spirit of the true definition.
What a bunch of tools.
It should be deals (including the way spectrum auctions are carried out and regulated) that result in carriers *cough*Verizon*cough* getting a monopoly (or near monopoly) in certain areas just because they are the only carrier with coverage. (like the deals various carriers have made to get exclusives in subway systems, high-rises and other places where extra equipment is needed to give sufficient coverage)
But nationwide operators, including Verizon, maintain (PDF) that 'in the absence of exclusivity agreements, wireless carriers would have less incentive to develop and promote innovative handsets.'
Why are wireless carriers involved in the development and promotion of innovative handsets? Isn't the free market supposed to motivate handset developers to develop and promote innovative handsets?
Or do the wireless carriers not believe in the free market? I, for one, think the free market is a pretty good thing. You know, when it genuinely lets the purse-holder freely decide.
Aren't these the same corporations who cry "free market" every time the government tries to regulate them?
Perhaps, and I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but just maybe; the wireless carriers actually are not objective supporters of the free market? Maybe what they want is not the free market, but laissez-faire capitalism. But then must we not ask, without a free market, how can laissez faire capitalism seek efficiency?
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
wireless carriers would have less incentive to develop and promote innovative handsets
I'll buy "promote" but when was the last time a wireless carrier ever "developed" a handset? And no, I don't count taking a good handset someone else made and crippling all of its features with a shitty firmware overwrite that turns the phone to crap.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
It seems, when given the option, that most big business will try to strangle the hand that feeds them. Cheap and reliable communication has been a keystone of American business, both domestic and foreign and here we are trying to catch up because business is too damn greedy/short-sighted for their own good. Their argument has nothing to do with innovation. It has everything to do with making money by not rolling out a more expansive, more reliable network. Who suffers? America does and it's not like they can just pick up their network and plop it down somewhere else.
But nationwide operators, including Verizon, maintain (PDF) that 'in the absence of exclusivity agreements, wireless carriers would have less incentive to develop and promote innovative handsets.'
You've got to hand it to Verizon for trying to confuse the congressmen with idiot logic. Are wireless carriers really developing innovative handsets? (or handsets at all)
I am trying to think of more than 3 revolutionary handset lines besides the iPhones, the Blackberries and Nokias. I guess we can throw in Motorola for their early efforts and Sony Ericsson for cute design too. But where are the carriers?
I think Verizon is really pissing their pants because they are thinking "in the absence of exclusivity agreements, wireless carriers will have a harder time locking down good phones with carrier-specific crappy software."
In theory, non-exclusive phones would also reduce the number of overall phones brought to market and increase the quality since the developers would be competing against a larger market.
Really, with non-exclusive handsets, both consumers and cell phone companies win. Large carriers will be the only ones losing... they will have to choose between market share, profit, and handset control. Of course, who are we kidding, nothing is going to change because they probably own half of the senate.