we're not the customer anymore, the Telco's are
Seems strange, but the more I think about it its clear. People don't go to shop for phones, they go to a telco to see what they have on what plans and sign up.
The telco then tells Nokia or HTC what it is they want to be offering to their customers.
Now that I see it this way, its clear that since people are no longer looking to purchase a phone. So no matter what experts or advanced users or even small businesses want to roll out to their sales people, the phone companies don't make what people want; they make what phone companies want.
I think that iPhone is the only exception to this ... which is perhaps why the Telcos often charge more for those on a plan.
Good point and I think makes some sense. Telcos ARE phone manufacturer's customers, not the end user. Sad, but true.
ReplyDeletewell you're likely correct. Cell phones have always tended to be expensive and have a limited lifetime (at least the early ones). I would typically get 18 months before they stopped working.
ReplyDeleteThey have gotten more robust but have also added more and more capabilities further increasing their price. The telco's subsidies are what make them feasible. One reckons they will pay X for cell service, forever, and get a new phone every 3 years.
But, remember the pigs discussing how great life is in the barn, warm, protection from the elements and best of all free food. We're not being served dinner, we are dinner.
Charles
ReplyDeleteyou know, I was late to mobile phones. My first was in 2001 and on average I got 3 years out of each. Each time I changed phones it was not because it stopped working, but because of some other issues. But then I didn't ever go for the latest and greatest. I just wanted a phone that worked well as a phone. I had a PDA for other stuff ;-)
I always thought that $200 was about the limit for spending on a phone. Technology seems to be making things cheaper and better. Like my Zoom H1 recorder
:-)