T-Mobile - The Sinking Ship

My few thoughts on the T-Mobile merging with AT&T.

I am a proud T-Mobile customer. A former AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and even Cingular customer. There is a reason I am with T-Mobile now, actually many. The number one reason though, is price. T-Mobile is bang for the buck no question about it. But, at what price? TMO's data speeds frequently perform better than their competitors in the major markets, their plans cost less, and they have properly competitive phones. So, why is the Magenta Lady struggling to keep her head above water? Why would anyone choose Verizon instead?

I propose a few ideas. One being, TMO's ad department is atrocious. I have never seen an ad for T-Mobile that made me lust for their phones or plans. Well, I have never lusted for a plan. I am an American, I want things, objects, gadgets and loot. I lust over phones. Verizon wins this battle hands down. I want every phone ever put in a Verizon commercial. A good case in point is the phone I have now, the LG G2x. This is the best phone TMO has ever had, and easily competitive to any other phone out there. However, T-Mobile has absolutely no commercial campaign focused on this phone. There are times when it is shown in the hands of the actors in commercials, but not even mentioned. No one cares about the plan or data if they never see "Dual Core!" "Super HD Display!" "Apps Apps Apps Apps!" Not to mention lighting storms, robot wars, phones flying through space. We are American consumers, our closest relatives are toddlers and raccoons, we love shiny. Gimmicks work, ask Steve Jobs.

Poor advertising isn't all that is hurting TMO. The best feature of TMO is also it's worst enemy. Low plan pricing. There is a reason Verizon, AT&T and Sprint cost more, they want to make more money. AT&T costs more so they can have $38 billion to wave at T-Mobile.

As much as it would hurt me as a T-Mobile customer, their best option (besides finding a new sugar momma) is to raise their prices to meet the rest of the market. Though, it is likely too late for this, a change like that would drive most of the remaining customers away for sure.

So, I say farewell to my favorite mobile carrier. We had some good times. In a few years it seems, I will be a AT&T customer, or will have moved on. I'll keep dreaming about the silly Google takeover -- G-Mobile.

1984 wasn't like 1984, but 2011 isn't Apple's year.

If you have read my last post, you may have picked up on my expired love for Apple products. There was a time when I would fight to the death to argue the innovation and quality of Macintosh computers and Apple iPods. If you need to know why I have altered my thoughts on this, read that last post. This post is going to be more about what I (and hopefully just about everyone else) have transitioned to.

Today was a monumental day for computer geeks, nerds, and even the normal folk.

I'd like to take a quick moment to break down the different camps of computer people I grew up with. This is important information to understand the massive shift taking place. Through high school there were 3 major camps for computer users. Normal people, often using Windows XP Home Edition. Though, thanks to the iPod, Apple started getting their foot hold back in the 'average user' market again. AV Tech people, those who edit photos, videos, music, ect. Typically these folk enjoyed a Macbook if they could afford it. Otherwise, they settled for a high end HP Windows XP Pro. Lastly you have the Geeky Tech crowd. These guys always had Windows XP (didn't upgrade to Vista) and typically dual booted some sort of Linux.

Back to today. Those 3 camps don't have a home so easily outlined for them. Apple computers still have the market of AV Tech folk like before. But these folk seem to consist of less than 20% of the entire computer using community, so I am going to leave this crowd out. Windows Vista caused some severe damage to both; the average computing community, and the nerdlings.

Enter party 3. Our digital world has shifted so drastically to the hand-held gadgets the desktop and laptop markets saw a decline recently. Who owns the gadget world? It has been a pretty tight tug-of-war between Apple and Google. RIM and Windows Phone are practically null. Any other system is hardly worth mentioning anymore. Google fought slow and steady to provide a proper ass kicking to Apple's iPhone. They succeeded. Google has always climbed slowly to the top of the markets it decides to enter. Many Google side projects still haven't caught on. Today Google made a very clear statement. Apple leads no longer, and Windows is too far behind.

Today was Google's I/O event. Many new directions of the company were announced. More important perhaps than any of the individual ideas is the 'big picture'. It seems clear now why Android took a sort of hesitated demand of the gadget market. Android; the phone company, was a mere test. Android; the software, hardware, and innovative technology company, is the real deal. Aggressive, seems to be the word that first comes to mind after todays announcements. This is a first for Google, a company that always took the back seat in the big boy world, providing free or cheap alternatives to major industry leader's products. Anymore though, there aren't many bigger boys than Google, and they know it. Google has the resources to lead many different industries, and they know it.

So why ditch one major player in the tech world for another just because one is a little behind? Technology changes so fast who's to say RIM isn't going to be in the lead next year with Blackberry Millionbuttonphone42 and Playbook 3? Well, Google, for one. And everyone following Google, which brings me back to my original point.

Google has managed to take the leaders of all the computer camps, and put them in one happy family.

Average users appear to love the increasingly intuitive nature of Google products (only very recently, I know. Was a rocky start) and Geeks, Nerds, or any other tech people love the open source hackability (someone tell Chrome that is a real word).

So where are we? In the arrow head of a major game change for technology. The prediction, Tablets, and phones with accessories are the only computers we need. Google agrees, aggressively. They want you to control your; music, movies, shows, pictures, schedule, email, phone calls, sms/mms, shopping, traveling, gaming, reading, social networking, ect. and now; home theater, TV, kitchen appliances, cars, lights, ect. through open source, cheap or free applications shared on one all-encompassing OS.

Your volley Apple.






I want to add a quick note to this- I have great hope for Windows. Changes need to be made, but adaptation has been one of Win's better qualities. It will likely be a good while before I personally choose Win over Android or Google, but that 4 paned flag will be waving proud for a great long time after I'm no longer a consumer.

Green Apple is for Greed

I have always been a big fan of Apple computers. They are overpriced, but they are gems. Functionality at its finest, and an ease of use unmatched. A major reason for Apple's superiority is little care of market share.

Until Apple's unfathomable fame from iPod, they were happy enough taking the back seat. Like a super luxury car, exclusivity was fine enough. It was part of the Mac charm. This kept Apple honest. Then the world was over come by "iProduct" fever.

Now we have a mad man named Jobs who will stop at nothing to have the most popular fad based devices. Not sure who would agree with me, but Mac has taken a hit for this. The latest OS was a bit of fluff. Us Mac users miss the constant innovation. According to Apple's site, Lion, the newest OS to come is heavily based on the feel of an iPad. There is a reason I don't have an iPad, they are pointless.

I hope I will have to insert foot in mouth when Lion releases due to its overwhelming awesomeness. But I feer it will go the way of the "iProducts" and have little substance. Oh well, I've always been told I'm not a proper nerd for favoring Mac. Someone tell Jobs why Mac is great and stop him from iFucking up Apple's legacy.

P.s. posted from my Blogger app on my Android phone.

That is all.

Leftovers

I am near the cutting edge of web based social activity. I have a Facebook. I have a Twitter. I have a YouTube account. I have accounts with random helper and developer blogs. Think I still have a Myspace from when that all started. I have Google feeding all of these wonderful sources of nerd-narcissism right into my Android powered phone 24/7. Yet I do not have a personal blog. Well, until now. But, with all of those applications and systems already set up for me to tell the world when my tush itches from 5 different sources, why do I need a blog? Likely, I don't. But I figure, I keep a junk drawer in my house for those things I cannot organize into their separate containers, I must have a digital version of this organizational structure.

So, for the items I want all of those close to me to see, I'll use Facebook. For items I want the strangers of the world to see, but with limited supply, I'll keep to Twitter. You get the point. The items that don't have a place, I'll keep here, in my junk drawer.