The almighty untethers us (day 130)

Something unusual happened today.  I learned of a current news event from Twitter before I learned it from anywhere else.  This is in part because I haven't been scanning my usual news sources and I've been at home but it's also because so many people twittered about it, in various forms.  I eventually had to pay attention.  My feeds, they are changing.

The ReadWriteWeb blog recently posted that RSS feeds were dead.  A brave and controversial thing to write.  Turns out I wasn't the only one that thought so.  There were many many comments from people that still rely on RSS feeds.  I was glad because when I first read the post I totally felt behind the times.  "But I still love my RSS feeds!", I wimpered.  It felt a little bit like coming back from sixth great summer break and finding out that my favourite game was now uncool.  The memo hadn't reached me in time for me to avoid making a fool of myself.   Thankfully RSS feeds are not dead and RWW had to capitulate.

The news that had people all atwitter is almost as exciting as my feeds changing - Google has announced the latest Android phone and it's not tied to a carrier.  It's the last part that's amazing.  That's right, you buy the phone and you can use it on any network!!!  This should not be such a gift because it should have been the norm all along, but there it is - a gift from mother Google.  I have no idea if any of this will be valid in Canada but it's only a matter of time.   This means that my previous rant may be moot in a year or two when carriers will be forced to compete for my phone's attention.  Take that Bell/Telus/Rogers.

A song for this post.

The phone is smarter than its carrier (day 102)

I think today is a rant day.   The best rant topic is cell phone companies.   Have I already ranted about this?  Probably.  I'm convinced that whoever runs Bell, Rogers and Telus (BRT) are just not passionate about the cell phone business.  They're big and got fat on another technology.   They are just not that hungry.  Add to this the fact that we have a sleepy CRTC that got fat on the crumbs dropped by BRT and you get a public that is getting extorted for the sin of wanting a smart phone.    I have limited data to back any of this up.  I have no idea to what extent the CRTC is getting lobbied.  I have no idea how hard it is to run a cell phone network.  Intuitively, though, it seems that having a smart phone shouldn't be an automatic $90/month.   And even if the profit margin wasn't %30 (I do have a news report to back that up), surely a mandatory 3 year contract is just over the top arrogance for a market that has almost no competition.  Before the smart phone,  you could refuse the contract, buy the phone and get yourself on a month to month plan.  With the iPhone (for example),  there is no good way around the contract.  Even if you buy the phone full price, you still need a contract to get on a data plan.   The iPhone is not very useful without a data plan.  I find the whole idea of a contract offensive.   Being tied to a company means they have stripped you of a pretty fundamental power as a consumer - the power to walk away if the service sucks or if the price is too high.  Not only am I not getting the service I want, I have to pay to switch.  Injury+insult.  A further insult comes when I realize that the phone I bought is useless on another company's network unless I commit the illegal act of 'unlocking' the phone.  That's even if I paid full price.  If I complain about my indentured servitude,  I suspect their internal dialogue is a version of "Oh well, I see you're still with us for another two years...oh you're still talking?".    They have a steady stream of new contracts that basically means they don't have to innovate to keep people around.  The consumer feedback loop is sluggish at best.   It's a lazy approach to business.  With so few players in the market, don't tell me they need contracts to stabilize their business.  Even gyms have done away with contracts.  I suspect if contracts were declared unacceptable business practice, prices would come down and service would go up.  I don't know what the CRTC should be doing, but this seems like pretty easy pickings for some great PR. 

A song for this post.