1/04/2012
I read an article online recently that has stuck with me for a few days now. It was directly about why the Windows phone hasn't taken off despite it being (possibly) a superior platform, and indirectly it was about the state of the wireless/mobile market in general.
I really liked this excerpt from it the most, especially the last line:
"Carriers: Own the customer. Own billing. Own Sales. Own the physical pipe. They also own the marketing money. They hate being just a fat dumb pipe, but their capex structure means they will never be anything but a fat dumb pipe."
The carriers will never be anything but a fat dumb pipe. It's so true. People have never bought into the branding that the carriers try to put onto phones/mobile service. How many of you Android users have rooted your phone and deleted/never reinstalled the carrier-branded applications that came with it? How many of you who *haven't* rooted your phones have ever used a carrier-branded app over the real thing (via the app market or sideloaded)?
In the US, the state of the phone market is different, in that 90% (I read it somewhere) of the phones out there are on a contract of some sort, vs. 30-40% (estimate; definitely less than 50%) of other major markets have that sort of a structure. In those other markets, thankfully, it's possible to get a "fat dumb pipe" provider who is just happy with being that. Mine even gives me vodka as a reward for using it that way. In the US, it's not that way, but there are inroads. Now that the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile has been blocked, I have hope that it will slowly but surely get better.
Anyway, have a read of the article:
Windows Phone is Superior; Why Hasn’t it Taken Off?
I really liked this excerpt from it the most, especially the last line:
"Carriers: Own the customer. Own billing. Own Sales. Own the physical pipe. They also own the marketing money. They hate being just a fat dumb pipe, but their capex structure means they will never be anything but a fat dumb pipe."
The carriers will never be anything but a fat dumb pipe. It's so true. People have never bought into the branding that the carriers try to put onto phones/mobile service. How many of you Android users have rooted your phone and deleted/never reinstalled the carrier-branded applications that came with it? How many of you who *haven't* rooted your phones have ever used a carrier-branded app over the real thing (via the app market or sideloaded)?
In the US, the state of the phone market is different, in that 90% (I read it somewhere) of the phones out there are on a contract of some sort, vs. 30-40% (estimate; definitely less than 50%) of other major markets have that sort of a structure. In those other markets, thankfully, it's possible to get a "fat dumb pipe" provider who is just happy with being that. Mine even gives me vodka as a reward for using it that way. In the US, it's not that way, but there are inroads. Now that the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile has been blocked, I have hope that it will slowly but surely get better.
Anyway, have a read of the article:
Windows Phone is Superior; Why Hasn’t it Taken Off?
1/02/2012
iMessage fun
I've been having some issues with iMessage. It shows my old work number instead of the new SIM that I'm using in the phone.
I tried erasing all network settings. Switching iMessage on and off didn't seem to affect anything.
I tried backing up and resetting the iPhone altogether. When I restored it from the old backup it also imported the old number.
I then tried setting it up as a completely new iPhone. It activated and turned on, but because I'm not in the United Kingdom right now it hasn't been connecting to a cellular network. Apparently it must connect to a cellular network to activate itself. Because it couldn't connect to a network it was showing my email address, my Apple ID, as my iMessage name. Interestingly it didn't display a phone number at all, even though it's quite clearly an iPhone!
I eventually restored from a backup and so the old work number is in there once again. When I get back to the UK I will try setting it up as a new phone to see if I can finally get my new number in iMessage. However, it looks like because the phone is locked to a network--even though I can use it with a virtual network operator that uses the Vodafone network--I can't actually activate iMessage or anything else on the virtual network. I will try setting it up as a new phone and maybe even go into an Apple store and set it up as a new phone in front of them, but I'm not sure if it's going to be possible to activate IMessage on the new number.
Interesting to find these things out about how a new iPhone is activated.
I tried erasing all network settings. Switching iMessage on and off didn't seem to affect anything.
I tried backing up and resetting the iPhone altogether. When I restored it from the old backup it also imported the old number.
I then tried setting it up as a completely new iPhone. It activated and turned on, but because I'm not in the United Kingdom right now it hasn't been connecting to a cellular network. Apparently it must connect to a cellular network to activate itself. Because it couldn't connect to a network it was showing my email address, my Apple ID, as my iMessage name. Interestingly it didn't display a phone number at all, even though it's quite clearly an iPhone!
I eventually restored from a backup and so the old work number is in there once again. When I get back to the UK I will try setting it up as a new phone to see if I can finally get my new number in iMessage. However, it looks like because the phone is locked to a network--even though I can use it with a virtual network operator that uses the Vodafone network--I can't actually activate iMessage or anything else on the virtual network. I will try setting it up as a new phone and maybe even go into an Apple store and set it up as a new phone in front of them, but I'm not sure if it's going to be possible to activate IMessage on the new number.
Interesting to find these things out about how a new iPhone is activated.
