Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: About the Dark Side
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:54:58 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Bob Drzyzgula <bob () drzyzgula org> Date: September 30, 2007 5:29:30 PM EDT To: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com> Cc: David Farber <dave () farber net>, bob () drzyzgula org Subject: Re: [IP] Re: About the Dark Side Ole, Don't get me wrong, I'm not inclined to defend Apple so much as claim that I sort of think I know where they are coming from on this. I see what you are saying in the first paragraph, except that you may be missing my point about the uniform experience -- I'm saying that, as things stand, if AT&T offers a service for the iPhone that isn't available when roaming, then all (authorized) iPhones will work the same way -- they'll have that function available on the home carrier, and will degrade in the same way when roaming. I also mentioned that there were unavoidable localization issues with the uniform-experience thing. However, I expect that they are doing what they can to ensure identical function within a given localization. As for the second paragraph, again I think I see what you are are saying, but if (a) the iTunes function requires "magic" to happen between the carrier and iTunes, and (b) you instead take the just-let-me-activate-it route with a carrier that hadn't yet struck a deal with Uncle Steve, would you not wind up with an iPhone without the iTunes capability? Perhaps *you* would prefer that, but it isn't clear that Apple would. I suppose that the question becomes one of whether there is sufficient interest in such an expensive and highly-controlled device. In this regard, I guess it's kind of up to the market. Not that I think that means we shouldn't be complaining, because this is of course part of the market's process. However, in my experience, there are a whole lot of people out there who are not so concerned about carrier choice so much as they are sick to death of devices that only sort of work, and which one can only sort of figure out. If Apple can satisfy those people, it could well work out for them. --Bob On Sun, Sep 30, 2007 at 01:08:17PM -0700, Ole Jacobsen wrote:
Except that Visual Voicemail only works on networks with whom Apple has a deal. Surely the whole point of GSM is that there are so MANY networks and that phones can roam (I was going to say "freely") for a price on any other network more or less. So, Apple cannot control that "experience" anyway, and a simple disclaimer saying "Visual Voicemail may not operate on some carrier networks" should not be that big a deal. After all, I cannot buy songs from the Apple iTunes Norway store, unless I live (or pretend I live) in Norway. ITunes is a SERVICE offering just as Visual Voicemail is a service offering, which at the end of the day depends on the capabilities of the "service provider". I was amused when someone from Apple tried to explain to me that things needed to be exactly the way they are with the iPhone, since getting service is usually so complicated and with the iPhone you just plug it in and select some options in iTunes to activate the phone. Of course, the flaw in that argument is that behind the scenes a bunch of magic happens between the iTunes store and AT&T to make it all work, but they COULD offer an option which basically says "I already have GSM service, I want to use my existing SIM card, activate my phone now." I hope someone from Apple is reading all this... Ole Ole J. Jacobsen Editor and Publisher, The Internet Protocol Journal Cisco Systems Tel: +1 408-527-8972 Mobile: +1 415-370-4628 E-mail: ole () cisco com URL: http://www.cisco.com/ipj On Sun, 30 Sep 2007, David Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message: From: Bob Drzyzgula <bob () drzyzgula org> Date: September 30, 2007 3:19:35 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: ip () v2 listbox com Subject: Re: [IP] Re: About the Dark Side On Sun, Sep 30, 2007 at 01:16:37PM -0400, David Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message: From: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com> Date: September 30, 2007 1:06:20 PM EDT To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: About the Dark Side Reply-To: Ole Jacobsen <ole () cisco com> Apple will argue that they have more control of the "experience" if they work closely with a carrier, and will point to Visual Voicemail as an example of something that requires network tweaks. While this may be true, it is either something that just can't scale or some kind of hidden GSM feature that everyone could easily implement. In either case (and no, I don't know the answer) I don't think it is important enough to restrict an entire market segment: those who simply want to buy a phone for its features and who will happily get service from any carrier as they choose.It strikes me that this starts to toy with one of the fundamental differences between Apple and everyone else in the world: For most smartphones, this would be an opportunity for product differentiation. Carrier A goes on about how, on their network, the Foobar Brand Smartphone can slice carrots, while Carrier B goes on about how when it's connected to *theirs*, that same phone can dice them as well. But this is anathema to Apple. In Apple's view of the world, when someone buys an iWidget Femto(tm), it will work precisely the same as absolutely every other iWidget Femto sold, localization notwithstanding. It will dice carrots if and only if Apple claims it will dice carrots. In Apple's view, it's all about Apple, and the Apple-branded product. When it starts being about the distributer/retailer/carrier, even just a little bit, Apple has lost something. --Bob ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)
- Re: About the Dark Side David Farber (Sep 30)