A few weeks after such bold statement that he is not afraid of Internet search giant Google, AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega has a sudden change of heart. AT&T is now allowing their subscribers to use all kinds of handsets and mobile apps in their network without signing any contract.
"You can use any handset on our network you want. We don't prohibit it, or even police it," says de la Vega, in a news article.
It seems that the new buzzword in the entire industry is "OPEN". Thanks to Google's presence, major players like Verizon and AT&T are now filled with openness that I can't help but be disgusted.
Still, del a Vega's oozing arrogance constantly emanates as he hailed AT&T as the "most open wireless company in the industry." The timing is very questionable as well.
If they can open the network, why do it now instead of maybe 5 or 10 years ago? Why enslave customers on a short leash with its restrictions and 2-year contracts for many years?
The only motivation I can see now is to preempt the entry of Android but never about their customers. Without Google, do you believe they will be this magnanimous to open the network?
Another million dollar question now is this: will AT&T open iPhone too? Obviously, the answer is NO. Too much profit to share with anyone else.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:26 am
I don’t understand why you constantly seem to think that Google is some kind of messiah. Google is just an upstart that was started 8 years ago. AT&T was started in 1885 and still stands today. How many companies have that kind of history. Maybe you forget that UNIX, C, Firewall etc have all come from AT&T. Maybe they should have patented those things and sued your a%% for using them to serve these AT&T bashing webpages.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:46 am
That’s basically the point, Patrick. How can I company which lasted for many years failed to understand the concerns of many mobile consumers or even develop an open network? Isn’t it ironic that we have to rely with an 8-year old, inexperienced company like Google to shake this industry to be more open and competitive? Call it AT&T bashing if you want to but I hope you see the point. Thanks.
December 6th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Yes, Google Android will certainly bring challenging situation for competitors, but AT & T is not that weak to get blown away, it also holds good position and is strong enough to accept the challenge as well!
December 6th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Due to the nature of the GSM network, AT&T’s network has ALWAYS been open–if you are smart enough to buy an unlocked, unbranded, unsubsidized phone. The only difference now is that AT&T is actually promoting this as a benefit/feature. This is really just a lot of hot air, though.
December 7th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Yes, it will be a very difficult challenge for Google to win against these big players. Hopefully, this competition can result to better services for mobile consumers across different mobile networks.
December 8th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
I think that google will win!?