Steve Jobs Chains I-phoners To “moo-bell”
There is an old country expression:
“Never tie a rabbit to a cow if you want to see how
fast the rabbit can run!”
But this is exactly what Apple has done by chaining
itself and its I-Phone customers for five long years
to “Moo Bell”–my name for the “new” AT&T, a reconstituted
behemoth with sluggish connection times.
“Steve Jobs jumped into bed with Darth Vader,” I
quipped the other night during CNBC’s “On The Money” program.
“He sold out Apple customers by relegating them to a
second class network,” I
asserted.
Even Steve Jobs is disappointed with the slow
connection speeds. Reportedly, AT&T has a faster data network available, yet it relegates Apple’s I-Phone users to a slower one.
It’s unclear at this time whether starting I-Phoners on slower connections is “an upgrade play”–a way of setting the stage to sell the faster routing at a premium price.
By signing an exclusive five year deal with A T & T,
that locks-in users of the I-Phone, presumably for
that period if they want their communications devices
to fully function, Jobs has consigned
Apple customers to the equivalent of “Cellular Slavery,” I pointed out.
The enforceability of the five-year commitment is being called into question on practical and legal grounds.
Hackers are at work trying to “break the code” to enable I-Phoners to connect through carriers other than AT&T, and members of Congress are also exploring the claim that Apple’s exclusive with A T & T operates in restraint of trade.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the
best-selling author of 12 books and more than
a thousand articles. A frequent expert commentator on radio and TV,
(See: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=417455932#) he is quoted often in prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Business Week.
President of Clientrelations.com and Customersatisfaction.com, his seminars and training
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universities. Dynamic and fun, Gary brings over two decades
of management and consulting experience
to the table, with the best academic credentials in the speaking and training industry.
Holder of a Ph.D. from the
Annenberg School For Communication at USC,
an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School of Management,
and a J.D. degree from Loyola, his clients include several
Fortune 1000 companies and successful family
owned and operated firms. More
than a “talking head,” Gary is a top mind that you’ll
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He can be reached at gary@customersatisfaction.com.
