Making Money

Despite talk of slowing subscriber growth, industry consolidation and depressed stock prices, US wireless carrier are working hard to improve their bottom lines. They are cutting back marketing expenses and focusing on profits. With the US at nearly 50% wireless penetration, device subsidies make a lot less sense than they did 2 or 3 years ago. If carriers want subscribers to trade-up to new devices and services they need to be compelling. Oh yeah and stop giving away free low end phones. Past marketing campaigns have conditioned users to expect free phones. By giving away free phones, carriers are keeping customers from even looking at phones that support advanced features.