Will T-Mobile's Danger Plans Destroy Carrier ARPU?
While analysts are predicting that T-Mobile's (eventual) rollout of the Danger device will be met with strong adoption rates by both consumer and business users, they wonder if the flat-rate, all-you-can eat pricing will cause problems for the rest of the wireless industry. They're afraid that such flat-rate pricing will force others to offer similar data plans, which they're worried will cut down on revenue from each customer. This seems like a painfully shortsighted view. What they don't say is that by offering flat-rate pricing, adoption rates and usage are more likely to soar - leading to new ways of using the devices and new services that are likely to significantly increase revenue opportunities. These must be the same analysts who thought that AOL's flat-rate pricing move many years ago would destroy the ISP industry, instead of suddenly making everyone want to log on to the internet.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
