Push-To-Mudsling
from the this-time,-it's-personal dept
Already battling over "Push-to-Talk" in the courts, Nextel and Verizon Wireless have moved the fight to the court of public opinion. They're starting an advertising battle against each other that takes direct shots at each other over their respective "walkie-talkie" features. Verizon Wireless is using the slogan: "Now there's a push to talk that works where you do" while Nextel has gone with the slightly harsher: "We have push to talk. They have push to wait," and "What part of 'instant' don't the other guys understand?" One analyst predicts that Nextel will eventually start using "Can you hear me yet?" Of course, what's silly about all this is there's a pretty wide open market out there for the offering, and they're already battling each other. Instead of trying to pick off customers from each other, or simply knocking each other's offering, they should be focusing on ways to convince the millions of folks who don't have Push-to-Talk as to why they might want such a feature. I still think that's the bigger issue. Despite Nextel's success in charging more for it, they've focused on niche markets. Most people in the general public don't quite understand why they would want Push-To-Talk (at an extra $20/month) on top of their mobile phone service. Now, all they're going to learn is why the other guy's offering sucks. That doesn't build markets.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.
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When will reception improve?
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Re: When will reception improve?
Ask me why I simply MUST have verizon's crappy phone service when Qwest's was so much better in comparison, and ask my why suddenly my DSL connection - known good hardware that happens to use a Speakeasy service on a Vz switch - is all but unusable where previously it flew on the Qwest switch. Ask me why I must dial 34 freakin' numbers to get my cel call to go through when I roam on a phone card.
Competition is non-existant! Nothing drives innovation in the bells except for boredom! AT&T was better at innovating, and far better at reliability, and that's embarrassing considering Vz's pedigree. I'm moving to freakin' South Korea so I can benefit from their huge infrastructure and mere proximity to aggressive, belligerent countries.
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And another thing!
The bells are a terrible example, especially in my home area, of how the gov't has all but given away the copper access rights to the bells who in turn use it as a bludgeon to stifle any hope of competition. Thus, there is no competition, no choice in this capitalist-in-theory country and no innovation as a result.
With the cel towers popping up everwhere some church needs to supplement its tax-free income and rents out its steeple - and that's a bunch of them - we may finally have a competitive market. No wonder everyone's offering a $25/mo package. Do those push-to-talk phones interoperate? Therefore, does the consumer really have a choice or, like ICQ, are we stuck either buying whatever our peers all have and hoping for the best?
If that's the case, why are they advertising at all, except to perpetuate the TV equivalent of a usenet flame war?
Oh. I guess that's what Mike was saying. Good goin, Mike!
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Church Steeples (was Re: And another thing!)
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push 2 talk ?
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Re: When will reception improve?
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Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
Those phones should be banned in public!
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Re: Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
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Re: Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
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Re: Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
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Re: Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
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Re: Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
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Re: Re: Push-To-Talk or Nextel = Annoying!
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