3 Says Its Customers Are Nuts; Need To Be Locked Up In Walled Gardens

from the we-don't-believe-in-choice-around-here... dept

Hutchison's 3G carrier 3 in the UK has taken an awful lot of criticism over the years. They launched a 3G service in the UK by hyping it up ridiculously, without ever considering what customers might actually want to use it for. They simply assumed that everyone would buy expensive and ugly phones to send video messages back and forth. Now, they've decided that anyone who wants open internet access on their phone is "nuts" and they're going to keep their walled gardens in place. Certainly, there's a place for mobile-optimized content. However, blocking off other content, isn't about protecting their "crazy" customers, but about trying to protect a business model that is increasingly irrelevant. It seems odd that they would block off something because customers don't want it. If they simply opened up their system, then customers could choose for themselves. Apparently having options would just be too crazy, though.