Since When Did Hollywood Get To Control Our Mobile Phones?
from the says-who? dept
Someone over at Verizon Wireless seems very confused about who the company's customers are. Of course, it's unfair to pick on just them, since almost all of the mobile carriers are thinking the same way, but it was the VP at Verizon Wireless who made a series of bizarre, short-sighted and flat-out wrong comments to the Associated Press that should have him looking for a new line of work. The AP piece starts out as a rehash of last week's story saying that the carriers have forced Motorola to shelve the iTunes phone for the time being. Then it shifts the story over to Verizon Wireless' decision to cripple Bluetooth on its phones to stop people from transferring content directly from their phones to PCs (or other phones) and require them to use their cellular connection (which, oh yeah, costs money). Verizon Wireless tries to defend the practice by claiming the entertainment industry made them do it. The quote comes from Jim Straight, vice president for wireless data and Internet services at Verizon Wireless, saying: "When it comes to the cell phone I have to abide by the rules of the content houses." No, actually, he doesn't. The content houses don't own the carriers. There's simply no reason why the makers of a communications platform should be crippling their devices to protect an obsolete broadcast business model. People are not buying mobile phones to get the latest Disney movie or hit song. They're buying them to communicate. If the big content companies don't want to play, it's their loss. People will continue to buy up mobile phones and communicate with them. No one's dying to have access to broadcast content on their phones. The content industry shouldn't be setting the rules here, and there's no reason why the carriers should be deferring to them.
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
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Phone Co. biz model
1. I dispise the phone companys for many of there semi-monopolistic practics. So when / if a company comes out with a phone that give users the feeling they actually own the thing insted of pay throw the nose rent it they will get my money.
2 I would stand inline to get a phone with the ipod interface. ( skip all the buttons ) wheel your way threw #s and lists.
3. Do i really want to pay to down load songs over flacky reception with mini interface and then not be able to use them on other phones ? or play them at home etc ?
just another mini-monopoly trying to stick us
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Phone Co. biz model
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Living abroad
Now don't get me started on my mobile experiences in the states...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]