Laptop Magazine Rescinds 'Best Of Show' Award For Zer01
from the taking-it-back dept
Last month, our own Derek Kerton wrote a long post detailing many of the questions raised by the overhyped mobile service startup Zer01, which appeared to be making a bunch of claims that it couldn't live up to (some of which were impossible) and failed to substantiate a bunch of other claims. Oh, on top of that, Nancy Gohring uncovered that it was involved in a sketchy multi-level marketing scheme run by a guy who is currently on probation after pleading guilty to securities fraud, and who's been known to have run similar sketchy MLM schemes. The whole thing was incredibly questionable (though, there were a few true believers -- i.e., people who'd already dumped a lot of money into the scheme) who continued to insist it was real. The one bit of support those folks seemed to have was that LAPTOP Magazine -- a well-known and well-trusted tech publication, had given Zer01 a "Best of CTIA" award. Except... that's now gone. Last week, LAPTOP rescinded the award for the first time in its history, noting not just the ethical questions raised by others, but the fact that the company did not live up to much of what it had promised the magazine. That included a promise from Zer01's CEO right after the initial allegations came out that he would send them a phone to test by the following week. One of the big concerns is that no one has been able to actually test one of these phones. But the phone never showed up. LAPTOP concludes its retraction saying:At this time we can only urge extreme caution to those interested in using or selling Zer01's service.And, yet, the "true believers" (some might assume "suckers") continue to show up in our comments insisting that this magic phone service is almost here. But exactly none of them has responded to Derek's original call, to find someone who's actually used a phone, noted where the company's engineers are located, where its towers are, who the network provider is and what the supposed patents are. Until someone can actually answer all those questions, it's pretty difficult to assume there's anything at all here.
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Filed Under: laptop magazine, mlm
Companies: buzzirk, global verge, zer01
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If they are that easy to trick, perhaps you might want to give them some masnick-aid to drink.
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Two words...
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Easy peasy
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Re: Easy peasy
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Re: Easy peasy
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Oh I See...
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Re: Oh I See...
People join home base business because corporation pay is totally down and the scandals on that level ruin people lives between corporate executives doing wrong, to outsourcing, to layoffs to save money, to illegal mergers like when a company purchases a competitor. Its good MLM companies out their like Pampered Chef now owned by Warren Buffet! Franschising is not an option for most and that's not guaranteed to be successful but you would be out 6 figures or more, not a few thousand.
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The ineluctable modaity of the visible
It seems to me that a number of parties could stop that web site with a well crafted (dare I say it here?) CMDA complaint to the hosting service. The AT&T coverage map is being used. Laptop Magazine's name and logo is being used, The CITA Wireless 2009 logo is being used. All are copyrighted.
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Puh-lease... it's easy to see what's happening...
Duke Nukem!
/sorry - had to.
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additional items for sale
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The real scams are overlooked
People get hyped when they hear a product is being introduced through a network marketing company. But what they do not see is you market products for businesses for free everyday. Next time you hop in the car, look at the back of your car and see if you have a tag somewhere from where you purchased the vehicle. Now a celebrity gets paid to drive around and you do it for free. Realize, its nothing wrong for having anyone market a product. The sales people in the Carrier store get paid off your monthly bill. Its another conpany that are selling the 4 carriers service and when a person buys the phone and make monthly payments, the person generates a percentage from that bill. Why is it wrong for YOU to make money from a cell phone service?
Excel Communications was the first company to change the long distance game, with it they took and used regular people to get the word and the service out. A lot of well-known companies did this for plenty of products. Too many people jump the gun to call something a scam. I see a lot about this and that company being a scam, the true scam that should be receiving a lot of bark is GAS prices. If the demand is down and the supply is up, how can the prices continue to go UP! If the CEO of all these trouble companies continues to get paid a high salary and they lay the people that do all the work continues, that's A SCAM! Going through a credit check for a phone and having a contract is a SCAM! Do you go through this for your home phone? NO. You cut it off when you don't need it anymore, no penalties, no paying to get out. Overseas this does not exist, you change when you want to without penalty. WAKE UP PEOPLE AND FIGHT FOR WHAT'S RIGHT. DON'T WORRY ABOUT A COMPANY ATTEMPTING TO INTRODUCE A NEW TECHNOLOGY WITH NEW CULTURE, IF IT HAPPENS AND THE SERVICE IS ABOVE AVERAGE YOU'LL GET IT. THIS IS JUST LIKE THE PEOPLE THAT BOYCOT WAL-MART AND THEN THEIR THE FIRST WAS SHOPPING AND ENJOYING THE SAVINGS.
Before I say this is a scam, I'll wait and see if the service comes out.
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