Friday, January 8th, 2010
Mobile Model “Flipped”
Unless you’re living under a rock, you all know the big launch of the Google Nexus One happened this week. Exciting news as the world of smart phones gets better and better. But what’s even more exciting than simply the launch of its own device from mega-power Google, is the quiet unveiling of their online store.
So what, you say? Well, on first glance, yeah, so what… So Google is selling their phone themselves, unlocked. WELL, the big picture here is that THEY are selling the phone, THEN you pick the carrier you want. To date, the traditional protocol is to sign up with a carrier, then pick what device that carrier sells. They may have what you like, or they may have something that suits you, if not, you need to switch to a new carrier, which is often difficult to do because you’re locked into a long term (approximately 2 year) contract every time you buy a new phone. Well that’s all about to change.
Apple really laid the ground work here, and I don’t think anyone will dispute that. Prior to the iPhone, no one really got overly excited about a device. Every carrier had some form of Blackberry and that seemed to fill anyone who needed a smartphone’s needs. Well when the iPhone hit, overnight millions of people dropped their coverage and flocked to AT&T to get it… because lets be honest, it wasn’t for the AT&T service, that’s for sure. So now the idea that was initially paved by Apple, however still executed in a somewhat traditional fashion (carrier provides device) is not being capitalized on by Google… and rightfully so.
Google has always been a game changer, whether it be search (RIP Webcrawler), Mapping (RIP Mapquest), Email (RIP Hotmail), web browsing (RIP Firefox… to be noted, the jury’s still out on this one, but we’ve got a good guess at the outcome) and now Mobile operating systems and devices (RIP RIM/Blackberry), Google has always been out to reinvent. So who better to take the concept of “Pick your phone, THEN pick your carrier” and run wild with it.
Ultimately, this represents a huge shift in the dynamic of the mobile model in the US, as well as the rest of the world. Its exciting to see such a dramatic shift as it now places greater emphasis on the carriers themselves to provide a better service as opposed to just lure you in with whatever the hottest device is. Should make for an interesting next couple of years as more manufacturers adopt this model and the carriers make moves to accommodate.
More on this over at TechCrunch:
“Apple And Google Just Tag Teamed The U.S. Carriers” http://svns.in/5x
