it’s unix, not eunuchs

It was only 5 years ago when me and several of my friends at Sprint started playing with some new handsets we’d been given.  Of course we loaded them up with goofy ringers(this is before anyone was selling them, you just found them and downloaded them or made them with your own tools) and then we started making thumbnails of our co-workers and putting them in the phone memory.  So when the phone rang you’d see the picture of your bosses face and the Imperial March would begin to drone.  It was a good time, but it only took about 30 minutes before one of us piped up and said, “Why don’t we have the option to play video when the phone rings?”

Sure, it’s helpful to see the bosses face when he calls at 3AM because you’re on-call and you missed a phone call.  It sort of helps jolt you to attention.  But wouldn’t it be a lot more fun to have a video playing of them making goofy faces?  Or superimpose their image with a mushroom cloud, then godzilla, and then dollar signs?

Anyhow, I’m sure you all get the point.  It’s a real shame that it took an outsider to the phone industry, Apple, to bring this feature to the forefront. I’ve also been seeing a little bit more on the SMS ringers feature occasionally, so it’s nice to see American mobile carriers finally start selling some new phone features.  I’m not sure that they’ll sell more phones, but as the networks themselves continue to become less and less relevant, carrying the right feature set on your phones could be the thing that lures new people to your carrier and away from your competitors.  That and of course, the ever necessary, treat your customers well and they’ll make you money.

Well, I read about this a few weeks ago, but didn’t get around to writing about it.  Embarq has given up on the MVNO model for wireless cellular coverage.  Unfortunately Embarq didn’t partner with the right company for MVNO access as the majority of their local landline service was delivered to rural areas.  And Sprint Nextel, the carrier hosting Embarq’s MVNO on the CDMA spectrum, doesn’t have a strategy that lends itself to good coverage in rural areas.

To this folding of another MVNO I have to applaud.  Embarq did very little to actually differentiate themselves in the MVNO marketplace, it was basically just a sales attempt to get people paying for local service to purchase their cellular services through the same company.  But Embarq, like Mobile ESPN, was smart enough to see the problem quickly and leave the market before it became a drag on their finances.  Information obtained from Rad-Info, Inc.

Also of interest is the ongoing talked between SK Telecom, owner of Helio, and Virgin Mobile.  It appears that Virgin Mobile is set to acquire Helio’s customers and then destroy the Helio brand.  I always liked the Helio devices as they were quite cutting edge but there did seem to be some confusion over what it was they were marketing.

At one point they were attempting to sell phones to the Korean American community, which isn’t a bad move as texting is pretty easy to pull off in Hangul and the Korean American community doesn’t seem to shy away from spending on technology.  Although, it’s a limited community to sell to, so I wasn’t surprised when I later saw it being marketed as a high-tech mobile device, and certainly NOT A TELEPHONE!  And they were using really sort of goofy marketing that I think was an attempt to get the young crowd to buy into the brand.

However in the long run, I just never saw any real people actually selling these devices, it seems like they never made it into Brick and Mortar stores.  And I, like most customers, just won’t purchase a device without being able to put my grubby little paws on it.  Info on the merger was taken from The Street.

Meanwhile Virgin Mobile is now offering $80/month unlimited calling.  That’s a great rate, but unfortunately I don’t think that leaves them very much space to make a profit.  However, with the financial problems of the world seeming to continue, perhaps pursuing customers that want service but don’t want another bill every month is a good strategy.  Not to mention, you don’t have to get a credit check in order to start an account with Virgin Mobile.

Two weeks ago Carol Wilson wrote a story for Telephony Online detailing how Embarq has signed an agreement to rebadge one of their NOCs(Network Operations Center) to Nokia.  When I first read the title I wasn’t surprised in the least as this has been happening for about 4 years now with other telephony companies.  I pretty much just assumed that all companies were doing some forms of this, in fact I know that Hallmark.com was rebadged to IBM a few years back as well.

I suppose I should explain the word re-badged.  Rebadging is when a company gives another company one of it’s divisions and signs an agreement to pay the second company to run the division for them.  As a part of these agreements the parent company usually takes some of their employees and force them to accept jobs at the new company or they will be fired without benefits.  There are some other companies that do this a bit more kindly, but it’s usually as I described above.  Employees call it rebadging because one day they have a Hallmark ID badge and then on the next Monday they’ll have an IBM ID badge.

Frankly, I’ve witnessed several of these re-badging efforts and they have all been disasters.  The only good thing that ever comes of it, is that cowardly managers sometimes manage to get rid of lousy employees by suddenly transferring them to a division that is about to be re-badged.  Now, stockholders are always told that the company will save a ton of money by getting rid of the division, however it never really plays out that way.  You get a sub-par performance by the new division, you terrify the remaining employees in the company, and as soon as the contract comes up for renegotiation the recipient of the division will charge so much that the company is forced to give up on all the savings they were promised.

So, back to the main purpose of this post.  I would have mailed Carol Wilson or commented on the her article if Telephony Online allowed such interaction, but it doesn’t.  So I will instead here mention that re-badging is not a new trend in North America.

You can read the article at Telephony Online and I have to give Kudos to AskCALEA for linking to it.

I’ve got Ringxiety: Link to NYTimes Article

It’s pretty funny because I’ve literally been a bit bemused lately with thoughts of “am I working so much that my brain is turning to mush?” Apparently it’s yet another health risk/annoyance of mobile phones. I even have the phantom vibrations thing going on that is described in the last two paragraphs on page two although I don’t have the lump the guy describes. Give me time and I’ll have a huge right quad!

A few of you check in, so feast upon this: http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/people-give-up-on-mobile-data-135331.php

Anyhow, please keep in mind that it’s a study done by a group/vendor that wants to sell us “kickass nofault systems” so you sort of have to bear that in mind.

I’ve got a new phone. Actually had it for about a month. It’s the Sanyo MM-5600. It’s pretty slick. Nice ringer speaker, mp3 capability, pretty screen. Lately I’ve been putting some ringers together and sending them to my device. Wish the thing used it’s miniSD instead of just it’s own 3MB onboard for ringers though. What a waste of a slot.

It’s not everything that I want but it’s got a nice camera and apparently the reception is decent.

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/user_reviews.php?phone=508

Shame there’s no flash on the bloody thing. Or even better some Palm software…or some bluetooth capabilities?