Comments on: If Verizon’s Droid is good, that’s bad for the wireless ecosystem

By: Morgan

Morgan — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:14:33 +0000

I have a Droid, I am running Skype on it with no problems whatsoever. Plus I can download third-party apps from anywhere so long as I check Settings->Applications->Unknown Sources. This way I got sMobile's Security Shield and a QQ IM client on my Droid.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:14:33 +0000

By: andrew1016

andrew1016 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:45:19 +0000

It looks like what we need is for Vonage to take over the cell phone buisness by using a wireless service provider for Internet usage world wide and do what they have done for the fixed line services. They are absolutly increadible in terms of their quality, service and price! $24.99 gets you service to 60 countries with all the extras you can think of included. The sound quality is perfect no matter where you call! Now we need them on the cellular system. Question, will they find a way to break in? I would not bet against them!

By: Droid vs. iPhone. See how Droid bites that Apple | Andrew.C.Lam

Droid vs. iPhone. See how Droid bites that Apple | Andrew.C.Lam — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:38:58 +0000

[...] If Verizon’s Droid is good, that’s bad for the wireless ecosystem (cdixon.org) Related Ways to Take Action: Save Windows 7 [...]

By: If Verizon’s Droid is good, that’s bad for the wireless ecosystem | Igniting Startups - nPost

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:13:51 +0000

[...] From cdixon.org [...]

By: ShanaC

ShanaC — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:42:27 +0000

Doesn't matter, they are already on the docket for the internal FCC courts. Technically there have been no letters sent yet, but AT&T has been sniping hard and fast at them for call blockage. AT&T is using net neutral arguments in this sniper war too, despite advocating against policy changes (yes I know, it's weird)

I don't think the FCC can avoid a ruling forever, just because of the media frenzy, and because of how unusual the issue is. Either that or Google can drop the blocking- but they've already been in the FCC's eyes for a while now. It's going to become unavoidable that the pink elephant of mobile phones is glowing magenta soon.

By: Dan D

Dan D — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:10:12 +0000

I've been a BB user for several years now (multiple models) and I can deal with the interface. The keyboard I find to be great, especially when compared to the iphone, which I've tried and failed at. Where I find a problem is with the stability of programs on the blackberry… Yes, it can multi-task but it gets extremely slow and “crashy” at times and I find there to be a direct correlation between the number of messages (txts, emails, etc) in your inbox and how slow it runs. I find myself turning on and off the Cell connection and pulling the battery out way too often. Yes, i'll admit I'm a power user, but I'm also very conscious of what I'm doing on it and don't keep that many things open at once. And forget about using the App store and downloading new apps…also many problems. If they could just make a solid/stable one, I'd stick with it.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:04:58 +0000

Yes, the phone itself is a good thing, as is Google's Android. It's just the fact that this let's verizon keep the handset-carrier bundling for longer. I'm highly suspicious VZW is really going to be open, but we'll see…

By: Dan D

Dan D — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:02:19 +0000

So really, its not that Droid is such a bad thing… its the fact that they're partnered with Verizon, which has typically been a fairly closed network… is that what your saying? If so, I'd def have to agree with that, though I've been hearing about how they're opening up and the CEO has a whole new game plan revolving around this “open” idea. That said, I believe any decent competition to the IPhone is a good thing, though I'm very biased because I've been waiting for a decent new phone to hit VZW for a while and the fact that the one coming might be an iphone killer (played out phrase I know, but I'm hoping) makes it all the better. I'm crossing my fingers that this is it.

By: Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:52:24 +0000

Good point about user data. I suppose with cell phone towers etc it could
track users' locations and thus improve location-based advertising (although
I'm not sure how legal that would be).

In my view, the moat would be that they'd be the only ones to offer Google
Voice, VoIP anywhere and a flat, unlimited, all you can eat, no fine print
monthly rate. Maybe the other telcos would follow up on that last part,
although that's highly doubtful, but even if they did, Google would've
achieved its overarching strategic goal in mobile, which is to turn telcos
into dumb pipes.

By: Sekou Murphy

Sekou Murphy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:17:58 +0000

I have to admit, I read the same blog post on the Droid and thought it was sloppy. I get tired of reading blog posts and news articles that talk about a threat to an existing service/product, even though it hasn't even launched yet. Sometimes when the service is finally launched, it fail to live up to the hype. We all know a number of examples.

By: Sekou Murphy

Sekou Murphy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:13:37 +0000

Interesting. I would suggest that if Google did it, it has to see how it can either pull data about users that it can run to Google's advertisers with, revenue, or a way to create a moat around its business. If it can't do any of these, then why do it.

By: The mobile value chain « ecpm blog

The mobile value chain « ecpm blog — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:48:13 +0000

[...] If Verizon’s Droid is good, that’s bad for the wireless ecosystem — cdixon.org – chris dixon…. [...]

By: Gregg Borodaty

Gregg Borodaty — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:57:04 +0000

Chris – I would contend the opposite. Having more devices that improve the user and mobile web browsing experience will force carriers to improve their networks, allowing apps to run in the browser which eliminates platform dependence issues. App stores currently have a stranglehold on developers. Numerous reports show how hard it is for app developers to survive in the current environment due to haphazard approval processes, pricing pressures, discovery issues in an App Store that has 85,000+ apps, and cross platform development. Removing the constraints the App Store(s) puts on developers will result in a more vibrant and healthier wireless ecosystem. Once this happens, users can select handsets/carriers based on usability and service instead of what apps the phone runs.

By: amolsarva

amolsarva — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:47:07 +0000

You and me both would love that outcome. I am skeptical that you get that outcome bc even past 'great' phones were multi-network (RAZR) and Apple hasn't broken AT&T's nastiest rules even as an exclusive.

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By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:23:52 +0000

Here is the scenario I was hoping for. Verizon capitulates to Apple and takes the iPhone. Consumers start to expect to pick a phone and carrier separately. Then room opens up for many more handsets, OSs, apps, etc. If Droid lives up to its billing, we live in a carrier-phone paired world for at least a few more years.

By: michael_mazya

michael_mazya — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:51:54 +0000

Reminds me of how they restricted bluetooth transfers of games and music between phones that could easily do it on other networks. I am betting that a standardized OS will make that harder to get away with.

By: Elie Seidman

Elie Seidman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:32:44 +0000

and why would they make it open? what's their incentive to do so. Their infrastructure is insanely expensive and they've seen pretty clearly how dumb pipes get valued in the landline world. Until there is a coherent economic reason for the carriers to be open, they are not going to. Capitalism works.

By: Losing My Apple Fanboy Status | Taylor Brooks

Losing My Apple Fanboy Status | Taylor Brooks — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:01:26 +0000

[...] reasons, the phone isn’t THAT great and the carrier is subpar. Chris Dixon took the words out of my mouth – you never buy a phone, you buy a phone/carrier [...]

By: amolsarva

amolsarva — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:37:56 +0000

They aren't close to being master - but they would need to be to change
the industry structure.

Either a) apple is pretty strong for a while and nibbles at industry
structure (leaving carrier channels supreme, contracts mandatory,
gotchas in monthly plans, blocks on various cool apps, handsets locked
to a carrier) or

b) they "break the carrier stranglehold" which means they are super
duper powerful and that would be scary too.

It's a carrier-phone maker oligopoly out there.

By: Soren Faaborg

Soren Faaborg — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:50:11 +0000

Do you prefer typing emails on the Tour or the iPhone?

I have the Tour and like it a lot. Mainly use Opera Mini and navigate by screen (trackball is terrible for that). Email works very well, but most people are in my contacts or can found via lookup.

Same fear as you re: Verizon, but hopefully this is the next step up in competition (which is usually a good thing).

By: akulkarni

akulkarni — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:48:33 +0000

True, getting on the iPhone AppStore is breeze compared to the Carrier Decks but it's still frustratingly opaque and subject to the whims of Apple and their own internal strategic objectives. I'm sure you've spoken to folks who've waited weeks to get a response from Apple and others who have been flat-out rejected for no particular reason. And to Amol's point, I don't believe Apple will only do good. They make great products, but LOVE having control over their ecosystem. Sound familiar? The iPhone is the new walled garden.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:53:58 +0000

The real defining moment – and what will really unleash innovation. – is when in the US you can choose handsets and carriers separately. Everything else is just incremental.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:50:15 +0000

Saying apple is close to being a master is silly given their marketshare. A strong apple had the best chance of counterbalancing the overwhelming power of the carriers.

By: Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:30:12 +0000

It doesn't have to be a big business to make sense to Google. It just has to
be able to shake things up by letting people use Google Voice, Skype, etc.
It would either have razor-thin margins or be loss-making (certainly if you
include the cost of subsidizing the handsets). But it would subsidize apps
and ads. In fact, I think the reason they're not doing it is not just that
Google is very risk-averse, it's also for regulatory reasons. They would
basically be undercutting the telcos, and you bet the FTC and FCC would look
into that.

By: amolsarva

amolsarva — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:27:31 +0000

Ouch, I totally disagree on this one – trading 4 masters (carriers) for 1 (apple) doesn't seem like a winning proposition. unless you really believe that Apple will only do good

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:16:02 +0000

The carriers have had SO much power for so long, I think having Apple break their strangehold could shifted the balance of power back to the handsets / app makers at least a little. Have you talked to app makers who stood in line waiting to get on Verizon's “deck”? It's a nightmare compared to the iPhone.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:14:38 +0000

Yeah, although MVNO's have almost all turned out to be bad businesses. Also you are still dependent on carriers. Sprint seems to be most aggressive in MVNO market but most analysts think they won't last as an independent company.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:13:48 +0000

I just know the US market, but from what I hear other markets are much better in terms of handset-carrier decoupling.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:13:11 +0000

What I don't like about the Tour: The trackball is virtually unusable. It's like a video game where you are skating on ice. The browser actually takes longer to load pages than the iPhone on AT&T – it's basically unusable. The UI is ancient and bad. For example, it never remembers email addresses I email to frequently. Just all the little details are bad in the way Apple's are good.

By: akulkarni

akulkarni — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:10:09 +0000

Chris – let's not forget the stranglehold that Apple is developing on the smartphone. Had the iPhone moved to Verizon, we'd be stuck in a world dictated by Apple/ Jobs. E.g., fewer phones running Google Voice. Having a prominent Android device out there may prolong the decoupling of the Handset/ Carrier (but only prolong), but it's creating competition in the handset/OS world. Competition's a good thing for the consumer.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:38:19 +0000

I just have so much trouble believing Verizon is going to let themselves become a dumb pipe. They are crafty and must have a trick up their sleeves. I hope I'm wrong…

By: brian clark

brian clark — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:26:12 +0000

The Verizon Droid Phone is obviously something that apple has got to pay attention to and I'm sure this phone will be a defining moment in the mobile world.

By: Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:57:20 +0000

This is why I've been saying for years (nay, decades ) that if Google truly wanted to be disruptive in mobile they would've become an MVNO.

By: michael_mazya

michael_mazya — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:08:08 +0000

I agree completely about Verizon not allowing many of the things that a truly open system would, however this is looking like a very positive thing overall. I was an early adopter of Android after having used a Blackberry, a nokia Communicator, and a dozen other expensive phones that did not let me do what I needed to do on a phone as well as Google's operating system has. Though the Nokia did have a full browser long before anyone else.
Here we have a phone that is gorgeous (making me bullish on Motorola, btw), running on the best network in the country, with an open source operating system. That last part changes everything. I am no longer locked in anywhere. When I turn on my droid, which i am likely to buy at launch, I will input my user name and password and within a few minutes i will be fully synced with contacts, email and be ready to download my apps again which i already know i need. This is the same process that made losing my G1 almost painless.
If this makes people switch to android, then as soon as a better phone comes out, it will be just as easy to move to another carrier, contracts aside.
This is huge, as Fred Wilson pointed out earlier, and a very positive thing for cell phone obsessed people everywhere.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:06:51 +0000

I agree, though I would also point out that Verizon has already been forced into this path against its will – for a company that at one point laughed at the iPhone to now validate it in such an aggressive way is telling.

I would also argue that success by the “Droid” would seem to be a huge amount of leverage for the handset companies (Motorola and the rest). Instead of a handset ecosystem of the iPhone vs. everything crappier, this would be a catalyst for handset innovation, which is already a big step over years of carriers choking it off.

By: tylerfonda

tylerfonda — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:48:05 +0000

Verizon by having crappy devices to date is just prolonging the data overload that AT&T has experienced with the iPhone. If the 'Droid is good it will show Verizon's network for what it is. If it's as robust as they claim then everyone will clamor to get on it and kill service in high density areas. Open or not, it seems like the biggest problem might be bandwith.

After the recent Berkman center report my hope is that Julius Genachowski helps move us away from the current state of telco. So an amazing 'Droid may be just the thing to break the logjam.

By: chris dixon

chris dixon — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:42:31 +0000

would be nothing for innovation compared to do-coupling of carriers and handsets.

By: sdgfdsgdsgdsg

sdgfdsgdsgdsg — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:38:07 +0000

IS the US the only place that suffers this problem? Where I live now, and where I've lived previously, all handsets are available on all major carriers. And, all major carriers are good. One is much more expensive as the others, but they're all quite good.

By: Ben Atlas

Ben Atlas — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:15:53 +0000

P.S. The second act of this game is in the connected tablets where device might be more important than the OS. Do you bet on Motorola or Apple? My point exactly.

By: Ben Atlas

Ben Atlas — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:10:53 +0000

ATT and Apple will have to respond and Verizon will have to respond (like they do now) and that can't be bad in the long run.

By: aaronklein

aaronklein — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:08:50 +0000

Not sure you have the right read on Verizon/Apple but perhaps you have more information than me. I heard AT&T offered an unheard of $200 upfront combined with $200 over the life of the contract, in exchange for exclusivity. Not sure Verizon had much of a chance – and this was a revenue decision for Apple more than anything else.

Just curious, what part of the Tour don't you like? UI? I have the Bold on AT&T (basically the Tour plus wi-fi) and other than the clunkiness that is BlackBerry OS (when compared to iPhone), I love the Bold. Especially when it comes to e-mail.