An Open Letter to Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer, T-Mobile USA (and the rest of T-Mobile USA)

[grayhawkfh]

I read your recent blog post today (About the iPhone – a Letter to T-Mobile Customers) regarding the iPhone. Now, having been a satisfied customer of T-Mobile for 5 or 6 years, I'm not really looking to switch carriers at this time. I would however, like to make something crystal clear:

As one of your customers who would really like to see the iPhone on T-Mobile, I do not give a tinkers damn about the Samsung Galaxy S II, the HTC Amaze, or any non-iPhone device. At all.

Are we clear on this? I really hope so, because the only way for me to be any clearer would be for me to tattoo it on your forehead backwards so you can read it every time you look in a mirror.

I own exactly one Apple product (an iPad). I'm not a particular Apple fanboy, not one of those so many have derided as "worshiping at the altar of Jobs". To be honest, I'm not 100% certain that it will meet my smart phone requirements. But I'd like to have the opportunity to verify this. To compare it against your other offerings.

Do your customer base a favor: Don't tease us with tech we're not going to get, and don't trot out other tech which isn't the tech so many want. Quit with the "you can't have this, but you can have that instead". It's annoying, condescending, and doesn't endear you to your users.

Miracle Whip ain't mayonnaise, but each have their fans and haters; some even like both.

Same with Apple and Android.

Best regards,

Frank N. Huminski

Comments

[stormyheart]

Miracle Whip ain't mayonnaise, but each have their fans and haters; some even like both.

Some even hate both *raises hand*

I honestly don't get what all the hype is about smart phones. If you want a portable computer...buy a laptop or a tablet. That's my take on it, anyway.

[adelheid-p.livejournal.com]

I'm not into the iPhone but I totally get what you are saying. Unfortunately, I don't think it's T-Mobile you should be addressing but rather Apple. They decide whether they are going to work with the carrier to offer the iPhone.

[antiwesley.livejournal.com]

We just changed carriers from ATT to Verizon. I dropped my iPhone like a bad habit.

I liked the iPhone, sure... but the ephemera around it started to help make it work less and less for me. iTunes is a very chunky interface and it was becoming more and more logged down with each update and each sync. It started running chuggy. (Both the phone and iTunes) When we made the change, I moved over to a Droid. (LG Revolution in fact) By midnight the day I got it, I had the thing rooted, removed all the crappy apps that came preinstalled and had the thing running like I wanted it to. The iPhone, when hacked, ran even more chuggier, and I ended up having to restore it because of how poorly the iOS acts.

The iPhone is not something to lust over. You're better off with Droids, just for the mere fact that the Android OS is open-source and the almost Nazi-like regulation of the marketplace is non-extant.
You can install third-party apps without hacking the phone even. iPhone requires that hack. If it's not approved by Apple, you can't run it.

[grayhawkfh.livejournal.com]

That regulation of the Marketplace is actually a plus in my book, mainly because it reduces the amount of crapware and malware. Not saying there's neither in the App store, but to be honest? There's a lot less.

The fact that I can't remove crap I don't want without rooting it is a negative to me, and is a factor in my buying decision. That is more effort than I'm willing to expend for a smartphone (which, being in IT, I do have my uses for).

My needs are actually quite simple: I need a phone with a minimal amount of pre-installed crap with the ability to load the apps I need for my purposes (work or personal). I know the Apple App Store has many, if not all, of the sort of things I need, and I know that Android has similar.

If I have to expend ANY extra effort to make the damn thing usable to me, I don't want the damn thing.

Now with all of that said, I also am a firm believer that the cellphone market is not a zero-sum game. Everyone has different needs that are satisfied by different phones. Ya pick what ya like and ignore the rest.

All I'm trying to say in the letter above is that I just want to *have* the option. And right now, I don't.