Has the touchscreen mobile phone inadvertently damaged our choice when it comes to selecting a mobile phone? No, this has nothing to with whether Android is the second coming, and the touch vs. type debate, but whether the touchscreen is (at least in the UK) limiting our ability to embrace the latest and greatest mobile phone models, and limiting the networks they’ll work on.
Think about it, O2 now has the iPhone, T-Mobile the new Android powered G1 and Vodafone is ready to announce it will be the exclusive partner for the new BlackBerry Storm. If you want any of these devices you have to go with their dedicated partner and their network, whether you want to or not. Lack of choice is a bad thing. A very bad thing.
But why? Could they be trying to lure customers away from other competing brands? Say it isn’t so! Of course that’s the simple, brutal answer. O2 has openly said that it wanted to grab the iPhone because of the bounty of customers its network could bring them.
But the problem with this model, which is quickly becoming the status quo, is that it doesn’t benefit me as a consumer. Lack of choice hurts prices, options and innovation. Could you imagine if you bought a LG television and you weren’t able to watch a channel on it because they had signed an exclusive agreement with Sony? It would be outrageous, and customers would rise up in protest. So why do we let it happen with our phones? And yes, it is the same thing.
So what’s the solution? I’ve never been a fan of exclusives in any arena, whether it be console games, operating systems, phones, or much else. Options are what drives prices down and innovation up, and always has been.
What is interesting is that the current trend of having exclusive handsets is really only affecting the touchscreen models. Although the Omnia and Tube don’t, or are unlikely to have exclusives, operators clearly see those lucrative early adopters as the customers to have. And that’s where the conundrum comes in.
Operators clearly hope the touchscreen handsets will allow them to achieve exclusivity goals for the mobile phone industry, and as long as they keep on coming back for more or contemplating switching, I think that mobile operators are going to keep on making sure they have exclusive hardware to offer. If customers keep responding to these types of corporate tactics, they’ll continue to limit our possible choices in the long run.
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