Classic quote from Ars Technica yesterday about the Google’s new phone initiative:
“If a particular Google-branded phone is not on a particular carrier, then that’s only because that phone doesn’t have the proper radio to support its network.” You have to want Google to change the world sooooo bad to stretch reality far enough to believe that setting up a web site to sell unlocked phones is going to make a difference in the US mobile phone space.Here’s a news flash for the unenlightened: You can buy a lot of phones unlocked in the U.S. Nexus One is far from the first. If you’re willing to pay $500+ dollars, you can get a lot of phones and set up cheaper service with no 2-year obligation. I used to do it with all my Treos years ago. Until I realized that my Treo was going to be locked into a particular telco’s service, anyway.
And people say us Mac users drink the Kool Aid too much. Jeez.
Again, there is no one phone that works on multiple carriers in the U.S. T-Mobile/AT&T comes close, but since they have incompatible 3G radios, you end up only being able to use voice and slow EDGE data on one or the other.
When 4G is established enough in two or three years, that might all change. But by then, EVERYONE will be selling unlocked phones at a premium.
My prediction: most people will still be cheap and go for the subsidy.
