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Will Carriers Kill The iTunes Phone?
from the quite-possibly dept
Apple (and Motorola) took a lot of people by surprise earlier this week by announcing plans to put iTunes on a mobile phone, but they may have left out one very important part: figuring out how the carriers get a cut. The wireless carriers are notorious for supporting closed systems, and making sure that they get a cut of any transaction that goes through a mobile phone. While this is a shortsighted move that has slowed down the creation and adoption of wireless services and applications, the carriers still insist on sticking to that plan, under the weird belief that they know best what applications and services subscribers will use (and pay for). So, now, many analysts are pointing out that for all the hype surrounding the mobile iTunes, there's a good chance carriers won't let it run on their phones, unless they somehow get a cut. Of course, for the smart carrier, this is a perfectly good opportunity to open up their offering. Giving subscribers an open platform with plenty of applications and services should generate more interest and allow the carrier to steal customers away from its competitors. Eventually, it will happen, but it may take a while.
Reader Comments
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why are they in the loop?
I thought that you download to the computer and then load it to the phone, so why would the carriers have any part of this transaction? I have not seen any mention of purchase with the phone. (but I may have just missed that fact.)
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Re: why are they in the loop?
Ah...that is the whole issue! They don’t want the functionality if they are NOT in the loop, threefore, lockdown. If you had to use there network (use your minutes) to downlaod music they would be happy. If you are hooking up to the internet through your computer (no miuntes used) they don’t like that!
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Re: why are they in the loop?
Ah...that is the whole issue! They don’t want the functionality if they are NOT in the loop, therefore, lockdown.
If you had to use their network (use up your minutes) to to get the music onto your phone they would be happy.
If you are loading tunes directly from your computer (not using up your miuntes), they get nothing and aren’t happy.
They want you to have to dial up iTunes via their network and download the songs (LOTS of minutes used)!
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Re: why are they in the loop?
Ah...that is the whole issue! They don’t want the functionality if they are NOT in the loop, therefore, lockdown.
If you had to use their network (use up your minutes) to to get the music onto your phone they would be happy.
If you are loading tunes directly from your computer (not using up your miuntes), they get nothing and aren’t happy.
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Re: why are they in the loop?
OOPS! Now where’s that preview button?!?!?!
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But
They allow all kind of syncing already, palm type functions, address book, calendar, etc. So how is transferring music DATA to the phone any different then calendar DATA?
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Re: why are they in the loop?
This is a "Phone Maker/device maker"feature not a carrier feature. this all about taking the iTunes jukebox (not the iTunes Store) byond the PC workstation. Motorola now, and maybe Nokia, Ericison, Palm, & iPaq in the future.
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Re: why are they in the loop?
Yes, I remember reading that this is a PC/Mac to phone data transfer via USB or Bluetooth. The stated reason for not being able to purchase music via mobile was due to wireless bandwidth limitations. Of course, being unable to procure a reasonable license rate to access said bandwidth may be one of those limitations. One of those interviewed mentioned they might add that feature with newer/faster generations of wireless communications.
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No Subject Given
The smart ones will use it to differentiate themselves from the others.
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carriers & wireless iTunes
This should be a no-brainer for carriers- benefit from carriage revenue with the right model, while Apple & Moto take care of the enabling devices & service. Cyrus Allen Lead, Telstra i-mode
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