Well, it looks like Verizon is either a) making room for a bunch of new handsets, b) trying to deal with the $99 iPhone 3G, or c) probably a combination of both a and b. Every smartphone that Verizon currently carries less the BlackBerry Tour and the Samsung Saga is now $99 or less on a 2-year activation.
[Via BGR]
Ah big red’s desperation setting in about getting whipped by the iPhone AND more desperation setting in to control consumers, trying to fool the uneducated into thinking getting a subsidized smartphone cheap is somehow a benefit. NOT.
Read this uneducated cheap, below cost smartphones = higher service costs. The four orifices are not going to lose money so that we can get cheap smartphones while devaluing manufactures products and scewing consumers perception on how much smartphones should cost.
Manufactures need to step in and control this, one way is selling direct, un-branded and un-locked, while educating consumers with reality, not the four orifice’s desperate attempt to fool consumers into thinking they are somehow getting a good deal.
Dude, you have been spewing the same dribble about Verizon for years. Why can’t you accept the fact that most verizon subscribers are happy with their server. I understand that you aren’t, however, Verizon is growing so, so they must be doing something right.
You actually have good points from time to time, but, repeating the same thing over and over and over just makes people drown you out.
The Rock: you are SOOOO wrong…it’s a wonder you can even live with yourself. People have Verizon so they can have superior coverage as opposed to AT&T’s “3G-only-in-big-cities” coverage, that even there, drops calls half the time. You need to get your head out of the sand!
LarryMcJ:”you are SOOOO wrong…..it’s a wonder you can even live with yourself. People have AT&T so they can have superior coverage as opposed to Verizon’s “3G-only-in-big-cities” coverage, that even there, drops calls half the time. You need to get your head out of the sand!”
A smart consumer is a at&t customer.
Omar,
Is massive layoffs doing something right? Ridiculous subsidizing is not good for anyone, not good for consumers, not good for manufactures, not good for the industry. It’s only good for big red and their never-ending quest for control and keeping consumers locked behind it’s walled garden.
Big red wireless shouldn’t need all the other crap and focus being a service provider and nothing else, the lies, crippling, function removal, grandstanding, desperation for control. All the other crap is nothing but a hindrance to verizon’s core business. verizon is not a app store, verizon is not a music store, verizon is however a service provider in the process of upgrading it’s soon to be obsolete non-standard cdma network to next gen, open global, standard, GSM/LTE with a pretty good reputation for being able to provide a rather solid network.
Why point out the facts? Because the facts matter to the educated, the facts matter to manufactures, consumers should be interested in the facts instead of continuing to listen to the alternative reality which verizon tries to feed it’s customers, some of whom get fooled into accepting everything thing verizon says as the truth and getting suckered lock, stock and barrel.
None of the four orifices are without fault however selling devices way below retail hurts manufactures and consumers in the long run.
The Weekly Layoff Report: Bloodbath At Verizon
Sam Niles, 07.31.09, 02:50 PM EDT
The telecom giant lays off thousands after reporting poor quarterly numbers.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/31/layoff-tracker-unemployment-leadership-report.html
” On Monday, it announced that it would let go of 8,000 of its 235,000 workers, the largest cut on the Forbes Layoff Tracker since GM announced it would eliminate 8,000 jobs in April.”
Yes, the layoffs are massive, but, I believe they have more to do with the elimination of duplicate jobs functions due to the Alltel acquisition than they are an indication of the companies health.
Verizon doesn’t have the iPhone, yet their subscriber add is very impressive and everyone in the industry wishes they had a churn rate as low.
Somewhere in your post, you talk about facts mattering to the educated. I have an MBA in economics from the University of Chicago and have a been a industry analyst covering mobile trends and technology for the past 7 years. Although much of what you say about Verizon’s practices are true, financially, they are in the best posistion of all the carriers, and are the one carrier where loyalty to the company is greater than loyalty to the device.
Sorry about the spelling mistake but I couldn’t edit after posting…