I bet when SJ is still alive he'll be mad as hell when he heard this kind of comment.
As someone who owns AT&T stock (not intentionally, it's part of another fund I invest in), he's doing what he's supposed to do.
Not doing everything in your power to improve the value of the company for shareholders means he would be breaking his fiduciary responsibility to those shareholders.
That said, I hate AT&T's service. But I'm grandfathered into the unlimited plan, so I don't want to leave.
After living with the crappy smart phone world I'm in now, yes, I would change things.
Texting is the most ludicrous charge on a smartphone bill. Costs nothing to text from phone to phone.
Hurrah iMessage!
He doesn't lay awake worrying because he already "fixed" it. He knew that iMessage would allow many to drop to the lowest tier of messaging. So he just, you know, got rid of the lower tier. Unlimited texting or 1000 messages, no other options, ensures that iMessage doesn't cost ATT a dime. In fact, ATT is making more because there is no lower text option for new customers anymore. I would be on the 200 message plan if I could get there, but no dice. So I'm at $10 for 1000, costing me $60 a year plus tax. And most of my texts are iMessages...
It's the problem with the way big businesses have been run for the last 30+ years. Making a profit isn't enough. Even making more profit than before isn't enough. You need to make more profit than the Wall Street expects you to make so that the top brass can get their bonuses. In 2007 introducing the iPhone with unlimited data was fine because
Now they're selling lots of phones, but need to make even more money because the phones are already baked into their stock prices. If they want their bonuses they have to find other ways to get money out of the rest of us.
- Very few people used much data on the lousy phones they had.
- It meant AT&T would sell a lot of phones and contracts. Nobody was thinking about 2012 and beyond, they were only thinking about 2007 bonuses.
The more I think about it, the more I don't care about the data costs. What I DO care about are the insane VOICE costs. I'll pay $80/month for unlimited data as long as I don't have to pay for a worthless voice plan on top of it. That's what VOIP is for.
Well technically, one of the common criticisms of Apple is that they have pretty packages and form-factors but their hardware and specs are well behind their competitors... yet Apple still charges a premium for their products.
lol, quick to call at&t greedy
BUT, apple is never greedy
typical
"You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model"
I'm sorry, but what CEO says that besides one that thinks they're getting away with something in their current business model? And/or has no desire to evolve.
Really? We doubt that.... Every additional megabyte you use in this network, I have to invest capital.
Unlimited data is unsustainable unless you as the customer are prepared to help the company foot the bill to massively improve capacity.
I still don't understand why people need it anyway - at home you have WiFi, at work you likely have WiFi. What do you do between those two places that requires so much data?
Moron. Data plans were incredibly confusing back then, especially because no one really knew how much data they needed. So in order to have a nice, easy to understand internet experience, Apple pushed for a simple unlimited plan. For every person using massive amounts of data, there's 10 who barely use any.
Thank you for saying this. Its this reason why our economy is in such poor shape. Big business and Wall Street are sucking the rest of this country dry with this mindset.
After living with the crappy smart phone world I'm in now, yes, I would change things.
Texting is the most ludicrous charge on a smartphone bill. Costs nothing to text from phone to phone.
Hurrah iMessage!