Re:Amazon Wants To Offer Its Smartphone for Free. Who Will F...
by Lost_BiomedE on Friday September 06, 2013 @07:43PM
(#6343262)
Telco termination fees have been, and are becoming much more so, a hindrance to innovation. The technical part of telcos should have been turned into dumb utilities by now, with the big providers as mere resellers. Thanks, Michael Powell.
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Re:Amazon Wants To Offer Its Smartphone for Free. Who Will F...
by scholia on Friday September 06, 2013 @08:14PM
(#6343365)
They might be a hindrance in the USA but not in most of the world, where pre-pay and rolling one-month contracts are common. It means there's a big market for good cheap phones among people who won't or can't pay $700 or $900 for an iPhone 5, and still want this year's model.
The South Korean government banned contracts for being anti-competitive, which gave a big boost to Samsung and LG. Now Chinese firms like Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE are benefiting as well.
This is why Apple has no real choice about doing a cheap iPhone. Contracts mean it can dominate the US market while making huge margins, but the rest of the world is going Android.