Smartphones - The Time for Change is Now

I've posted this week's 1SRC Editorial, The Time for Change is Now.

Ten years ago, when I got my first cell phone, I avoided making calls for fear of running up a huge bill. Back then; there were no plans with minutes. You simply paid per minute for each call you made or received. Today standard voice cell phone plans are finally affordable. There is a plan for everyone, even the chatterboxes among us. Two years ago, I was very cautious about using my Treo 600 because I was only allowed 5MB of data usage a month. Today, with my Treo 700p, I am finally free to use my device the way I want to. I have a plan with enough minutes (I don’t talk on the phone all that much) and my unlimited data plan is affordable.

In a recent Q&A session Palm CFO Andrew Brown pointed out that one of the barriers of entry preventing people from purchasing a smartphone was the cost of the data plan. Without a data plan, that multi-function Internet device becomes an expensive cell phone and day planner. I’ve talked with people from around the United States and abroad who have said that they count their megabyte usage just like I did because data services can be very expensive. I tend to agree. $25 a month for a 5MB data plan seems a bit expensive. If carriers want to grow the subscriber base then now is the time to start phasing in some price cuts. And I’m not just talking about new subscribers either.

Read more...