Prepaid Wireless Tracker
- July 2013 Issue #61
Hi,
Prepaid
wireless is a growing and truly exciting industry. At
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com I try to provide you with in-depth
information that isn't readily available anywhere else. The
content is original, and created from firsthand experience working in
the prepaid wireless industry for over a decade.
This monthly email provides you
with a quick glance at what's trending in the news so that you
can
easily keep
informed. I believe in brief, to-the-point
summaries/commentary
so that you can move onto other tasks in your day. Each
snippet
includes a link to the original story should you be interested in the
full details.
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AT&T Allows
Smartpones On GoPhone
AT&T now finally offers smartphone plans on its prepaid GoPhone
program. But before getting too excited, the included data is
extremely uncompetitive. This change was much needed, and
hopefully sets the stage for ultimately increasing its data plan
allowance to something more practical to keep the brand afloat in the
market.
AT&T Allows Aio to Offer 4G LTE
Light Reading
This shift to 4G occurred much faster than I predicted. This
is a wise decision for AT&T. Given the evolved state
and marketing
around 4G in the prepaid wireless market in general, Aio would have
difficulty establishing itself
as a legitimate alternative prepaid brand. Even lower budget
customers want speed, and don’t want to feel like second
class citizens using an outdated network.
TAG Mobile Launches
Prepaid Wireless
The Prepaid Press
TAG Mobile rides on both the Verizon and Sprint networks to provide
nationwide no contract service. Their plans are fairly
competitive (certainly much more inspiring than AT&T GoPhone!),
and once they launch their BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) program, they
will have a much broader consumer appeal.
TAG also
participates in the Lifeline free cell phone service for qualified low
income households. This carrier could be a good alternative
depending on your specific needs.
T-Mobile Allows Bring
Your Own Device On MetroPCS
FierceWireless
MetroPCS stores will now be able to activate certain AT&T,
T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint devices on T-Mobile’s GSM
network in defined markets. This is a huge win for customers,
who can use certain iPhones, Android smartphones, and Windows Phone
devices on MetroPCS’ lower cost plans. I believe
that BYOD represents the future of the industry (similar to Europe),
where OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like Samsung, HTC,
Motorola, Apple, etc. focus on creating unique devices that can be
activated on an carrier. Carriers’ involvement in
morphing handsets and dealing with warranties and repairs, and OS
updates, contributes to an overall deteriorated customer
experience.
Virgin Mobile Finally
Gets iPhone 5
AppAdvice
It’s important to report that Virgin will have the iPhone 5
available for sale, even though this “news” is far
from inspiring as it’s been a year since the iPhone 4 was
available on Virgin. This delayed launch is no doubt due to
Sprint’s desire to keep hot new smartphones limited to its
postpaid brand, which it deems more profitable. When Sprint
starts to get concerned about its iPhone sales quota not being met, no
doubt that Boost will also get this [dying] iconic phone.
Verizon Seeking To
Acquire Canadian
Prepaid Carrier Wind Mobile
CBC News
This is really interesting news. Wind is a small carrier in
Canada that doesn’t have nationwide coverage, so competing in
Canada against the big three (Rogers, Bell, and Telus) will take a lot
of time and massive infrastructure investment. Even if they
were to compete and become the number one carrier in Canada, so
what? The Canadian market is so small, that it would
represent a rounding error when compare to Verizon's overall revenue
and
profits. It seems as though using access to the Canadian
market with North American plans (within their U.S. plans), would
provide additional competitive advantages for their U.S.
business, which may be their main objective. I get a lot of
inquiries from U.S.
customers
looking for the best carrier/plan when traveling to Canada. I
look forward to hearing more from Verizon when they’re
willing to discuss their strategy. That said, they will be
unlikely to reveal too much too soon.
On a side note, the fact that the stock prices of the Canadian carriers
dropped on the day of this announcement show how absolutely ridiculous
the stock market is. Nothing about those carriers’
assets or value has changed. Even if Verizon does enter that
market, it will be years before anything material happens that would
erode the profits of the incumbents. I’ve become
increasingly frustrated with the fundamental workings of the pathetic
stock system. That’s why Warren Buffet looks at
real company value, and compares it to the stock price (which has very
little to do with real value)…but I digress…
Boost & Virgin
Mobile Get Samsung
Galaxy SIII
Wireless and Mobile News
So Sprint finally releases the Samsung Galaxy SIII on the likes of
Boost and Virgin. While it’s certainly a great
smartphone, it’s pretty old news given that the Galaxy S4 hit
the market three months ago. In my opinion the price needs to
drop another $100 before being a truly compelling offer.
What's
New At Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Added Cricket Samsung Galaxy S4 to 4G Phones
- Added Boost Mobile HTC One SV & Boost Force
to 4G Phones
Comments?
Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and
tell me what you think!
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Wireless Tracker Back Issues.
Cheers!
PrepaidWirelessGuy
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