Feb 28, 2006 | blog
Still can’t get the MDA – the company still says that it does not have stock available to sell to existing customers (you know the ones who always pay their bills every month). Instead, all currently available stock will be used to lure new customers into 2-year contracts.
Nice.
Maybe I’m being selfish and shallow, but it still makes me a bit upset. I’m one of those darn pesky reliable existing customers. Its a shame that I have this peculiar idea that I should be able to buy a product that a company is selling. Strange, I know. Someday I’ll get over it – probably when I decide to switch phone carriers. The problem with that idea is that all carriers do the same dumb things.
Feb 24, 2006 | blog
This post over on Om Malik’s blog has me thinking of how simple it has become to start a different spin on practically anything. Take VoIP for example, with open source PBXs like Asterisk anyone could start a new “skype” like service focusing on whatever aspect that they believe to be important to their niche market.
Just thinking of that one possiblility is intriguing in the possibilities of having. For example, a private VoIP system for your social organization like a club, or community. Something that would cater to the unique needs of your group’s requirements.
Another aspect of the open source movement that is now possible, is the ability for anyone to take on the roll of an entrepreneur, building a business using common, high-quality open-source components. The focus of a given business can now be on the services, support, and price instead of the technology underneath.
I have to admit that I’m a big Microsoft fan in most everything that they do, but Om’s article really has gotten me thinking this afternoon. It has opened my eyes to the real possiblilities out there, along with the many high-quality “web 2.0” services that have cropped up lately. From free hosting at Microsoft’s Office Live, to GMail, to free Blogs & Wiki’s, the new business models can be built on standardized blocks and the main thrust of one’s energies can be targeted on your market or audience rather than the parts needed to run the business.
Of course it makes it hard on people like me – I’m a technologist, I’m in the industry for the technology, it is very hard to come up with something new or improved that people will want, or that someone else can do much better.
Still having the opportunities and tools available is a huge improvement over the previous entry-price to startups.
Feb 22, 2006 | blog
*rant*
Sensational – yes, but you have to admit the current practice of making new phones/devices available to “new” customers and not to loyal existing customers is one sure way of making them unhappy.
This is my case – I’ve been waiting for T-Mobile USA to carry Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone devices for over 4 years. I’ve poked, prodded, emailed, called, suggested, etc… and now that the MDA is “available” through T-Mobile – I get the standard run-around that its not available to current customers “right now”.
However, if I want to start a new line of service I can get the phone. Will someone explain the logic to me? This is one of the few times Tmo has pissed me off. Customer service is good, and so are the pricing plans, but to not make a new phone available to your current loyal customers is simply unacceptable.
Well Tmo, Verizon is looking better – even if it costs more in data services, at least I can get the PPC 6700 right off the bat, or the Treo 700w. All it takes to make me happy is to sell me the phone that is on the web site for the price you are asking for it, without making me start a new line of service – is that so hard?
*/rant*
Feb 20, 2006 | blog
Well that didn’t work. Ok, note to self… don’t try to change the base domain name for your web site when you are transfering it from one registrar to another.
Seriously, when I say it to myself that way, I realize how stupid it really was. You may have noticed that this site actually resolves to rickmahn.net, I own rickmahn.com as well and have it forwarding here. Its in the process of being transfered to my new hosting service, and well, I thought I could do a few things that just didn’t work.
The short of it is that it’ll just have to be forwarding to rickmahn.net for another few days until the domain has been transfered, then I’ll move the site from rickmahn.net to rickmahn.com.
Sorry for any confusion! Just my stupidity showing itself :).
Feb 18, 2006 | blog
Russell Beattie has a nice post about his observations at 3GSM this year. Don’t expect a lot of technical reviews – as he points out, there are a ton of sites to get the tech scoop. I’d like to thank Russell for giving a different spin, I’ve always wanted to go to 3GSM and this adds another perspective that I appreciate
Via: RussellBeattie.com
