MG Siegler wrote to TechCrunch since 2009. It covers web, mobile, social, big companies, small companies, in fact all. And Apple. A lot. Prior to TechCrunch he covered various technology beats for VentureBeat. Originally from Ohio, mg attended the University of Michigan. He had previously lived in Los Angeles, where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where ... ? Read More
19 January 2011. It is a day when I will always remember. This day, I finally got to destroy the Horcrux, lead poverty in my life: AT&T.
This day, I finally canceled my AT&T service after years of missed calls, non-existant Service gross over charges and all around. I even did it before I knew exactly what Verizon getting the iPhone. I have had enough. What should I undo it in Google voice, adding insults, just icing on the cake. Looking back, it was one of the best solutions, technology-wise, I've done in the past few years. And now he looks even better.
You see, after several months of AT&T time of sight, out of mind, they broke into my brain last night when I read at Engadget that they will eliminate the separate text messaging plans for several days. In AT&T marketing jargon this is called "Optimization". In my jargon this is called "bullshit".
In particular AT&T is cheaper than $ 10 per month option, which provides users with 1000 text messages. All that remains is only $ 20 per month unlimited parameter. Or you can have a predetermined plan and pay $ 0.20 for each SMS and $ 0.30 for each MMS.
Of course, that "Optimization" in that they are now two three options. However, the important reasons for the move.
Here's what's really happening. Naturally AT&T would never allow this, but they are scared shitless fully attacks currently in SMS. You see, these short messages have reached income stream of billions of dollars for carriers, with profits rising to 100 percent for each message. In other words, it has a long history of plagiarism. And carriers milking it dry years.
But now startups as GroupMe, which allows users to bypass the SMS and use the data to send short messages, are gaining popularity. Meanwhile, the massive players like Google and Facebook have introduced their own solutions to bypass SMS. And with the launch of iOS 5 this fall, Apple is going to bake a work-around in every iPhone there as iMessage.
AT&T "Optimization" is purely a defensive maneuver. It is true that neither GroupMe or Facebook Messenger is going to kill SMS per night. No iMessage. But what these services are going to do is slowly but surely people to understand that they should not send nearly as many text messages. I look at my use. In the past six months I sent seven message SMS. 7. all the rest of my short messages are passed through the Beluga, GroupMe, Google app voice or now Facebook Messenger. Each of these messages have been sent or received free of charge (they just use a tiny amount of data you already pay if your 3 G). This is the future.
So now with the services out there to make people less rely on SMS, what happens? People were going to want to drop their plans. Who wants to pay $ 20 a month when you use only a small number of messages? Why not pay the $ 10? Well now you can not. You can either pay $ 20 for unlimited, or have no plan and AT&T funny messages.
AT&T knows that most people are not going to chose the latter. Again we have no point yet where people will be comfortable letting go of SMS. Features all the services I have mentioned using it as a backup in one way or another.
Think of it this way: no SMS is heroin. $ 10 per month limited plan was methadone, which you can use to get rid of. AT&T simply cut off the supply of methadone. They're bold you go cold Turkey. Most will not.
I am sure that this is purely a coincidence that this move is happening right now, just weeks before the start of the iOS iMessage with 5. Of course AT&T "arrange" their SMS plans several months ago, but why not do it again? I am sure he has nothing to do with the fact that Apple unveiled the iMessage without telling carriers. AT&T just felt like the clients you want to change right now.
No, do not miss one bit, AT&T.
Update: not even 2 minutes after I publish my old foil, Seth Bloom wrote in to point out that this change applies only to new customers. In other words, this affects only millions of new users who sign up for AT&T get an iPhone (or any new Android phone, etc.) soon. No biggie.
In other words, part 2: "go ahead, sign up for SMS plan, we dare you."
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