I do agree with him but I think even if there are 1 million Walt Mossberg writing this kind of article to stop cellular companies from branding and locking our phones, it won't matter because as long as cheapo Americans keep eating off the "omg I can get a free shitty RAZR by signing 2 yrs contract", the locking and branding is here to stay.
I do agree with him 110%. Phone companies should be treated like utilities company where they merely provided services and customers should choose their own unlocked devices. This model is great and allows more flexibility. Even if those companies subsidize the phone by asking us to sign a 2 years contract, the phone ITSELF should NOT be branded (which makes it crippled)... With this model, there will still be cheap phones by manufacturers for those people who need cheap phones but the high-end phones will also be available for those tech-junkie who needs the phone and they have no need to actually import the phone from overseas like what they are doing right now because the cellular companies are selling everything, it is very hard to find those shops that sell unlocked phones unless you imported it.
Again, I should mention that it doesn't matter how many Walt Mossberg writing this article or any other person, as long as Americans are still CHEAP and wanting free phones from carriers and they DO NOT CARE any other thing except making calls and texting, the branding and locking is here to stay
Down with Locking+Branding... FREE MY GODDAMN PHONE!!!!!
You assume that the reason that phones are subsidized is because Americans want them that way? No. It's because that's the only way to get them. You pay the same amount of money for a contract whether or not you get a phone through them. You don't have a choice in the matter. Given those constraints, the smart thing to do is to get the phone through the provider, when it's essentially free to you, rather than to go out and buy an expensive phone and pay the same for the service anyway.
I'm not defending the phone companies here. I'm defending the "cheapo American" consumers.
While its tablet world topping pixel density, Tegra 2 silicon, and fresh to death OS certainly sound awesome, we had to get our grubby mitts on one to see if it's as good as its spec sheet would have us believe.
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I do agree with him but I think even if there are 1 million Walt Mossberg writing this kind of article to stop cellular companies from branding and locking our phones, it won't matter because as long as cheapo Americans keep eating off the "omg I can get a free shitty RAZR by signing 2 yrs contract", the locking and branding is here to stay.
I do agree with him 110%. Phone companies should be treated like utilities company where they merely provided services and customers should choose their own unlocked devices. This model is great and allows more flexibility. Even if those companies subsidize the phone by asking us to sign a 2 years contract, the phone ITSELF should NOT be branded (which makes it crippled)... With this model, there will still be cheap phones by manufacturers for those people who need cheap phones but the high-end phones will also be available for those tech-junkie who needs the phone and they have no need to actually import the phone from overseas like what they are doing right now because the cellular companies are selling everything, it is very hard to find those shops that sell unlocked phones unless you imported it.
Again, I should mention that it doesn't matter how many Walt Mossberg writing this article or any other person, as long as Americans are still CHEAP and wanting free phones from carriers and they DO NOT CARE any other thing except making calls and texting, the branding and locking is here to stay
Down with Locking+Branding... FREE MY GODDAMN PHONE!!!!!
You assume that the reason that phones are subsidized is because Americans want them that way? No. It's because that's the only way to get them. You pay the same amount of money for a contract whether or not you get a phone through them. You don't have a choice in the matter. Given those constraints, the smart thing to do is to get the phone through the provider, when it's essentially free to you, rather than to go out and buy an expensive phone and pay the same for the service anyway.
I'm not defending the phone companies here. I'm defending the "cheapo American" consumers.