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France-Telecom CEO: Apple now easier to deal with
France Telecom-Orange CEO Stephane Richard noted during a dinner with reporters on Monday during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that Apple has become easier to deal with. "Apple has [become] more flexible, paying more attention to everyone else, probably a little less arrogant than they used to be," Richard said, according to AllThingsD. He went on to compare the iPhone maker today with the iPhone maker under Steve Jobs' leadership. "I think they are probably a little more under pressure, and it is quite nice." Richard is known for his outspoken comments -- and they didn't end with Apple. He admitted that it will be hard for any other mobile ecosystem to gain a foothold over iOS and Android, saying that telecom CEOs hope a powerful third player will emerge, although that seems unlikely. As for the fledgling Windows Phone, Richard says he doesn't see it catching on as it lacks a "wow" factor and doesn't do anything better than iOS or Android. Richard's experience with the ease of working with Apple is clearly subjective, but given the increased competitiveness in the smartphone marketplace and the entrenchment of Android, it makes sense that the notoriously "my way or the highway" company might be more willing to give a little ground in order to keep its partners happy.
France Telecom CEO talks SIM cards, next iPhone, apps and more
The CEO of France Telecom, Stephane Richard, recently spoke to Ina Fried at AllThingsD and spilled some juicy tidbits about how Orange (a global brand owned by France Telecom, which currently sells the iPhone in 15 countries) has worked with Apple. He also made some interesting comments about Apple's competition in the smartphone world while basically crediting the company for creating the entire smartphone market! And yes, he mentions RIM and Nokia, two other pioneers in the smartphone game. In terms of dealing with Apple, Richard's comments about apps made me cringe. He's basically in favor of carrier-owned app marketplaces, which were the standard before the iPhone came around. You know all that crapware that comes pre-installed on Windows machines and other smartphones? Yeah, he loves that stuff and worries that someday Apple will deny an app that Orange approves of. He also says, however, that his company has a good working relationship with Cupertino, who can be "a little tough." If Apple should refuse an app that Orange likes, Richards says, "Definitely, if we face these kind of problems, we will go to court. Because competition is not only something that should be applied to telcos and to carriers. For us it should be a principle for the whole Internet environment." Those of us in America will chuckle at that competition comment, given AT&T's former stranglehold on the iPhone. The juicy bit that the Apple blogosphere seems to be freaking out about today is Richard's comment about the "next iPhone." After a discussion regarding a SIM-less phone (like ESIM), and noting that the SIM card takes up valuable space, he goes on to say, "I understood that the next iPhone would be smaller and thinner and they are definitely seeking some space." Which, in blogosphere freak out-speak means that Apple's next iPhone will be the iPhone nano. I think he's simply saying the next iPhone will be somewhat smaller and thinner, which is par for the course for Apple's design team, isn't it? I'm hard pressed to think of a product line that Apple made larger and thicker in a new iteration. At any rate, we already knew Orange was working with Apple on a smaller SIM card.
European carriers want content companies and smartphone makers to pay network usage fees
How do you start a net neutrality debate without ever saying "net neutrality?" If you're a European wireless carrier like France Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, or Vodafone, you do it by just getting straight to the point: you say companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook need to start paying for continued network access because their devices and services use too much bandwidth. Yep, that's a straight-up network neutrality issue, but the carriers are framing it like it's an accounting problem -- and they're not being shy about wanting more cash to even out the books as they invest in next-gen networks. "It's necessary to put in place a system of payments by service providers as a function of their use," says France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard, while Telefonica CEO Cesar Alierta says that Google and Yahoo's free use of his network is a "tragedy" that "can't continue." (No, we're not making this up.) In addition to shaking down service providers and device makers, European carriers are also following AT&T and Verizon to tiered data plans -- France Telecom is will move from unlimited pricing to something "more sophisticated," and the other networks expected to follow. What's most interesting to us is that the carriers are appearing to conflate bandwidth-heavy services like Facebook and YouTube with devices that customers use to access those services -- does it really make any sense to charge Apple or Google a fee for making good phones that encourage more network use, on top of charging users for tiered data? That's an unexpected -- and unfortunate -- twist on the standard net neutrality debate, and we're not so sure we want to see where it's going. Read the whole article at the source link, it's a good one.
