An interesting trend with mobile phones
I see a very interesting trend with mobile phones happening, at least with PDA’s, and I’m beginning to wonder why you aren’t hearing much about it. I can almost guarantee that if Microsoft pulled this garbage, they’d be involved in lawsuits/class action to stop the activation process, with folks up in arms screaming monopolies, etc. Facts:
When I tested both the EDGE version and the 3G version of the iPhone, I was required to activate the phone with iTunes before I could continue. I’ve crashed and burned the phone a few times and the phone is absolutely worthless until you connect to your computer and let iTunes activate it.
Over the last few days, I’ve been testing the T-Mobile G1. I was required to have a Gmail account, or create one, before I could even use the phone. That’s right. I received Google server errors and was completely unable to do anything with the phone except make an emergency call until the phone was able to “talk” to the Google servers.
I’ve also tested the HTC Touch Pro, and the Samsung Epix, both running Windows Mobile 6.1. Interestingly enough, I was able to fully use the phone out of the box, without requiring a sync to my computer, or requiring a data connection. It just worked, right out of the box.
So, what do you suppose would happen if all of a sudden Microsoft required all Windows Mobile phone activations to REQUIRE a Hotmail or Windows Live account before activation? Not just say it’s nice to have to get the full functionality, but actually DEMAND it and not be able to use the phone unless you did? What if the instructions in the box said you need ActiveSync with Windows XP or Windows Mobile Device Center with Windows Vista BEFORE YOU CAN USE THE PHONE? Think they’d be sued? Why is it that Apple and Google can get away with this? They are after all, phones, aren’t they?