Another hack in the wall

This story about a kid hacking the iPhone to work on networks other than AT&T (not the first hack by a long run) shows to me that there is a big demand for unlocked phones. I really have to wonder why device manufacturers insist on entering into exclusive agreements with carriers like this. Sure, in the USA AT&T has become the "Monster Bell" of the market (although for whatever reason no one seems to be suggesting it be blasted into baby-bells again this time around) but there are still millions of us out there not with AT&T, and a world market of GSM phone users that is even bigger.

The economics for the carriers obviously make sense - not only do they get to leverage hot new phones to attract customers, they get to use them to lock in customers who would otherwise defect for reasons of crappy service, higher pricing etc. Basically these deals are clearly anti-competitive ammunition that do nothing but hurt customers. I say that the FCC should outlaw subsidized equipment deals - if customers want to be locked into a company they can easily sign up for a fixed contract (which carriers seems to want to force us to anyway) and all the subsidies should be wiped out passing on the true savings back to the customer in low monthly bills.

Thinking about this brings to light one possible advantage of these deals for equipment manufacturers - by lowering the perceived cost of phones it encourages churn in the equipment market. If we all paid the true, several hundred dollar price of a phone then we might pause to think before upgading every year. Environmentally I think its bad to encourage this behavior - its the Japanese syndrome of replacing all your appliances every year for the latest thing, with all that equipment ending up in landfills. Again, I say that we should all be paying an unsubsidized price for equipment - when people truly want something they will pay a full premium price for it, witness the iPhone. It would also remove pressure on device manufacturers to be constantly innovating in the "style" department instead of actually focusing on improving functionality and performance with fewer better new devices.

Okay, rant over - I'll hang up now.