Blog

AT&T Embraces the Uncarrier Spirit

by Eddie Hold on January 3, 2014 at 2:37 pm

After spending most of the past year on the receiving end of T-Mobile’s Uncarrier strategy, AT&T has made its first truly aggressive move. In a new promotion launched today, T-Mobile customers that switch to AT&T will receive a $200 credit per line, as well as up to $250 in trade-in credit for their old T-Mobile phone. In return, these ex-T-Mobilers must join AT&T’s Next program, and purchase a Mobile Share plan – but without any contractual obligation beyond the Next program itself.

Heady Days for T-Mobile’s Data Use

by Eddie Hold on December 24, 2013 at 10:02 am

Less than a year after T-Mobile shook up the U.S. market with its Uncarrier strategy, the results are clearly demonstrating the success of these bold moves. The carrier is gaining new subscribers at a rate not seen for several years, accruing an additional 1 million subscribers in Q3, compounding the success of the previous quarter too. But it’s not just the number of subscribers that demonstrate T-Mobile’s growing strength...

The Accidental Accessory

by Eddie Hold on December 23, 2013 at 10:55 am

For the majority of consumers, the smartphone case is a fashion statement. My daughter, for example, bought several cases within weeks of buying the iPhone 5S to avoid any potential fashion faux pas. As such, for many people the case can be considered as an extension of the clothing that we wear. But there’s a dark side to what we wear: ask any young child who has been forced into a ghastly velvet suit, dress, or the like to attend a grown-up function. The scarring is permanent; trust me.

How Do You Watch TV?

by John Buffone on December 18, 2013 at 3:46 pm

Network broadcasts, cable TV, DVR, on-demand, mobile apps, or apps on your TV? Who needs so many ways to watch TV? Me. Looking at recent viewing behaviors in our home many of these served a purpose, but there is a clear migration towards apps on the TV.

Shopping in the Fourth Dimension

by Eddie Hold on December 12, 2013 at 9:50 am

This holiday season some retailers are placing more emphasis on the mobile experience in an attempt to drive greater consumer focus both in the store and online. The smartphone provides the union of the physical and digital worlds and, through this device, the retailer can build an omni-channel solution for all occasions. The result is a “store” where it no longer matters if the consumer is online, in the store, or even online while in the store. As long as the ultimate sale remains within the retailer’s channels then all is well with the world...

Smartphones Drive Black Friday Traffic, But The Apps Still Wanting

by Eddie Hold on December 1, 2013 at 3:02 pm

The post-Turkey shopping extravaganza saw a significant increase in smartphone use, with some services seeing almost double the use of last year. But the real winner was less an individual retailer and more the overall web platform versus individual retailer apps. As we discovered in the recent Shopping on Smartphones report, many consumers continue to use the retailer websites, not the made-for-shopping apps that all the major retailers have developed.

In Search Of Downtime

by Eddie Hold on November 1, 2013 at 7:22 am

“Turn your downtime into banking time” encouraged a radio ad for a large bank that was promoting the availability of its latest banking app. As a flip phone consumer, at least for the week, I wanted to ignore the ad completely, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how this simple sentence highlights everyday use of smartphones. Downtime is considered a bad thing, a waste, when we could be doing more productive activities.

Is The Next Big Thing A Flip Phone?

by Eddie Hold on October 31, 2013 at 9:11 am

I made my cousin speechless this past week. Literally, mid-sentence, she stopped talking and she stared incredulously at my phone before exclaiming “what the heck is that?” In all the years of carrying the latest and greatest devices I’ve never had such a reaction. Of course, these days pretty much all phones look the same and it’s really hard to carry a device that is so clearly different from the pack. The last such phone was the original iPhone. Before that, it was the RAZR that I’m now carrying.

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