The Biggest Threat to Android: The Carriers

The Biggest Threat to Android: The Carriers
This is more of a follow up to my post about Android fragmentation. As many people like to point out there are a lot of different android experiences out there which leaves many people to believe android has a problem with fragmentation. I still believe that these are more growing pains than anything else, and the reason no real concerted effort to kill the fragmentation issue totally dead is that so far people are still purchasing andoid phones in mass numbers. Once the numbers start to change companies adjust. The clearest example of this is HTC who stated they lost focus last year and released far too many different phones and would be scaling back, In addition they are attempting to declutter sense (their software differentiator) to provide a better more consistent experience. While this is great to see there is still one albatros on the back of all smartphones save the iphone - The Carriers.


People like to think that phone manufacturers think of their users as their customers. The truth of the matter is they don't. The carriers, Verizon, Sprint, At&t, and t-mobile are the manufacturers customers.  As a result to a large degree the carriers dictate the experience you have on your phone. If you've ever wondered why your sprint phone has a Nascar app pre-installed you should know that sprint sponsors the major nascar racing circuit. The thing is the carriers are a lot more pervasive then even this. Not to long ago Verizon would not sell you a smart phone with wifi. To be clear at the time every other carrier had phones with wifi but verizon wanted to sell data plans so all their smart phones had that feature removed. Just recently verizon forced google to remove their google wallet mobile payment feature from the Galaxy Nexus again because verizon wants their customers to use their upcoming mobile payment system called isis.

Exclusively on At&t

This also goes beyond preventing features from appearing on your phone, they also have a huge influence on the primary source of fragmentation: Firmware updates. The delays associated with carrier updates is not solely due to the carriers but there is at least one way the carriers make it harder for manufacturers to update their devices in a timely manner: exclusivity deals. In order to get carriers to agree to sell the manufacturers phones the manufacturer has to offer them exclusive access to that phone. This creates situations where sprint has the HTC EVO 3D, while T-mobile gets the sensation, the only significant difference being that one comes with a 3D screen, and a 3D camera on the back. This makes it that much harder for manufacturers to provide updates because they have to maintain drivers for more devices then they otherwise would.

Going it alone

You may be asking yourself why do the manufacters sell to the carriers why don't they just sell directly to the consumers. The answer is most Americans don't know how much smart phones actually cost.  The sticker shock only is enough to make most Americans switch back to landlines. To mask the cost the carriers offer subsidies as long as you sign up for a contract that brings the total cost of ownership of the phone to over three times the cost of the phone. In fact both Sony/Ericson and Nokia attempted to sell directly to the user, they had mall kiosks and experience stores. Both failed to gain the market penetrations to make this a sustainable buisness model. This was mostly due to the fact that the phones in these stores were sold at cost which put them in the $600 dollar range when most consumers were used to recieving the phone for free. To make matters worse plans without subsidized phones cost exactly the same as subsidized ones leaving the only incentive for paying for the phone outright is to not be bound by a contract. This is a false benefit as all but the fewest phones are compatibile with multiple carriers.

The Exception That Proves the Rule

In many ways the thing that makes the iphone such a compelling device is the total lack of carrier interference. There are no verizon apps preloaded on verizon iphone, nor are their any hardware differentiators between the different iphone carriers. This makes it relatively easier to develope and deploy updates all at once. in addition lest we forget when the first iphone came out it had no subsidies and while the sales were phenominal for the time, they are totally dwarfed by the sales of subsidized iphones. Still the iphone is a clear example that it can be done right? Well no. If it was easy to just do what Apple does they wouldn't be one of the most valuable tech companies on the planet. Apple has tremedous influence and can pretty much set their own terms. Take a walk into a Best Buy and look at the laptops, most of the floor models are broken or mock-up models that are arranged in a cluttered disorganized mess, all except the Apple models. Apple has managed to setup mini Apple stores within another company with Apple branding and aesthetics. There is no mistaking when you have entered the Apple zone in a Best Buy. In this way Apple is different from anyone else in the market and it gives them an unchallengable advantage.

The Nexus Carrier

For the Unfamiliar the Nexus program is the way google provides reference models for the developement of the android platform. The way it works is that google works closely with a particular manufacturer to produce the device google will use to develope the latest features of Android. The not so dirty little secret is that the nexus phones are generally some of the best android phones available due to the premium hardware and the newest updated software. The nexus program sets a standard for manufacturers however as with the recent experience with the galaxy nexus on verizon it is clear that the same must be done for the carriers as well. If google is to continue to succeed with the android platform they will need to focus a lot more attention on the effects the carriers have of the development, deployment and updates of phones.