Last week, AT&T announced their new data plans for new and existing iPhone customers, thereby introducing a much maligned concept in the iPhone user community: data limits. As iPhone fans, most of us would agree that the combination of data limits and the iPhone go together like cursing in church. It's just not right, people. It's just not right.
Thankfully, however, AT&T quickly clarified that those of us who are content to continue paying $30/month to keep our unlimited data plans would be able to do so. Un-thankfully, however, if you keep your unlimited plan, you will not be able to sign up for one of AT&T's wallet-reaming tethering plans. [cough]
MyWi [cough]
So, yesterday we got an email from an AppAdvice reader (thanks, Adam) asking us to comment on all the AT&T brouhaha. I took the day to gather my thoughts and now I'd like to share my take on how AT&T's introduction of data limits affect the parties involved here: Apple, AT&T and us, the consumer.
Apple has a worm and its name is AT&T
I know some of us rolled our eyes a bit at the keynote on Monday, but let's face it. We love Apple. For now, let's set aside the discussion about whether or not Apple has been as "revolutionary" lately as they love to claim, and let's just speak the truth: Apple makes the coolest darned gadgets on the planet. They drive innovation. Other companies see what they do and they try their best to imitate it, and where Apple doesn't invent a concept, they take an existing one and do it better than anyone else, and we love them for it.
That said, Apple and its attempts at innovation are swimming upstream against the downward current of AT&T and its attempts to relieve their embarrassingly overburdened data network. For the most part, AT&T's data network load is absolutely at capacity and AT&T seems to be cringing at the thought of more data-hungry devices further straining their network.
Need a practical example? Look no further than "FaceTime", which was unveiled on Monday to cheers, then revealed to work only on wifi.
...Tech fail.
I'm not surprised at AT&T's unwillingness to allow FaceTime over 3G or EDGE, but it took the wind out of the FaceTime announcement. The wifi-only crippling of FaceTime is an embarrassment for Apple, and Steve Jobs knows it, as indicated by his statement Monday that they "need to work a little bit with cell phone providers". In the US, only one carrier carries the iPhone. So in other words, AT&T balked at FaceTime's inherently heavy data load, and Apple realizes there is work to be done. Maybe that is understating it.
Though we now have reasons to think AT&T's iPhone exclusivity won't last much longer, for now, Apple is stuck with AT&T. It's an awkward pairing born from necessity. I guess when I put it that way, AT&T is kinda like Apple's very own "
Uncle Buck".
AT&T is just trying to catch it's breath
As I stated, AT&T is petrified of more data-hungry devices further sagging their already beleaguered network. So from their perspective, structuring their plans to discourage excessive data use makes sense. After all, AT&T says that 68% of their users consume less than 200MB/month and 98% of their users consume less than 2GB/month. So AT&T can make the argument that their data limits are set at reasonable levels.
However, as our own Robin Rhys points out in
AppAdvice Daily's Appisode 132, those numbers are based on current data use from current devices and features. Naturally, as our devices get more awesome (ie: FaceTime, etc), our need for data use will grow.
So any way you slice it, AT&T's data problems have certainly become our own. They appear to have taken a major step backwards by implementing the concept of data limits. And as Robin also points out, even though we can keep our $30/month unlimited plans now, what happens when 4G data comes out? Will AT&T even dare to offer 4G unlimited options?
Some of us win, some of us lose
Lastly, what about us? How does AT&T's exclusivity and data limited plans affect us? I know many of you may disagree, but I actually think that the new plans are a win for some consumers.
Take my Mom for instance. She'd punch me in the face if I said her age here, but I can tell you she's a sparky gal over the age of 55. She's never even had a text messaging plan, let alone a smart phone. But when I told her she could get an iPhone for the cost of the device, plus a mere $15 added to her monthly bill (she'd be a light data user), she put her hands together and started tapping her fingers like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons. I actually think my Mom is going to get an iPhone4!
And I know her story is not unique. Many of you likely know people, young and old, who have decided that AT&T lowered a barrier for entry when they rolled out options for cheaper data plans, data limits or not. Many of us also run in the same circles during the day: work, home, friend's and family's houses, etc. If you are lucky enough to have wifi in all those places, then maybe one of the new plans makes sense for you, too.
But for the rest of us, we like the word "unlimited", and a step in any other direction is unappreciated, if only for the principle of the thing.
In Conclusion
In a capitalist economy, consumers vote with their dollars. If you don't like something, don't buy it. If you get poor customer service, shop elsewhere. Unfortunately, if you are an iPhone lover, you don't really have this luxury, and that brings up the biggest problem with this whole Apple-AT&T picture: exclusivity.
Until AT&T has some real competition (ie: not unlocked T-Mobile iPhones), the free market can't work for the consumer. We call that a "monopoly". We need more iPhone carriers if we want to open competition and drive innovation. But I know you know that. I'm preaching to the choir on that point.
Lastly, I want to point out that the above principle also applies to Apple, themselves. If we love cool gadgets, then we have to make sure that Apple is not the only company making them. I'm a huge fan of the iPhone, but I know that Google getting into the mobile platform market could be the best thing to happen to the iPhone. Why? Because Google and Android will keep the fire under Steve Jobs and Johnny Ive's butts nice and hot, and that is a very, very good thing for us as iPhone fanatics.
So the next time one of your Android-loving buddies starts talking that Google smack and tells you how great Verizon and Android are, you'll know that their purchase is helping to make our iPhone experience even better. So just smile at them, give a wink and say, "I know, man. I know."
