Comments on: Another blow for handset subsidies as UK regulator mulls price hike controls

By: MikeA

MikeA — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:24:52 +0000

Subsidized phones = unregulated (backstreet) money lending racket!

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:56:46 +0000

The subsidy-free model will really hurt RIM, since carriers will not be able to cross-subsidize between manufacturers or operating systems to keep a fourth system viable.

Nokia was the first to cut the smartphone margin structure in order to get back into the race. Nexus 4 merely followed suit, albeit on an unlocked model. If carriers can’t help RIM then RIM has even less chance of rebuilding market share.

By: Lindsworth Horatio Deer

Lindsworth Horatio Deer — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:19:30 +0000

Hopefully when the RIM Z10 is launched in February 2012, it”ll be free of subsidies!!! RIM sends out official invitations to its Blackberry 10 OS, Z10 Launch and PlayBook Tablet Launch http://bit.ly/X3dJ6m

By: realjjj

realjjj — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:33:24 +0000

They can do what T-Mo USA is doing and go to financing and the problem is solved with minimal downside for the consumer.
Too bad the regulators are thinking this narrow. The carriers have too much control over the hardware and the software running on their network and that’s a much bigger problem. You end up with features that would be costly to the carriers crippled or removed , carrier spyware on many devices, no efforts from device makers to sell the devices any other way ,exclusivity deals and some new classes of devices that would harm carriers might never be made.
In the end forcing the carriers to separate the cost of the device from the service would allow other players to try to sell phones and free the industry. The industry is being kept hostage by ,what in the end are, utility providers and that should not be acceptable for anyone.

PS: Nexus 4 has no LTE and everybody assumes it was Google’s decision but nobody asks if it was the carriers. Maybe someone should.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:27:50 +0000

About time too. Far better to buy a bloat-free phone for a competitive price outside of a contract than pay an excessive subsidy for one that tends to come bloated with operator rubbish.