Evidence seems to suggest that the main operator of mobile phones in our country will offer its clients a long-term payment for those desired phones. Since the first of March, Movistar has put and end for those zero cost phones they were giving to those new customers. Therefore all clients who would like to have the latest phones on the market will have to pay for its costs.
What’s more, Vodafone, its major competitor, has continued Movistar’s steps by announcing that they have changed their policy. They will no longer give free phones unless the client complies with the new policy. Customers will only provide a mobile by financing themselves 12, 18 and 24 months from at least 10 euros per month and by giving back their old one. As a consequence all tariffs will be standard: the price of calls will be the same no matter the time of the day or to which operator you’re calling.
Do you think they’ll make a profit or a loss? Do you think we’ll all come back to use the old-fashioned and thick phones or people will rather pay for the latest smartphones? Will Apple and Samsung be replaced?
Nicole Pattje
We could say that this decision would have been taken sooner or later and they have decided to take it sooner before it’s too late.
ReplyDeleteUp until know, the customers had been playing with the phone companies, which usually it’s the other way, despite not being very fair. However, things had started to go a bit over the top. People where changing their phones every year, which is ok, but everything has its limits, as they were jumping around different phone companies trying to get the phone they liked the most.
I don’t personally think these new policies will affect the companies’ profit as the people will still need to phone each other, so they will have no other option but to chose between a company. What’s more, the only change is that they don’t give you a new Smartphone, but instead, each person could invest a bit more in a phone they know they’re going to be able to use longer and that will last. By this I mean that, ok, Movistar and Orange where giving out blackberries, but their life expectancy was so low they barley made it to one year.
Frankly, this doesn’t necessarily mean that we will go back to the prehistoric rock multitask phones, that you were able to use as a doorstopper. Instead, maybe the Smartphone market will decrease and more companies will resurrect after being buried by Apple and Samsung. These to big multinationals will no longer be monopolies, but the important thing they have is that their quality has bound a strong relationship with their customer; therefore absolute phone lovers will continue buying them.
I don’t know what will happen with these companies economy but I know for sure that what they were doing to attract new customers was totally unfair. Why did the new ones had a mobile phone for free and the one’s that had been loyal for several years didn’t? With these changes in their policies, now it is much more difficult to have a new mobile phone. This leads on to the next question: Will there be so many new phones launched? Nowadays people tend to change their phone every year or so and this was helping big companies. Now, with these changed applied, I think that people will still buy new phones but only when it is vital and necessary. This will be like any other electrical object: when it’s really old and out-dated or if it breaks, then we will buy a new one.
ReplyDeleteI personally don’t see the point why you think we might go back to thick and old-fashioned phones. I believe that people will stick onto the phones they have at the moment, without having to use their old ones.
Samsung and Apple will only be replaced if their price keeps being so high. Clearly, people will not change their phone every now and then, and when they do, they will not look for the most expensive one but for the one that suits them best. This may be the price, the applications or the camera quality… you never know.
Judith Aldabó
As Maria stated, this decision would have been taken sooner or later and they have decided to take it sooner before it’s too late. I decided to do my “treball de recerca” about this topic and I have discovered a lot of things which I could have not even occurred to me before.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, phones are something which is made out of many different components like rare metals which are hard to find and there is little of them in Earth. Changing your phone every year was becoming something too common and we were not evaluating the effects this has to the environment and to society.
Secondly, making a phone is much more harder than you would expect and not only that, it also uses lots of natural resources. For example, water, to make a single chip it takes about 38 liters of water, just one single chip! and a mobile has an average of ten chips!
And there is so much more to add, like the fact that a phone also uses coltan, lithium or lead which are very contaminating and are causing serious conflicts in third world countries where the environmental legislation are unbelievably lax.
But the problem exceeds the mobile phone's manufacture it's also present in the end of the life-cycle, companies are not responsible for the phones recycle and phones are sent to third world countries with the excuse that they will be used, when really, they are left anywhere just to get rid of them. There, someone will try to separate the different parts of the phone not knowing the serious health problems they will get from this action.
So personally I couldn't be more in favor of what companies have just done, I think that this should be an opportunity to make phones which lasted much more. Also, as Judit said this won't mean we get back to old-fashioned phones. As for smart-phones it might mean that less phones are sold but I don't see this as a problem because companies were selling way too much.
Finally I would like to point out that there is much more to be done especially in this subject and everything that has to do with the electronic waste because like everything it has a bad side which we are might be refusing too see.
Well, first of all I would like to clarify that these new policies will not affect the company’s policy’s as mobile phones have become essential in our daily life. It was matter of time that company’s saw how their own costumer played around with them in order to purchase at the lowest price possible the best mobile phone in the market. Even you reading this might feel identified with playing with your telephone companies.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that it is possible for an internet-dependant society as we are to come back to old-fashioned thick phones like the one presented in Maria’s post. It is definetely impossible for us to get used to those mobile phones again as we have already owned a blackberry, an iphone or a similar smartphone. However, another point to bear in mind is money. Many people won’t have that much money to spend on purchasing a high standard phone like an Iphone, or a simple smartphone like a Blackberry, so I think company’s will be forced to introduce tariffs which are reachable and payable to everyone.
I would also like to say that this is rumour matter. As I personally called my company, Orange, last week in order to change my Blackberry and it was still available for me and suitable for my tariff.
My overall opinion about this whole subject is that companies like Apple or Samsung or even Research in motion limited will have to adapt to the new tariffs that will be offered by the companies in order to satisfy their costumers needs and to avoid going back to prehistoric multitask doorstoppers, as Maria Miarnau said, a few comments above.
Paulina Torras A.
Hey, it's paulina again, i made a mistake in my comment above. Where I wrote down 'company's policy's' I meant company's economy.
DeleteSorry!
Paulina
My point of view about this subject is that company's which offer high-standard smartphones such as Samsung or Research in Motion Limited (Blackberry), have made a crucial sales growth in the last few months.
ReplyDeleteMany people agree that having internet in our phones is a way of satisfying our daily-basis needs.
Companies have noticed such needs and have started to offer internet-working phones at a very low price or even free. This made costumers play around with companies. As my companions above said in their previous comments, costumers wanted to change their phones every year to have the best mobile phone in the market and so changed their telephone company very often to get such mobiles free.
I don't think that we will return to prehistoric, thick and slow multitask mobile phones as we have already got used to using smartphones. Companies like Apple, Samsung or Research in Motion Limited will produce other mobiles that will be affordable to everyone and will also have the internet aplication in order to stay connected.
I think that technology makes us move forward, not backwards. This way, new mobiles will always be launched to the market to attract their costumer's eye.
Claudia Samsó.
As Maria said, the decision was correctly taken before achieving the point of no return. Increasingly, smart phones are getting popular and obtainable for everyone, whilst losing its exclusiveness in people such as businessmen, entrepreneurs and so on. 5 years ago, these phones were not addressed to people who didn’t use it for work, and at the present time, everyone uses them for social necessities. As the popularity of social networks and chats increased, mobile phone companies tried to get advantage of this, but were forced to establish an affordable offer for teenagers; which was offering free smart phones when becoming part of the company.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Movistar has gained profit with this offer, but on the long run it would have been negative for the company. Although most people will be negatively affected, by being unable to pay for their modern phones, the company has chosen the correct option, as now people who feel a need for them, will have no choice but to pay for them.
I consider that people now have got used or even have become addicted to these new technologies and will not refuse to use the advantages it has. Consequently, the use of smart phones won’t decrease on the long run; instead, I think people will still want to have the latest innovations. Finally, the most recognised companies of smart phones, Apple and Samsgung, will not be rejected by consumers, at least not while new and interesting offers are launched for everyone to draw on.
Ana Las Hayas (I made this post after Maria, but going through all the posts I've done, I've seen I didn't post it correctly)