Category Archives: wireless

New report says mobile use higher among older users than previously thought; yes, but…

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A new report from InsightExpress suggests that mobile penetration and use may be much higher than widely thought.

Key points:

  • …mobile penetration was high across all ages, at 85% and 82% for Gens Y and X, respectively–meanwhile, 80% of younger Boomers surveyed had a mobile phone, followed closely by older Boomers at 79%.
  • Boomers’ handsets were just as cutting edge as their younger counterparts, as 75% of younger Boomers and 68% of older Boomers had phones that supported text messaging–compared to 86% and 82% of Gens Y and X, respectively.
  • Gen Y led the pack in actual text-message usage with 43%, followed by Gen X with 22%–but some 16% of all younger Boomers and 10% of all older Boomers sent or received text messages daily. Continue reading →

Verizon Wireless gets it right!

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And now, for a happy story. I bitch so much about how people get it wrong that it’s always great when a company gets it right.

My mobile contract was up and I was looking to upgrade my service and my handset. I work with social media and mobile and the phone I’ve been carrying around is almost embarrassing to pull out around colleagues. It’s kind of like working for Volvo and driving up in a KIA. But more than image, I needed to be fast-forwarding my capabilities – I need to be able to show clients and prospectives what I’m talking about and I need to be able to function better away from the laptop. Continue reading →

Sprint fires 1,000 customers: let the games begin…

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If you’ve ever been involved in a business of any kind, you’ve probably had occasion to wonder if some customers are more trouble than they’re worth. Whether too high-maintenance, too low-value, or a bit of both, there have probably been times where you thought you’d probably be better off without them. In my case, there have been a couple occasions where I did some informal cost-benefit analysis and walked away from a customer. You hate turning down money, but sometimes it makes sense.

Of course, I’m not a big-time consumer retail and services company, either. If I were, I’d think long and hard about taking the drastic step that Sprint has taken. Continue reading →