Marketing Thoughts

There's a commercial for NetZero that has been running for quite a while now and it annoys me every time I see it. It goes something like this:

If all the ISPs take you to the same internet, why pay more.

They offer internet access for $10 a month in this ad. What they don't tell you of course is that NetZero is dial-up. It's kind of like asking "why take the plane from New York to Los Angeles instead of the Grey Hound – it's still the same city".

On the other side, there are reports that people are not standing in line to buy T-Mobile's G1. It seems like some people still think that this phone was supposed to be the iPhone killer. That perception, I think, is based on the urge of some reports to create a narrative around every product launch, whether it's the David vs. Goliath thing or the clash of the giants or some such.

That's unfounded in reality though. I think Google and T-Mobile are going for a soft launch here. I didn't see the link on Google's homepage until the day of the launch and no TV commercials until the day after (unlike the iPhone commercial barrage). Another reason could be that T-Mobile's 3G network is far from finished in most major cities. There's also a major difference between the Iphone's and the G1's identity. The iPhone is a monolithic Apple product, limited to one carrier. The G1 is only the first of a potentially unlimited number of phones running on a completely new mobile OS and stack. I'm sure T-Mobile wants the G1 to be a smashing success. But I'm equally sure that Google doesn't want a potential lackluster performance of the first Android phone to be an anchor around the neck of future phones.