Entrepreneurship

Analogy of the day

By Johnny Fuery ⋅ January 30, 2007 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Verizon :: Apple just as Yahoo :: Myspace
Google :: Myspace just as Cingular :: Apple

In case you’re unaware, the new Apple iPhone f***ing rocks. If you’re unaware of myspace, turn off your computer now and go crawl back under the rock you’ve been hiding under for the last decade. Google won the myspace partnership over Yahoo to provide all the search functions (and get all of the resulting traffic). Cingular is the exclusive US Reseller for Apple’s iPhone.

Cingular and Google are forces to be reckoned with. I’m not so sure about VZ and YHOO. But take that off-the-cuff assessment with a grain of salt. Myspace generates gobs of traffic. Apple sells gobs of iPods. Both companies, as brokers of pop culture, have become icons, and in the process, spawned literally hundreds of new businesses. Heck, I started one.

Getting exclusivity with Myspace and Apple is pretty much cash in the bank. There’s the run-off brand pumpage (my term, deal with it), the directly measurable sales, and the tons and tons of free publicity.

(god, the Apple PR machine is amazing, isn’t it? Ask anyone on the street about a “Nano” or “iPhone”, then compare the results to “Vista” and “Zune”. How do they do that?)

As grassroots evidence, a friend of mine was lamenting just yesterday that Verizon phones suck. “Cingular had the Razr first, and now they have iPhone first! Verizon Sucks! How’s your cingular service work? Do you get lots of dropped calls or what?”

Almost in direct response, I ran across this today on MarketWatch:

“Verizon (VZ) could have had the exclusive on Apple Inc.’s iPhone but couldn’t agree to Steve Jobs’ terms to be in control of the product’s distribution and customer service.

USA TODAY quotes Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless voice president saying, “We said no. We have nothing bad to say about the Apple iPhone. We just couldn’t reach a deal that was mutually beneficial.” Apple balked at letting Verizon’s retail marketing partners sell the phone (Wal-Mart (WMT), Best Buy (BBY), etc.) “That would have put our own distribution partners at a disadvantage,” Gerace said.

The newspaper says it’s learned Apple’s iPhone agreement with Cingular (T) is for five years. The exclusive is USA-only, leaving Apple free to market its iPhone globally, the newspaper reported.”

See http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2007-01-28-verizon-iphone_x.htm and http://blogs.marketwatch.com/barnako/2007/01/usa_today_veriz.html

And for the record, I’m not unhappy with Cingular’s service. My phone, however, while looking flashy, has the worst microphone I’ve ever encountered. I will certainly try to get my hands on an iPhone when the time comes.