DISQUS

Brian Liu · 10 months ago

Mobile phones used to have 4-year development cycles, but due to consumer pressure and CEOs making ridiculous promises, the development cycle has been compacted into as little as 6 months. This is not enough time for accurate testing on all fronts (variables double out in the field).

Furthermore, over-the-air updates are not used due to hacking. Though there could be copious amounts of security, one fail would mean complete loss of mobile communication in large areas, if not nationwide.

Features cannot be cut since the products will not sell. Apple could afford it only because it was riding the success of the iPod - other, unpopular companies cannot do the same. While I agree that there needs to be a better balance of features and quality, there isn't too much leeway especially because handset manufacturers are doing especially bad in this economic downturn.

I agree transparency is a great thing - but it may also cause a PR nightmare. There needs to be great discretion in revealing problems especially in a field where consumers understand little. Discussing problems may only make consumers more disgruntle or panicked.

Operators (Networks) control everything. EVERYTHING. They choose which phones are allowed and which ones are not. Again, Apple had a lot of leverage due to their popularity, but ultimately lost out to AT&T control. It isn't as simple as "keeping operators out" - laws would need to be instated and Networks would have to yield control (they definitely won't go easily).