Karaoke Forums

Depends on what world you are in. Some people just need a phone. A lot of it is peer pressure/advertising for many to have to have one and not a real need. It is also a big contributor to the use it then lose it e-waste mentality where new things become obsolete yearly. They also seem to break their screens and get stolen a lot.

I tend to leap frog. I will hang onto something as long as it serves my purpose, skip a lot of new inventions in between and then jump onto something new that really suits my needs.

There are a lot of older people on the planet at the moment. Have you noticed those commercials where the husband just likes his simple feature phone and the wife likes her smart phone--both offered by the same company? Obviously there is a segment of the world this company felt was worth targeting.

In the end it isn't about who is keeping up with the world and who is in or out or who is in the minority--it's just a tool and either it is useful to a person's lifestyle or it isn't.

LL - I understand what you are saying. I have not seen the commercials in question though. I have not had cable or satellite for almost 6 years now so I don't see most of the advertising. What I do see is the actual actions of the industry. I know for a fact that AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint are not interested in investing in physical infrastructure beyond what is necessary to support cell towers. The profits are miles above what they see on land lines.

They will provide in physical infrastructure in areas where it makes more sense. Usually this means densely populated areas. They are also pushing fiber over copper for obvious reasons. They are also doing less populated areas where their are regulations requiring them to provide certain levels of service. But they are lobbying very heavily to get those regulations changed. They are going to win too.

Here is a shocker for everyone......I only need a phone too. I would be perfectly happy with a stable device that made/received calls with landline quality and reliability.

I use my smartphone primarily for making/receiving calls. Followed 2nd by email, but I always have a laptop with me and prefer using a laptop for email. Third is quick jumps to browsing the web. Last is texting. The ONLY app I have ever paid for is Shazam and even that kind of feature is built in Bing search on my phone. I have a very small number of apps I have tinkered with but none that I rely on and would ever miss if they disappeared right now.

But the world as a whole wants all of those extras. The industry caters to the majority. The minority will be tolerated and every attempt will be made to convert them.

-Chris

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-Chris

Just like flat screen tv's (LCD/Plasma), i'm willing to bet that the majority have changed their tv - even though the CRT tv's they had were still working fine. I have never seen so many CRT tv's in thrift stores than I have seen in the past couple years. Saw a 40" selling for $100, thing was huge, weighed around 200 pounds.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Technically, though--Verizon and Verizon Wireless are separate entities for this purpose. They share some vested interests, but on paper, they are individual entities with individual ownership reports and profitability and--in some cases, as with landline and home internet service--are in direct competition with one another.

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Y'all making me talk work things on the karaoke site. There really isn't any rest for the wicked.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

No shame--isn't Verizon in the process of purchasing the wireless section?

It's all kind of complicated, with more companies involved in that, but yeah, that's the long and short of it.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

"Today every family must have a telephone if it is to contact emergency services," Linda Gibbs, New York City’s deputy mayor for health and human services, wrote in a 2007 poverty report. "If it is to have access to news, information and culture a TV, radio, and newspapers are essential. This was not always true, but it is true now. And soon (if not now) we will need to add cellphones and access to the Internet to that list."

http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2 ... -poor?lite

-Chris

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-Chris