Now, Verizon employees too steering people away from the iPhone
A curious story is unfolding - the two biggest US carriers seem to have their employees discouraging users from buying the iPhone. First, we heard reports about AT&T employees actively pushing phones other than the iPhone to customers (AT&T replied officially calling such accusations “far-fetched.”)
And now, more and more people are joining in to point out that they’ve had similar experiences in Verizon Wireless stores. Employees there were quick to point out some of the downsides the iPhone have, but also make up some facts as that’s our only explanation for the following phrases:
“They released the iPhone 4S because Steve Jobs died so they just threw in a couple more features and pushed it out.”
“Apple’s servers are really small and when you use Siri it normally redirects to Google anyway.”
“Every icon looks alike on your homescreen and it’s really hard to find applications.”
That’s just some pieces of what blogger Jeff Stern heard when he visited a Verizon store. So why are employees driving people away from iPhones?
The most obvious answer would be commissions. It seems that iPhones sold don’t translate into any commissions for employees, while Android and possibly other devices sold would bring up a bigger paycheck. Another thing to consider on Verizon is that the carrier is actively pushing its 4G LTE network, and the iPhone happens to not be compatible with LTE yet as opposed to most Android phones.
Finally, Apple doesn’t allow carriers to pre-load their favorite bloatware on devices. Good for end-users, but not for the operators.
We’d love to hear from someone who works at Verizon and can give us some additional off-the-record info on this. Feel free to tip us with info or just join in the discussion below - why do carriers steer users away from the iPhone?
source: Jeff Stern via Daring Fireball
“They released the iPhone 4S because Steve Jobs died so they just threw in a couple more features and pushed it out.”
“Apple’s servers are really small and when you use Siri it normally redirects to Google anyway.”
“Every icon looks alike on your homescreen and it’s really hard to find applications.”
The most obvious answer would be commissions. It seems that iPhones sold don’t translate into any commissions for employees, while Android and possibly other devices sold would bring up a bigger paycheck. Another thing to consider on Verizon is that the carrier is actively pushing its 4G LTE network, and the iPhone happens to not be compatible with LTE yet as opposed to most Android phones.
Finally, Apple doesn’t allow carriers to pre-load their favorite bloatware on devices. Good for end-users, but not for the operators.
source: Jeff Stern via Daring Fireball
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Things that are NOT allowed: