Are things really over for Amp’d Mobile? As our sister site at TechCrunch is reporting the word is that the company has burned through $360 million in the last two years, and is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Amp’d had attempted to market mobile phones to the youth market, a sector that has plenty of options. Since in many cases it is the parents footing the bill, maybe the company should have tried to appeal to them instead. The company hopes to restructure its debts, but getting customers to sign up for a mobile plan could require a seriously amp’d pitch!
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by
Peter Suciu
on
June 3, 2007
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i know the CEO and CTO, and I can tell you it smells like a big rip off…
We have a CTO? Weird. Has he been on leave for the last two years? We have a ton of VPs and SVPs, but no CTO that I’m aware of.
The bottom line is value – are you generating any NEW value for customers. Ampd was too broad and it looked no different then the major operators (worse, it had no brand). There are models that do add value to what operators already do – any partner with them, rather then compete with them. Companies like Rave Wireless which serves colleges, Qualcomm’s new healthcare MVNO and possibly even Google’s yet-to-be-detailed phone service. Not to mention the iPhone — these approaches are adding NEW value to the customer. People will pay for value, they will not for substitutes.
You’re comparing Rave Wireless to Amp’d? Are you kidding, Walt? Rave Wireless forces students to switch to one of their phones or not get security and safety applications. If you consider that adding value to what operators already do, then I’m really concerned about what operators do. The youth sector, including college, is difficult and forcing people to own specific phones to get your features is not adding value, it’s limiting value.
I have to say though, the fact that you know Rave Wireless shows you definitely know the industry and market, so no disrespect intended, just a difference of opinion.
–David
David, I think you should look more closely at Rave – it’s not as you describe, they partner with carriers, not compete with them, so you get what the carriers offer + community-specific apps, not less. And as far as I know, it’s opt-in and many students opt-in. A bit like the modern dorm phone but with a mobile 2.0 advantage. My point however is more general, add new value, don’t replicate substitutes.
I wasn’t suggesting they compete with all carriers – i realize they partner with a carrier or two (Sprint/Nextel, I think) and provide additional services. However, in order to get their real value-added services (such as their security application), you must use one of their phones (a Rave phone, which is actually a Sprint/nextel phone). This means that students must switch from their current phone plan to a Rave (Sprint/Nextel) phone to get the benefits.
I think you can still get emergency text messages on any phone, but to get the cool applications, you have to switch from your current phone to one of theirs.
I do agree with your overall point, however!