AT&T’s CEO has finally, finally, finally come to his senses and admitted that the “era of big subsidies for devices is coming to an end.” Continuing the smartphone upgrade cycle has always worn on the carriers margins and is something I know I have personally wished would go away a long time ago.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q3drI4yyiVw&start=2675]
Like us, Google appears to be confused by last night’s report—where AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson told a questioner that the fault of Android smartphones not receiving updates is Google’s.
Stephenson blamed Google, claiming, “Google determines what platform gets the newest releases and when. A lot of times, that’s a negotiated arrangement and that’s something we work at hard. We know that’s important to our customers. That’s kind of an ambiguous answer because I can’t give you a direct answer in this setting.”
Google refuted that point of view tonight, telling us:
“Mr. Stephenson’s carefully worded quote caught our attention and frankly we don’t understand what he is referring to. Google does not have any agreements in place that require a negotiation before a handset launches. Google has always made the latest release of Android available as open source at source.android.com as soon as the first device based on it has launched. This way, we know the software runs error-free on hardware that has been accepted and approved by manufacturers, operators and regulatory agencies such as the FCC. We then release it to the world.”
Is it possible that the former CFO Stephenson does not know the technicalities of what is happening at his own company? It would appear so.
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During the Q&A of a recent interview, AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson said some interesting things about the Android ecosystem.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q3drI4yyiVw&start=2675]
His statements are confusing, because we have been— up to this point—lead to believe that there is a straightforward way this works:
In a response to the questioner, Stephenson blamed Google, saying, “Google determines what platform gets the newest releases and when. A lot of times, that’s a negotiated arrangement and that’s something we work at hard. We know that’s important to our customers. That’s kind of an ambiguous answer because I can’t give you a direct answer in this setting.”
He then goes on to explain how great Windows is and how he has been using it for a month. He also said Android needs to work on security.
While the questioner is speaking in the broader sense about getting his older Android device updated, it is possible that he is referring to the recent Galaxy Nexus that hit Verizon first in December. The GSM version of the Galaxy Nexus was available on AT&T before the release on Verizon (I was an early user) if you bought the phone without a plan.
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