Back in January of this year we covered a story out of Japan that centered around one particular operator, KDDI, pushing ads to customers via the notification bar that all Android devices come with. You know the one we’re talking about, the bar you pull down from the top of the screen that shows you all your missed calls, texts, and whatever your friends are doing on Twitter or Facebook. At the end of that piece we noted how fearful we were of such a marketing technique being exported to the United States. Well … it just happened. According to The Verge, some T-Mobile customers received an ad for T-Mobile’s “VIP Zone” in their notification bar. The internet then proceeded to go batshit insane. So much so that T-Mobile issued an apology less than 30 hours later, and said what they did was actually a mistake. We don’t know whether or not they’ll try this again, but one thing is certain, if you don’t want to deal with any of this garbage then we recommend you get an unlocked device.
The bigger question is why are operators doing this to their customers? One would think, instead of nickel and diming people to death by trying to sell ring tones, music videos, and god knows what else, why not just charge people for honest and reliable connectivity? All that money that T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint blow on making their devices unique needs to be recuperated somehow, and ads like the one T-Mobile or KDDI push are just one example of how operators do that.
Like we said earlier, if you have the financial means, then go ahead and get an unlocked and unbranded device. And if you think you can’t afford one, then realize that saving $1 every day will yield you $600 in just 20 months. That’s less than the length of a 2 year contract. Up that to $2 a day and you’ll get $600 in 10 months.