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Mobile phone price wars--it's about time!

Cell phones remain incredibly unbalanced in favor of the carriers. Unlimited pricing helps everyone.

Dave Rosenberg Co-founder, MuleSource
Dave Rosenberg has more than 15 years of technology and marketing experience that spans from Bell Labs to startup IPOs to open-source and cloud software companies. He is CEO and founder of Nodeable, co-founder of MuleSoft, and managing director for Hardy Way. He is an adviser to DataStax, IT Database, and Puppet Labs.
Dave Rosenberg

If you want to see people get lit up about a service that they hate, but can't live without, ask them about their mobile phones.

Never mind the dropped calls or the death-grip lock-in, just the outrageous cost is enough to send people into a rage. So, today when Verizon and T-mobile both introduced new flat rate price plans (which are very appealing to heavy users) I would have thought that this would be viewed as a good thing--helping to retain the more valuable customers. Instead, analysts whined that this would undercut pricing. To an extent it will effect all pricing, but aren't happy customers the key to maintaining a successful business?

So, I have to ask, which is better for mobile phone carriers: unhappy shareholders or unhappy customers. My take is that if customers go away, shareholders will be far less excited than if they stay and commit to the service. This equation has been unbalanced for far too long.