skydeck

quote:
"And Pandora CEO Tom Jordan claimed that more people downloaded his app for the iPhone in the first few days that the device was on sale than have tried Pandora on any other AT&T phone - and Pandora is pre-loaded on every other AT&T phone".

response:
-WRONG-
preloaded? as in, 'hey i already paid for it when i bought my phone, so lets give it a whirl'? NOPE.

AT&T, in their infinite wisdom *ahem* has made pandora part of their 'walled garden' of pay-per-month features. rather than providing users with pandora, they provide users with the privilege to PAY for a service these users already know they can get for free on a pc. yup, for $9 per month you can get access a free online music service.

now you see why no one wants to use it?
there are 3 kinds of mobile users:

1. buy the phone from my service provider, use it as a PHONE ONLY (maybe an SMS on new years)

2. buy my phone form my service provider, have fun experimenting with services, but try (pretty successfully, with the exception of ringtones) not to pay for features that aren't actually available for free elsewhere.

3. get an unlocked phone, sign up for the $15 unlimited internet service, abuse the service by listening to pandora with the built-in flash-enabled browser (am i REALLY that special? i've got a Nokia N95 - hell i even watch HULU.COM on my phone via skyfire, admittedly that's a bit more niche than most people will bother with).

Jared,

Pre-loaded does not imply free. And I specifically said 'tried' - Pandora is free to try on any AT&T; phone. Maybe the fact that you have to pay for Pandora if you like it discourages people from trying it at all, but the point is that more people have gone to the trouble of installing the app on an iPhone in its first two weeks than have ever tinkered with the app on all other AT&T; phones combined. That's pretty significant.

Are you really that special? I'm sorry to say that you are part of an insignificant minority. No research company in the US even bothers to track the number of people who buy unlocked phones - I've tried to find out.

Thanks for the comment,
Jason