A Plan For A Brighter Android Future

[WugFresh]

:: Preface ::

If we ever are going to have a chance at securing a future of truly open source and unrestricted android development the first step will be for all of us to stop limiting ourselves within the confines of our own reality and to extend ourselves far beyond the parameters of our most recent and emotionally provoked thoughts. Let’s face it, ever since the P3.bomb got dropped on us, each and every one of us has fixated over this issue in some way shape or form and although we may all have gone about expressing it differently, we all share one thing in common and that is our instinctual feeling to protect our beloved little green friend.
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:: Reality Check ::

Right now, I must clearly state; if you are thinking that we are going to win this thing purely through our collective voice as we exist today, or that if we are a significant enough community simply to unite in an effort to pervasively spread our message, then you are thoroughly and utterly mistaken. If those were your thoughts, then you need a reality check, just as I recently realized I needed one myself. As a community our relative significance seems much larger than it actually is when we congregate together on these forums and talk about what’s going on. This over inflated sense of self-worth will only hurt us moving forward. I for one know as a fact, that I am probably guiltier of this trait than any one of you reading this; that I have been carrying myself around these forums with an overly misconstrued perception of the relative size of this community and our potential ability to catalyze change via our voice only. I most clearly and flagrantly displayed this behavior when I was going around to all the forums and actively trying to promote the moto petition. Well, again, like I said, I was in desperate need a reality check. However, at that time, I was far too blinded by my own passion to be the one to catalyze change that I neglected to let reason reemerge to the surface. And then this happened. Oh boy…. (4 days…)

So here I am, back again, claiming to be the one with a plan all over again except this time I actually want to make it work, this time I want to spend an adequate amount of time really thinking things through, and this time I want there to be checks and balances. What do I mean by this? I mean that I want everyone who plans on being involved not to treat this thing as if it is “Wugs” plan but to rather treat this thing as “Our” plan. I want you all to think as individuals, as intellectual, as a representative of the things you value, of things you stand for. You will not just be someone who is “helping the cause” but rather you will become someone who is the cause. Meaning, that if any of you ever find yourself feeling that in some way shape or form that the plan might be deviating from achieving its goal, or if you simply do not like the direction it is going in, do not keep it to yourself, voice your opinion, explain your reasoning, call me out if you think I am wrong. Therefore, in other words, in order for this plan to effectively succeed, we as people must operate like the very open source platform we are trying to protect.
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So what’s the plan? …. You mean what’s the problem?

:: The Problem ::

Right now, when analyzing this situation from the perspective of the service providers and manufacturing companies, the state in which the rooted/developer community exists today is not looking good for us at all. If you were to ask a service provider to describe what they think of us today, they would respond with the follow remarks:
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• We use wireless tethering service but don’t pay for the plan – this over saturates the network and congests the data transfer rate for their non-rooted users who actually pay for the service. Additionally, not only do we use tethering service and not pay for it, but we use it even more than the ones who do pay for it. Some rooted users tether in excess of 30GB+ every month, and Verizon’s base plan for 2GB is 20$ a month.

• We regularly make warranty claims under false pretenses – this costs the company additional money and they do not see the same trend amongst their non-rooted users

• After accidentally bricking or damaging the devices when performing system level modifications
• Simply for the purpose of trying to get a CPU that overclocks more
• After causing the phone to brick and not even bothering to try spending the time to go on a tech forum or learning how to SBF it yourself

• We typically keep our devices longer than the EOL – this slows down the frequency in which we agree to signing new 2-year service contracts and also reduces the frequency that we purchase new devices from manufacturers

:: In Case You Didn’t Get The Message ::

($$) Stock > Root ($)
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Root users are just bad for business
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The service providers would much prefer a stock user over a root user because:
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(a) they pay more money and

(b) they have relatively less problems.
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:: Solution ::

If the problem is that root users are bad for business, then my plan is to prove the polar opposite.
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To effectively achieve this goal I propose that we construct a full blown Integrated Marketing Campaign (IMC) for a developer option that a service provider could offer. I have already begun work on this document and have come up with the general framework for moving forward. This plan includes an entirely new set of policies specifically designed to meet the needs of this particular user type, while at the same time ensuring that from the perspective of the service provider their relative monetary significance is equivalent to that of stock users if not greater. Furthermore this plan will delineate all of the components necessary to formulate a solidified marketing strategy, from identifying the demographic of the target customer base, clear focus on centerfold competitive advantages, SWOT analysis, marketability of the open device niche, advertising strategies (TV, print media, viral, guerrilla, text based, and others), brand recognition and specific characterization of the open-niche, and all the rest. In addition to these core marketing components, to solidify the profitability of this IMC even further, I will also aim to include some key financial components like break-even analysis, and market forecasting. The underlying concept of this plan that makes it unique from all the rest is that ROOT becomes the selling point; yeah “Droid-Does” was nice and all… but why not show what it actually does? The only reason root users are such a small group is because the manner in which android devices have been marketed are as if they were no different than iPhones.

• Why not market android biggest competitive advantage?

• Why isolate us in the background, to force this amazing developing community to lurk in the shadows?

• Why force us to have to hack into our own devices just to begin… we are going to do it anyway?

• Why leave us to form our own little niche amongst ourselves within your system?

• Why not form that niche for us, out in the open and in the public eye, and for your own profitable advantage?

• Why pretend like there aren’t two different types of customers in the technology sector?

:: It's Time For A Change! ::

It’s time for a company to wake up and realize that they are missing the whole point of android in the first place, the reason why it’s so cool and has caused so many technology enthusiast to get involved. It’s time for a company to realize the immense profitability amongst marketing the brightest members within their user base. If true open source android projects got the real exposure they deserved, do you have any doubt in your mind that the number of root users would not increase exponentially in size…and keep increasing… and increasing? Riddle me this? How many stock users have you met that after being introduced to root did not become completely infatuated with their android device? And also ask yourself this…. Were you an android expert when you started? How quickly did you learn? What helped you learn faster? What were you most afraid of before you rooted? And what put you at ease? Keep these questions in mind, as they will become primary components of developing components of an effective marketing strategy. There will need to exist a way to quickly bring average users up to speed, to get a solid base of knowledge of the key components involved before they begin, and to be prepared to restore their device easily whenever they brick. I believe that with a little ingenuity, some recent projects that are already in the works, and a few cool ideas that I already came up with, that all of this can be accomplished and more. Now ask yourself these questions:

• Could you ever go back to being a non-rooted user after having a taste of what android had to offer?

• Do you think that feeling would be exclusive just to yourself?

• Do you think that would change if the community was even larger? If there were even more projects? If there were even more possibilities?

• Is android today really the android of the future?

Ok, well… how are you going to do this?

:: Moving Forward ::

As of right now, there are some general stereotype amongst service providers regarding your typical root user, more specifically the developer/hacker community has become associated with some major financial burdens. For these reasons, one of the most important things we will have to do is completely put these stereotypes to rest. To achieve this goal, we will have to work on formulating new and well founded policies that will ensure we do not let history repeat itself, and that this time around we can provide our service providers with a real sense of security. We are obviously going to be looking to create polices that are inline with our own interests and desires, but please note that we must be reasonable, and certainly cannot expect to be able to hack our way into obtaining services for free.
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:: Data Plan Ideas ::

Tethering is a big problem right now but could easily be fixed with the elimination of pseudo “unlimited” plans and replaced with real hard capped plans, real unlimited plans at a higher price range, and a few interesting ideas I have been thinking of. It is ridiculous to treat tethering as if it is something different because it’s not. This entire problem is all regarding the amount of data we consume and how much we should pay for it.

Here is a few ideas I came up with
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• Hard capped tiered data plans

• A more expensive unlimited data plan

• The introduction of “Roll-over-data”

• A system app which will alert you when you are reaching your data limit and present you with the following options:
  • Start using you data from next month now?
  • Buy an extra GB of data for this month right now? – Like a onetime fee, data-on-demand

• The elimination of soft caps all together, or maybe utilize it in a different way.

:: Warranty Plan Ideas ::

The fraudulent warranty claims need to stop. This is so bad for us and there is no way to justify it. Maybe you can justify tethering with a plan to yourself because of the flawed ‘unlimited’ data plans, but bricking your phone, not trying to fix it, and then sending it in for a full warranty replacement, is ruining our credibility. However, at the same time, if we were to eliminate warranties all together, that too would not be an acceptable solution, because then what happens in the circumstance that a user legitimately receives a defective device. So what’s the solution?
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Here is the idea I came up with
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• When you get your totally amazing fully unlocked android device, it’s actually not unlocked at all in fact it’s locked down like Fort Knox.

• On your device there will be an app called “Unlock” which requires the user to enter a public key which they will either get by calling up their service provider, getting it emailed to them… Or maybe it just comes in the box with your phone.

• Before you enter this public key into the Unlock app you are on a 15 day (or maybe 30?) full hardware replacement warranty.

• The second you enter the unlock key, you are prompted with the new TOS which makes your old 15 day full warranty null and void and starts the new developer warranty agreement which is something I have yet to fully develop (probably some repair fee or something...)

:: Bring it all together ::

All of the monetary components associated with the different tired data plans and any other options we come with will then be represented as a [fixed integer + a variable]; where the fixed integer will be the monetary equivalent of whatever is on the “normal user” plan for the same feature; and the variable will be utilized to determine how much we need to increase or decrease any of those values to offset the overall differences in the plan; the goal is to come to a final pricing scheme where the resulting data gives us the price/cost ratio that is nearly equivalent if not more profitable for the service provider adopt in comparison to their “normal user” plan. Then, once we have one monetarily equivalent pricing scheme, then I can utilize that to produce a representative function of how all the components proportionally relate to each other. With that equation, we can then adjust any one component in the function and the rest of them will automatically adjust to account for the change. Therefore utilizing this equation we could automatically generate different pricing schemes that will all be monetarily equivalent from the service providers end.

Once we have these pricing schemes I will build a website which has them all displayed, any warranty agreement ideas we come up with, as well as any other features we discuss, and then allow users to vote on everything. When the user votes, they are not only voting but they are also signing a digital petition which will assert that they are behind this plan and that they would be more than happy to hop on board with any service provider who steps up and adopts the developer plan. This website will also include, a mission statement, a full description of the project, a letter directed towards service providers, and any other information relevant to the cause.

This website will then become our megaphone and we will initiate phase 2 of the plan which I will elaborate on more in the near future. The general purpose of phase 2 will be to get this website a lot of traffic and ultimately to get a meeting with a CEO of a major service provider so that we can turn over our collective IMC and pitch the idea. Phase 3… well that depends on how phase 2 goes… let’s start with Phase 1.

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:: Why I Think This Will Work? ::

• Google want's to keep android open, I just don’t think they know how. We can show them.

• Verizon has stopped caring about their customers, they need to be checked, I am hoping that maybe a company like Sprint would see this as a potential opportunity to get ahead, and then could market their competitive advantage over Verizon and show that they have the REAL android on their platform.

• Because I wholeheartedly believe, from a business standpoint, that there exists an entire market niche which has yet to be properly tapped into and regardless of how small our community exists today, I believe there are million root users out there who just don't know it yet. I believe that open source is the way of the future and I want to be apart of spreading it.

**************************************************************************************
Public Announcement - I just received the following information:

• The percentage of users that are using tethering for free is only 1-2%, about 1-2 million
• VZW has the ability to see who these users are by sending a simple packet to the phone
• The amount of data they are using is enough to cause stress on the network for other users
• The money being lost is not from the data they are using but the money used to build the network so it can sustain the usage
• There are NO plans to cancel anyone's account for using tethering illegally
• VZW is planning on sending notices to those that are using the tethering to begin with
• The next step will be charging the users for 3G hotspot
• They are looking into raising the prices of the unlimited plan
• They have no interest in whether or not users are rooted
• They have tested a kill switch for the tethering but it has not been perfected. This will only shut off the tethering ability, and leave the phone usable as usual

This information was leaked from a completely anonymous source, interpret it however you like.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[rudydroid]

it's clear you have put a lot of thought into this.
in general terms I like your idea.
I'm willing to help in any way I can, both professionally, as a copy editor, and financially.

rooted, on liberty 2.0.1, slightly oc'd

 

[Doulandroid]

It's pseudo, not sudo. But, wow, my mind hurts a little bit in the places that aren't numb. Had chills of joy in places, like an android spiritual experience. One concern(not the only) I have is showing the corperations the money aspect will temp them, but a team of lawyers will roll in and make it seem it too risky. Do not try this at home, professional rooter on a closed course, may cause hearing loss and/or boredom with non-phone related reality.
You ran it up the flagpole, now let's see who salutes.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[goblueboy]

I want EVERYONE in the android community, at least on Verizon to read this. I also want google dev to read this. Wug you have basically provided Verizon with a free amazing no thought on there part required plan to domine the carrier lines. If they don't take this and run with it, I will be looking forward to joining the Wug Carrier program lol.

 

[kennydied23]

Beautifully worded. I'm looking forward to the website and phase two. I like the idea of having a phone being locked down but you can agree to another TOS and be able to unlock the phone.

 

[Doulandroid]

And this is essentially like trying to talk GM into selling racecars to the public. It was great when Detroit was creating muscle cars, but...... oh, wait, they still sell corvettes and camaros. Perhaps we should think of it in those terms. Some people want an accord or prius, but we can also offer you a ferrari.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[WugFresh]

@rudydroid
I am happy to hear you like it and are willing to help. I need like a 24 hour break, and I will see if I can update this post with some general stuff that needs to be done.

@Doulandroid
sudo --> pseudo , fixed.

I think your concerns are in line with mine. But that's what paperwork is for - disclosure agreements ect... The dev plan is like... you know that you could fully brick.

My main idea for helping that part, is universally accepted resources. Like book quality guides. Well polished. I also thought about keeping the phone locked for the 15 days no mater what, and the user would have to complete a 14 day course which had videos and how to guides.

I also forgot to mention that I don't think that any of this is happening right now and I don't believe anything P3Droid says whatsoever. But you guys are free to form your own opinions on that. I don't want to derail this thread to much, but I did start this whole plan in response to his android apocalypse thread. My general opinion about what is going on is that service providers don't want root users and are thinking of how they can phase that out but nothing is concrete. But I don't think they are tracking me, and I think we can still tether. At this point P3Droid has lost all credibility to me. Until he provides one piece of solid information then I refuse to believe anything he says. I'll take his OS leaks though those are tangible at least.

So time frame on this..? I don't think the sky is falling and we need to hurry.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[psychotic_penguin]

Well thought out plan of action Wug

 

[Doulandroid]

Become one of the Elite with Verizon 's new Superuser plan. Unlock the true power of Androids open source platform. There are no limits when possibility is endless. Do You have the creativity to become a superuser?
The Velvet rope tactic always works.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[WugFresh]

Nice! That's good stuff. All marketing schemes welcome. As well as any criticisms or concerns.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Cloud36426]

I think it would be a good idea for warranty purposes to have the phone locked and the app frozen for the duration of the 14 day return policy. That way any hardware defects will still be credible. And after the phone has reached the 14 day mark then the "unlock" app becomes available.

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[WugFresh]

@Cloud, I think that is a good idea. Except if the user really doesn't care and just want's it unlocked immediately then they can void there warranty... maybe they could call up for that or something.

{{ WugFresh }}

 

[Cloud36426]

Yeah you have a point. I just would hate for someone to have a bad power button or volume buttons and call and ***** out the carrier. Then that happens a few thousand times a day or week and the carrier ditch all the hard work put in by u. Most hardware defects will show up in 2 weeks. I would not mind waiting 2 weeks. If things are headed down this path then we will be out all together. Great plan by the way wug u have my 150% support. Let me know if I can help.

Sent from my ADR6400L

 

[Doulandroid]

Yeah, it's not like you are at a club partying and just want to "unlock" the phone for one night, best to spend a couple weeks with that special phone before going all the way to root. And if you think that's a metaphor, you have a dirty mind.

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums

 

[UNC]

This was the kind of plan I was hoping you'd go with. On your other big thread about the bootloaders I think you got the idea that I was trying to deter you. Well, I wasn't. I'm glad you thought about doing some of the things I suggested. Best of luck to ya!

Sent from my Droid using DroidForums