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Interview with T-Mobile about Microsoft mobiles September 18, 2004 [General] | By Edward J. R. We publish excerpts from an interview with Michael Schuld, who is a "Director of End Devices" at T-Mobile Germany (headquarters of T-Mobile are in Germany and it is a German corporation so this interview may be interesting also for users considering T-Mobile USA and T-Mobile in other countries...): 
The interview was published by German popular magazine "connect" in German language, so we present hereby some excerpts translated into English: connect: T-Mobile is releasing increasingly its own end devices to the market. Which requirements cannot be fullfilled by well-known cell phone producers? Schuld: Special requirements of particular target groups can be only with big difficulty fullfilled by mass producers. Here specialists are offerting themselves. So there were, for example during introduction of our first T-Mobile -own product: MDA, no adequate alternatives available and our partner from Far East just had a perfect concept. To use our own brand, instead of creating a new brand, is in our opinion more reasonable. And we will keep it this way in such exceptional cases. connect: Could classic network operators invest so much in research and development of new end devices as for example Nokia and Co. are doing? Schuld: I would like to underline, that T-Mobile is not a device producer and will not be such a producer. We are working on particular products together with specialists. At the same time we are giving device specific propositions and we are supporting development of devices a bit more. Our work is however in no way comparable to work of a producer, insofar as research and development are playing totally different role than in such cases as Nokia or Siemens. connect: How do you want to win recognition for your own brand, against such strong brands as Nokia, Siemens or Sony Ericsson? Schuld: T-Mobile is a strong brand, that for customers means quality and [good] service. This can be exemplified by success story of MDA: T-Mobile is with MDA a market leader, with 40% market share, in PDA phones in Germany. It is clear that we are directing T-Mobile -own product at special target groups and our experiences are highly valued by our customers who are being targeted with these devices. It is only a marginal competition for mass producers of devices - because of our specialization. connect: are you going to focus in future on devices of your own brand? Schuld: As before we will be working with well-known producers - it is an important basis of our business. However products of our own brand are constituting a reasonable complement, supplement, of our product portfolio and because of this they have commensurable significance in world of devices of T-Mobile. * * * * * To learn more about "connect" magazine, that published (in paper version) this interview click here. Conclusions: while previously T-Mobile had just one T-Mobile -branded device, now it is releasing T-Mobile SDA (smartphone with camera), T-Mobile SDA Music (smarpthone with music buttons), T-Mobile SDA (smartphone without camera), MDA Compact (small Pocket PC phone with megapixel camera and processor of latest generation) and MDA III (with Wi-Fi and full-QWERTY keyboard). At the same T-Mobile cannot (yet) totally disregard big vendors like Nokia or Sony Ericssson because experimentation with its own brand of cell phones is just getting started - that's why T-Mobile must be cautious when talking about "big brand cell phone vendors". However as this process of using its own brand for cell phones will be extending in the future, and as process of commodization of cell phone will proceed, T-Mobile and other operators will understand how much more suitable for them is business model offered by Microsoft software for cell phones, rather than using of Nokia-owned and Nokia-controlled Symbian based devices. Yes, after almost 2 years our dream has come true: T-Mobile is rolling out Microsoft Smartphone devices, not just Pocket PC phones (PDA phones) massively! Now it is up to us in community of fans of Microsoft powered cell phones to make them a big success! And each help is appreciated.  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later)
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