MMS NOT INCLUDED
MMS NOT INCLUDED
Remember when you were a kid, rushing excitedly down the stairs on Christmas morning to unwrap and play with your newest toy only to be reduced to a tearful mess by the words BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED on the box. Fast forward a few years and the realisation that the alcohol available on your all inclusive holiday is more suited to being a tool for arson or used as paint stripper brings tears of a different sort to your eyes.
What’s my point you may ask, what has this got to do with mobile? My point is that it’s the small things in life that matter most. In the examples above you didn’t care about the shiny red fire engine, or the fact you were going to come home two stones heavier due to all the free food. It was what wasn’t included that mattered the most, and that’s the same in mobile.
Let’s assume you’re on some kind of monthly contract, you will have minutes, texts and data all neatly supplied in a nice little bundle. For most people this will be more than they will ever use in a month, but you happily pay for it knowing that your bill will be the same, month in month out. Never again the horrors of the past, where every month opening your mobile bill was an exercise in fear and anticipation.
But wait, my bill isn’t £35 this month, it’s nearer £40. Hmm, I’ve haven’t been abroad, phoned any premium numbers or voted on the X Factor. What could it be?
Sent any picture messages, a picture of the new baby, pet or car? Maybe you were on holiday and wanted to share the sights with your friends.
MMS NOT INCLUDED
Of all the major UK operators’ only Orange and only in their Panther packages include 50 MMS in their contracts.
Bundles are available from
O2 £5.11 for 50
The larger Data Bolt Ons also include a MMS allocation
Orange £5.00 for 50
Also available in bundles of 15 or 100
Vodafone £3.00 for 100
Otherwise every MMS will cost you a minimum of 20p and a maximum of 36p depending on operator and contract.
Why are operators now trying to nickel and dime us on this? Vodafone used to include them in the Hero plans, O2 previously let you use them as part of your text allocation at a ratio of 4 SMS for 1 MMS, Orange let you use their 2010 era Canary text allowance on a 1 : 1 ratio.
Perhaps faced with falling termination charges and roaming price caps operators are only trying to recoup some profits.
Here’s where I see a problem with this. Today’s customers have more options than ever before. As Apple are wont to say “there’s an app for that”. Applications like WhatsApp and soon to be launched iMessage will cut deeply into revenue streams from MMS and that’s only the beginning. Once your operator has annoyed you by charging for MMS and you’ve discovered a way to bypass those charges, chances are you will start looking for other ways to save money. With applications that do SMS and VOIP for calls, before too long customers will be looking for a data plan with 0 mins, 0 txts and using an app for everything. Where will the operators be then, reduced to their worst fear, dumb pipes.
And all because MMS NOT INCLUDED
Neil Ramsay 2011
@TheNeilRamsay on Twitter
The original version of this article was published on Mobile Industry Review on the 16th August 2011.
Tiny Towering Inferno
Tiny Towering Inferno
Tiny Tower is a game for iOS devices; it’s insanely addictive and best of all it’s free, kind off.
You see Tiny Tower is one of a growing breed of freemium games based around the model used by Zynga for their Facebook games. If you’ve never played this type of game before this is how it basically works. You start your game with a certain amount of in game currency, in Tiny Tower its Coins & Bux. This allows you to start playing but soon enough you run out of Coins & Bux or their equivalent. This is where the (pre)mium part of the name kicks in, because to continue playing you have the choice of waiting for your Coins to build up again or you can buy more Bux with real life bucks, £20.99 for 1000 at time of checking.
This game model is by no means unique nor is there anything intrinsically wrong with it. Every developer has the right, and most people would agree needs to make money on their products. However in Tiny Tower’s case I think NimbleBit has crossed the line.
When the game launched a couple of months ago it was arguably too easy to keep playing for free, I certainly got hours if not days of fun without spending a penny. Did I mention it was insanely addictive? However I soon succumbed to the need for instant gratification and used Apples heinously easy in-app purchasing to spend about £25 to keep building higher and higher.
On the 11th August NimbleBit updated the App to version 1.3
The iTunes store mentions the new elevator and ability to dress up your own Bitizens, what it doesn’t mention is that your in game elevator lovingly upgraded many times from stock now runs like it was built in the 30’s. Thus forcing you to buy the new lightspeed lift for 499 Bux or wait, wait and wait some more for your previously zippy contraption to wheeze itself asthmatically to the top of your tower. The rate at which you earn Coins has also halved meaning everything takes twice as long; you can of course convert Bux into Coins.
Basically to continue enjoying playing Tiny Towers you have to get your wallet out. Rebalancing gameplay mechanics is an integral part of many a game but this is bait and switch. I feel like the kid that was sold my first rock of crack cocaine for a fiver only to find that now I’m addicted the next one is £50.
PS It may be a Tiny Towering Inferno, but I’m still playing. I did mention it was insanely addictive.
Update 16th August – NimbleBit today released another update 1.3.1 which restores your coin earning to the previous level. It was classed as a bug !!!!
Neil Ramsay 2011
@TheNeilRamsay on Twitter
Hello & Welcome
Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Step inside to find a collection of articles about the mobile industry which I hope you will find interesting and entertaining.
Content will be ranged across all aspects of the industry. From discussions about the latest handsets to opinion pieces on what the industry is doing right or wrong, varying in tone from the serious to the more whimsical.
Thanks to Ewan at Mobile Industry Review for giving me the encouragement to get started.
Please comment & come back soon.
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