On the webcast this morning we were able to gain some insight from Clearwire Chief Commercial Officer Mike Sievert and Rover General Manager Seth Cummings. “Rover is a brand aimed at a new market”, says Sievert, “We are aiming to appeal towards a segment of the market that has been traditionally under-served in the mobile internet arena.” So who exactly makes up the “pay-as-you-go” customer base that they speak of? Sievert quips “The 18 to 24 year old city dwelling youth”, typically urban, who are not fond of counting their minutes or megabytes. There is definitely sound reasoning to attack the market in this way. There are many individuals who love “Truly Unlimited”, like myself, for example. There are however, many customers who enjoy prepay for the simplicity of the billing and, of course, the lack of the 2 year contract. “Generation Y addicts who have grown up only knowing a true all digital lifestyle, who want to cut the cord and don’t like two year contracts” are the target market for the new Rover brand.
The “Network of Networks” title was touted yet again as the sound reasoning for the branding of the new pre-paid flavor service. According to Sievert, over 80% of their CLEAR (retail brand) customer base is tied into a 2 year agreement, no doubt the goal of an aggressive internal sales department in Seattle. Though Clear retail offers a no contract option as well, it is more-than-evident that they are in no way interested in growing their interest through that market base.
In fact, there is no way that Clear wants to deal with the “Cricket Crowd” as a means of growing their overall business. Many of this “market” that Sievert speaks of did not qualify for 2 year contracts in the first place. As someone who has owned businesses both in the “traditional post-pay” and “pay-as-you-go” wireless retail sector, I can say that the “Cricket or Boost” crowd requires a certain stomach to deal with on a day to day basis. There are many challenges to face when operating such retail locations. The first and foremost is that you are not operating on commission or residual from the carrier; it’s strictly cash. This is a great business model for the scum of the netherworld, but for those of us who like a steady flow of GAAP approved business models, deductions and cash flow, it’s tricks will make you duck and dodge customers who can in smelling straight from the garbage can demanding world class service for pennies on the dollar, world class customer support and billing, unmatched product reliability and ALWAYS think you owe them something free. I say good luck to Rover in general and the authorized resellers and dealers in particular that resell the service. Hopefully the bottom-feeder crowd I just described don’t own computers and won’t have a use for this service, reserving it more for the other segment of the prepay market; people who qualify for two year contracts, but simply refuse to sign one.
Anyways, when is Clear going to make an announcement to the 2 year contract crowd and let us know when phones and tablets are coming out?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I don't get why this company (clear) is trying to treat their product like a cell phone. Where i live there are many locations with free WIFI. It sound like this company is just experimenting to see what people will buy. Pay As You Go? what? this sounds so stupid!!!!
nice
Not everyone has that privilege.
I hope Clear gets bought out or something. Why do they call it Clear anyway, i know they are trying to change their old name Clearwire but couldn't they come up with something else. Everyone should have that privilege because the cities that CLEAR is targeting are big cities where there are alot of hot spots. If you see their map, they are trying to hit the big towns. Can't wait for LTE to start coming out, this jokers need to be put in their place. They do a pretty good job on lying to the costumer. They suck!! ROVER! what a joke!!
This company is reaching!!!!!! They have terrible coverage here where i live. The town looks like crap no thank to their towers. Good thing the HOA does not allow them near my neighborhood.
This company is reaching!!!!!! They have terrible coverage here where i live. The town looks like crap no thank to their towers. Good thing the HOA does not allow them near my neighborhood.