T-Mobile-Surface

[t-marco]

Hey guys, that is gonna be launch on dec in some stores. This is going to be fun when you buy a phone at t-mo store.. check the video

YouTube - Microsoft Surface: T-mobile demo (http://youtube.com/watch?v=eUqwfnwH1Oc)

[darkjedi]

Hey guys, that is gonna be launch on dec in some stores. This is going to be fun when you buy a phone at t-mo store.. check the video

YouTube - Microsoft Surface: T-mobile demo (http://youtube.com/watch?v=eUqwfnwH1Oc)

Looks pretty damn awesome...almost makes me sad I quit. "Almost!"

[kinjutsu11]

Now that is freakin sweet! I love the way they implemented it to work for T-Mobile specific things like that! That's awesome! Can't wait til its at some local stores to play with myself.

[t-marco]

Now that is freakin sweet! I love the way they implemented it to work for T-Mobile specific things like that! That's awesome! Can't wait til its at some local stores to play with myself.

play with yourself? ... that will be new! and can probably attract more costumers. lol, kidding

[j__1]

You've peaked my interest... besides providing a much more practical way of showing customer's coverage maps, how do you see this helping you sell more?

Not trying to be argumentative... just curious about your thoughts.

Or are you guys just gadget freaks like me? :D

[kinjutsu11]

play with yourself? ... that will be new! and can probably attract more costumers. lol, kidding

Hey now, do get any ideas, :D Haha, but i think something like that will totally enhance the customer's experience at retail. And it doesn't look confusing in any way either, so even those non-tech savvy customers can use it without too much help.

[darkjedi]

You've peaked my interest... besides providing a much more practical way of showing customer's coverage maps, how do you see this helping you sell more?

Not trying to be argumentative... just curious about your thoughts.

Or are you guys just gadget freaks like me? :D

I'm a gadget freak like you and while this is undoubtedly one of the "coolest" things to come into the wireless industry in quite some time I think it will cause more headaches. The obvious conclusion is that "most" people won't know how to use it thereby removing the need for lack of help. Time after time again people would come up to me having been unable to process a payment on the paystation. They couldn't get past the first screen which says "tap to begin." Its a wonder some of those people can tie their shoes in the morning but thats another story. Given that fact and those experiences I have to say that I wouldn't want to be a rep in the store when these come out. People may select things accidentally and you'll have to fix it once again removing the entire notion that this is to remove the middleman (sales person) from the process.

There is no doubting the cool factor, but 5 years plus in wireless taught me that most people just don't like to try new things. They want us (sales) to do everything for them and thats my job and I'm not complaining about that but watching that video clearly shows an amazing tool that I just don't think will be expanded to its full functionality not because of lack of interest but for lack of trying.

[kinjutsu11]

I decided to digg this thread (i am a new digg user, so i'm trying it out, and pushing T-MobileSignal out there). Digg it if you can, and heres the link i used
Digg - T-Mobile-Microsoft Surface Video (http://digg.com/microsoft/T_Mobile_Microsoft_Surface_Video/)

Thanks all!

[Mystictrust]

There will likely be only one of these in every corp store [one day]... everyone and their mom will be messing around with the tech so then you have people waiting for reps AND for these T-Mobile Surface things. Goofballs placing 8 different phones on the machine trying to compare them all (which I doubt is possible), moving the phones around just to see the surrounding information move along with it, playing with the different plans and moving the boxes around with their fingers, placing their non-RFID tagged older phones on the screen and then trying to flag down a rep to question why their phone won't "work" on it.

The tech is too new, IMHO, for people to take seriously - do you seriously think someone is going to walk up and put a couple phones down, compare them, look at some plans, and then go to the counter to buy something? No, they'll be messing around with the thing until the cows come home [or a rep notices and comes buy to ask if they have any questions]. This sort of technology may be better off used for a purpose other than "if a rep is too busy to help". As darkjedi implied and we all know to be the truth: People r st00pid (that and they have a lot of curiosity and engage in deviant behavior (http://www.t-mobilesignal.com/forum/f235/deviant-behavior-1420.html)) ;)

[j__1]

Hey, easy on the bill payment kiosk... that was one of my babies! ;)

This reminds me of the touchscreens we had installed at all Aerial Communications stores and kiosks. Similar to today's collateral, their best use was as a tool for training RSRs (i.e., learning the sales process).

What I don't understand is why they keep trying to make things more complicated, instead of trying to boil the pitch down to less than 30 seconds.

I mean, coverage, rate plan, features, device, right? And I'm not sure rate plan and features should ever be discussed with a customer... True, what goes into providing wireless service is fairly complicated, but why should the customer ever be exposed to any of that mess?

This isn't just a telecom challenge... just check out HD and content. Seriously, how can you possibly make it any more customer unfriendly than it is right now?

An example in response to Mark Cuban attempting to drive his HDNet stock up by pointing out a lack of HD content:
I think greater challenges for the average consumer today are interlinks, multiple versions of the same channel, and actually sorting through all of the noise.

On the interlink front, we have RF, composite, s-video, component, HDMI, DVI, firewire, etc. That barely touches the same audio challenge.

On the multiple channel front, Joe Customer has spent a nice chunk of their lives tuning into HBO on channel 20, 501 or whatever. And inertia is a son of a gun….

So, in order for Joe to even get to the problem you describe, he has to:
1) Have a HD display.
2) Subscribe to HD services or use OTA (if available).
3) Use HD interlinks (if required).
4) Have their display set to the HD source. (How many still have coax hooked up?)
5) Ensure their source is set to output at 720p or 1080i.
6) Tune to the appropriate HD channel.

I don't know... but that seems like a lot of work for many. And while one would think that Comcast, DirecTV, or any other provider would ensure their customers are on-boarded to HD effectively, I've found more than a few friends and family members claiming high definition when they're not even scoring stereo.

Now I'm not saying I have the smartest friends and family members... but I think there are more than a few groups that need to step up to make this a much much easier process for the masses.

I know HDMI is supposed to solve much of this, but.....

And who can even sort through all of the channels? Seriously, besides sports and news, how many shows really need to be streamed? Why can't they use that huge pipe to push content around as needed instead of showing 3 Fresh Prince of Bel-Airs at the same time? And how many channels is Scrubs on at the same time? Hundreds.

IMO, we are again in the middle of extreme overbuild in terms of bandwidth. And to be honest, I'm excited about the prospect.

Wow, that was a lot of rambling to say: technology is an enabler.... not a solution. :)

[L7jr]

I believe this product, while in theory seems to be good, I feel it will cause alot of headaches to start off with. Many people will probably be confused by it at first.

In the long run however, I wouldn't be surprised if more and more carriers begin to implement this software into their stores to ease the wait for a CSR.