T-Mobile has made some serious strides over the past year in order to make themselves more appealing to people. The new, bold moves that the carrier has been making have been beneficial to many as they've gotten rid of contracts, gained a decent line-up of phones and even made it so you didn't have to wait 20 to 24 months in order to upgrade your phone (because let's face it, as quickly as technology advances that's far too long for most people to wait). These moves T-Mobile has made have been beneficial to say the least, even if you don't use the Magenta carrier, but another plus to all of this is how T-Mobile has presented their case: with oomph.
What I mean by that is that T-Mobile has done a decent job of stirring things up in an entertaining way. In this industry we are used to seeing big heated arguments regarding whether Apple is better than Samsung, or iOS is better than Android, or whether Windows Phone or BlackBerry actually serve a purpose among the two more popular platforms. Everything gets so serious in this industry, and it's not very often that you actually come across people proving points lightheartedly anymore. T-Mobile, however, has managed to do just that.
I don't even use T-Mobile and I find myself chuckling at some of their shenanigans. I see it as a sort of comedic relief - you know, like they have in movies. Generally speaking, the mobile industry has a mysterious way of weighing in on people's emotions to the utmost degree, in many ways like when one watches Forrest Gump or the Super Bowl. But even in a dramatic film like Forrest Gump or an event as popular as the Super Bowl you have comic relief, or in the case of the Super Bowl you have the halftime show to somewhat ease the tension. In the mobile industry we have T-Mobile.
Some might not find their antics funny. Take for instance AT&T, Verizon and even the company trying to acquire the UnCarrier carrier, Sprint. But in my opinion, it's turning what could have been a series of serious drama into something a little more watch-worthy. Of course it's a marketing ploy, but it's a marketing ploy I can get behind, mostly because in a lot of ways I find what they're doing to be fairly righteous in an industry that seizes every opportunity to get as much money from us as possible. I'm not going to tell them not to give people 200MB of free data on tablets every month, to not cancel contracts, or to not pay people's early termination fees if they want to. It's not their fault that it makes the other carriers look bad for not being able to offer the same thing.
I also find it quite admirable that T-Mobile has gone from zero to hero in just a year. I mean really, the company looked like it was about to be consumed (well, merged) with AT&T just a couple of years ago. While there is still potential for T-Mobile to merge with Sprint in the near future, but instead of being a poor helpless carrier that's on it's last leg you have a carrier that can actually hold its own and that people should, in general, want to keep around. It's no secret that T-Mobile has been nudging the other carriers along with their new way of thinking. I know I like the direction this is going.
In short, T-Mobile might not still be the mega carrier that it strives to be just yet, but they're on their way and they're making it an interesting ride to say the least. I look forward to what they have to bring to the table in 2014.
