The US wireless landscape hasn’t changed much over the past few years. While Verizon acquired Alltel to become the nation’s largest carrier, leapfrogging AT&T, the two are still close in terms of subscribers. The other two major carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile, remain a rung or more below. Sprint has around 50 million subscribers, and T-Mobile has around 30 million. If these companies follow the courses they were on to begin the year, change in the hierarchy would be unlikely. But T-Mobile, forever at the bottom of the Big Four, knows that it has to do something big if it wants to catch even Sprint. The company appears to be making a critical move with Project Black. The name has made its rounds, and it seems with each day we’re seeing more and more of what it will entail. It’s an enormous risk, but it might be the only way to move T-Mobile up the US wireless industry.
There are three aspects to Project Black: network, devices, and service. On the network end, the rumor is that T-Mobile plans to roll out 21Mbps HSPA. Philadelphia recently got 21Mbps coverage, and that should hit major markets soon. The upgraded network will provide speeds that high-end handsets can operate on. That’s where the next phase comes into play.
For handsets, T-Mobile is eyeing a number of high-end devices. Project Black is rumored to be announced later this month, right around the time it is also rumored that T-Mobile will announce the BlackBerry Bold 9700. The device has received nothing but praise in preliminary reviews. While RIM’s software is still behind the times, their hardware ranks among the best. The 9700 will feature a high-resolution display, fast processor, WiFi (which works with T-Mobile’s @Home service), and plenty of other goodies.
Android will factor into Project Black, as both Motorola and Samsung have devices that will hit T-Mobile soon. The Motorola Cliq, featuring a touch screen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and a 5 megapixel camera, will run Android 1.5 Cupcake. It will also feature MotoBlur, which I saw for the first time yesterday. The Samsung Behold II also features a 5.0 megapixel camera, plus an AMOLED touch screen.
Even better is the Nokia N900. The 800 x 480 pixel resolution beats almost every phone on the market, and the 32GB internal storage is up there among the best. Here’s a video of the N900. You can view more of these, including ones on the touch interface and the OS, by clicking the N900 link above.
Finally, of interest to all consumers, is the rumored pricing plan. We’ve seen many prepaid carriers introduce all you can eat plans, featuring unlimited voice minutes, text and multimedia messages, and data for around $50. That’s the price point rumored for T-Mobile. It would greatly undercut all other major carriers, and considering the data usage of smartphone users, it would also undercut prepaid carriers.
The strategy behind Project Black is clear. T-Mobile knows that it can’t compete unless it offers better products and better service than the carriers above it. Not only that, but the offering has to be significantly better. Many people are happy enough with Verizon or AT&T that a marginal upgrade won’t entice them to switch. But with a lineup of the best smartphones on the market, combined with a fast network and a low, low price for unlimited usage, T-Mobile could certainly poach customers not only from AT&T and Verizon, but also from Sprint and even some of the prepaid carriers. After all, $50 per month is so little to pay for so much service.
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