The New York Times had a story today that discusses that Verizon Wireless just announced that they are going to allow the use of banner ads on their Internet phones next to news, sports, and weather links.
As an Internet phone user, I think that this is ridiculous. My rates won’t go down because of this and I might end up paying more over the long-run because I have to pay for the data that I download.
Verizon needs to re-think the use of this. If they want to make this work, they better not charge me to download the ad or they need to reduce the amount that I pay for using their data plan.
Or better, stop restricting my phone and let me use all the functions that are built in. Stop restricting me and forcing me to use your services. I pay a lot every month to you already, don’t do it.
There is more mobile content out there for people this year and it will continue to grow. But should we be forced to watch generic ads that Verizon uses? Are they going to push ads on other users websites that I am surfing to? When I surf on my mobile phone, I am looking for specific information.
One of the sites that I visit is ESPN’s mobile site, got to keep up on the scores, and they have discreet ads on their site. I see the ads, but they don’t slow me down.
Here is a link to the Dreaded Purple Master’s blog on this issue, “Tread carefully, Verizon“. MIT Convergence Culture Consortium has another look at this. “Verizon Takes Cautious Step into Mobile Advertising” discusses Verizon’s cautious approach to this plan.
To see them all, you can see Technorati’s Search Results.
As a Verizon customer, I hope this goes away. But I don’t think it will. It should be tasteful and not cost me anything to get the ads.
Mile High Soapbox 