Research Notes

The story behind Strand Consult’s report The moment of truth, a portrait of the iPhone – why have we published a free 100+ page report about a mobile phone

During the summer of 2009, Strand Consult allocated four of our key employees to write the report The moment of truth, a portrait of the iPhone. A report that describes the financial reality that market players must face regarding the iPhone – a reality some call the iPhone Effect.

Many have asked why we spent so much time and resources on describing the financial reality that is part of the iPhone market? Some have also asked why we are so critical about Apple and the iPhone and whether it is due to some sort of hatred towards the company or phone that millions of people love? Our answer is as always; Strand Consult has nothing against Apple or the iPhone, we simply believe that there is a part of that market that many are overlooking, a reality that we would like to describe.

Strand Consult is a 15-year-old company that since its launch has made a living from helping over 160 mobile operators around the world, by giving them information about the market and how it is developing. We are completely neutral regarding both operators and technology providers. Our most important company goal is to give our customers an objective and critical view of the reality that their business is a part of.

Our founder and CEO John Strand is well-known for his extensive insight in the mobile market and for stating his honest point of view on how he sees the market and how it is developing. Those that have met John Strand know that his opinion cannot be purchased, but is based on his experience and the in-depth analyses from his employees. You can read more about John Strand here: www.understandingmobile.com.

When
the iPhone originally launched, it was amidst enormous media attention that was controlled with almost military precision by Apple. Operators that launched the phone selected the journalists they wanted to test the product and Apple then censored the lists and ensured that those journalists that had been critical about Apple through the years did not receive an opportunity to test the iPhone.

As an increasing number of operators around the world have launched the iPhone, an increasing number of myths surrounding the iPhone have also emerged, myths that have often been launched by various “experts” that have had certain views about the iPhone, but that rarely painted the whole picture of the market that the iPhone is a part of and the reality that the mobile operators’ shareholders must face. In our report we call this The 10 iPhone Myths:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8cvf-KEECE

Since the iPhone launched, we have held many workshops for operators around the world. During these workshops there have often been discussions regarding the iPhone and whether it has had a positive effect on a mobile operator by for example increasing the number of their customers, or decreasing churn, or increasing their revenue and profits?

After a while we had reached a point where we had access to a great deal of financial information about how the iPhone was influencing the operators’ business cases and we had all our comprehensive information and analyses about the mobile market in general and we knew that this information would be very relevant for our customers, to give them a more accurate and comprehensive overview of the iPhone market than the one we most often saw being portrayed in the media.

The report was not ordered or paid for by any company. We have not been contracted by an operator, mobile manufacturer or anyone else in the industry to write this report. This free report that thousands of people have now received has been compiled and published without any cooperation with the handset manufacturers.
Strand Consult makes a living by being objective. We do business by delivering objective information about the telecom market and our report about the iPhone is just one of many examples of how we are not afraid of telling the truth – even if it means making some enemies in the short term.

Today we can see that our report has been referred to in over 1000 articles around the world. We have received very positive feedback from the thousands that have already received their free copy and are daily receiving thank-you messages about this unique report that four of our employees spend their summer writing. In fact we have received many mails from operators around the world that have stated that the report  contains a great deal of very exciting information and has been a good tool to base an internal debate on how operators view various mobile handsets.

We hope that our report can help lift the iPhone debate to a more objective level and that it has cleared up some of the 10 myths surrounding the iPhone – and basically helps ensure that the debate about the mobile market and how it is developing will be a little more serious in the future.

The report has been written according to the ethical rules we always abide by and our dialogue with the press follows our 7 ground rules which we have been following for many years: http://www.strandconsult-press.com. We know that the 300+ journalists that have contacted us about the report have had total freedom to evaluate our product, without any demands at all from us about what they choose to write.

If you have not yet read the report The moment of truth, a portrait of the iPhone, you are welcome to order your free copy here: http://www.strandreports.com/sw3871.asp . Strand Consult is always open to objective criticism and we would be happy to participate in any debates regarding the conclusions in our reports. We believe it is our most important goal to contribute objective information about the mobile market and how it is developing – and we have been successfully doing just that for 15 years.
More information: The moment of truth, a portrait of the iPhone

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