Updated on December 10, 2021
Continuing the 2011 flashbacks, we come next to the mobile phone category. Some big changes this year for me and on the mobile landscape:
- The implosion of WebOS. The decline in WebOS popularity (due to problems I’ve repeatedly harped on) plus the TouchPad as the biggest tech flop of 2011 (even with a $99 fire sale) ultimately led to HP pulling the plug on WebOS as a platform, and also sending Palm the way of “Byte” magazine. While HP has talked about opening up WebOS for the open source community, I’m still assuming it’s as dead as Elvis. Of course, before the WebOS plug was pulled, I had long gotten fed up with my first-generation Palm Pre, and decided to jump ship (one ETF later) to…
- …the LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile. While it’s clearly a low-end phone (not much onboard memory, for one), moving to Android has been a much better experience app-wise than WebOS, even if I still think WebOS had the slicker user interface. Virgin Mobile (US) is owned by Sprint (and thus uses Sprint’s network), so there wasn’t a real change there (I was already on Sprint). Finally, I’m saving a lot of money over what I was paying before with a contract ($25 a month for 300 minutes and unlimited data versus $70 on Sprint for 450 anytime minutes and unlimited data).
- Finally, AT&T planned to buy T-Mobile… with said plans having been derailed thanks to an angry customer base response, plus the US government for once remembering they have anti-trust laws (and actually enforcing them).
