For the past three years, AT&T’s constabulary of phone-slinging retail monkeys have been rigorously trained in all aspects of the iPhone so as to best pimp Ma Bell’s exclusive handset… but as rumors about the end of that exclusivity have increasingly gained traction, so have AT&T’s efforts to train their employees in other smartphones, says Bloomberg.
The change started with the introduction of numerous Android handsets over the past six months into AT&T’s line-up… a list of non-iPhones that is about to be extended with three new Motorola Android and Windows Phone 7 handsets. That’s a lot of new interfaces and feature sets to get a handle on for employees used to only focusing on one handset and interface.
AT&T probably doesn’t have a choice but embrace diversity as their iPhone exclusivity comes near to an end, but according to analyst Craig Johnson, this might actually turn off customers who are used to AT&T’s singular focus on the iPhone for the past three years.
I’m not sure I entirely agree. For the most part, smartphone hardware mostly shares the same template: hardware-wise, most consumers shop for a look, not a bullet list of specs. The real problem is confusing users with the interfaces. Windows Phone 7 has the advantage of not allowing for device makers’ to install their own custom skins on top of the interface, but as Steve Jobs notes, the Android ecosystem is extremely fragmented from the UI point-of-view. One Android handset does not necessarily operate like another. That could prove very confusing for the AT&T employees suddenly expected to understand all of the workings of the handsets they are selling… and doubly so for consumers.
[via TUAW
