Zer01 Mobile: Going nowhere?

There is, I think, a market for a well run, focused mobile virtual network operator.

At CTIA back in March, there was a small but significant buzz about Zer01 Mobile — a totally new entrant proposing unlimited voice and data within the United States for around $60-70.

Nice.

At first glance, that sounds brilliant.

Indeed, I met quite a few people who took me to a corner and quietly showed me their Zer01 mobile trial sim card. I remember being very jealous. I remember thinking I might as well get a Zer01 account, instead of signing-up with T-Mobile.

Indeed, if you can get the MVNO strategy *right* for the uber geeks, you could count on getting 100-200k customers like me and the US readers of MIR pretty quickly.

I was reading a post earlier this week by Enterprise Strategy Group’s Steve Duplessie.

Steve doesn’t mince his words and his analysis is famed across the tech industry. Mention the words ‘Steve Duplessie’ to many a wide-eyed analyst relations professional and you’ll see their eyes widen even further. The chap not only knows his stuff, he’ll beat you around the head with it.

In his post, Steve points out that any firm that, “sends out a release such as this, but can’t even get it on their own Web site.”

He’s then helpfully cut and paste the release from Zer01 Mobile (which, I would also link to, if it was published on their site… but it’s not). Finally, Steve comments, “Hey zer01 – cool thoughts, horrid execution. At least Vonage had snappy commercials.”

Agreed.

Zer01 works using VoIP. Which is a total arse. It’s perfectly fine if you’ve got bandwidth. But the moment bandwidth becomes scarce in your area/server/cell/whatever, you’ll find yourself praying for 4k/sec guaranteed throughput.

You also have to use Windows Mobile. Another gaping flaw for anyone who doesn’t use the platform.

The next flaw? You can’t actually ‘sign-up’ for Zer01. You can’t buy from their site. Instead, Zer01 are waiting for enterprising chaps to contact them and setup a sub-MVNO under them.

Right.

Yes, we shall see. Like Steve, I’d like for it to be a success. But I very much subscribe to his final sentiments: “Cool thoughts, horrid execution.”