Once again a household brand is finding itself in need of some serious crisis management. A growing campaign, spreading via Twitter and other social media, is aiming to stop cellular provider AT&T’s plan to charge subscribers an additional $200 to upgrade to the newest iPhone if they are not finished or nearly finished with their current contracts. With the number of names on the Twitter petition almost doubling in the past 24 hours, a rapid crisis response is crucial. ComputerWorld.com interviewed an expert about the situation and he had some good advice for the cell carrier.
“They should forget the immediate gratification [of higher revenue] and invest in the longer term to keep iPhone users,” he said.
In his view, AT&T has a very small window to react to the online criticism. “The community will only get angrier and angrier,” Lawrence said. “If AT&T acts fast, it will make the decision on its own, but past that 24-to-48-hour tipping point, it will look like they’ve been forced into it.”
With the looming danger of Apple allowing other networks to carry the iPhone, AT&T would be wise to gather, and retain, as many customers as possible it has sole possession of the most sought-after smartphone on the market. Whether the extra charge is essential to their bottom line I don’t know, but if it isn’t I wouldn’t be surprised to see a very public policy change in the near future.
JB
Jonathan Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com