21st
If it is too good to be true…
Since the CTIA show in March a lot of friends have asked me about a new company called Zer01, I am sort of the local expert for mobile questions. Zer01 is supposedly launching a $70 unlimited data/voice mobile phone in the US. The announced at CTIA and won Laptop Magazines best in show as well as a finalist in CTIA’s best of show award.
I tried to become an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) in 2003. Since then I have had a considerable amount of exposure to the MVNO process as well as mobile in general. In fact we even tried to set up a single cell phone tower to become a “regional” wireless carrier and then get roaming agreements for the rest of the country. The problem is that no matter how you slice it, being an MVNO sucks, your costs are high and your backbone is controlled by your competitors. When I tell people this they always say, “What about Virgin mobile?”, they are half owned by Sprint as is Boost, so not really MVNO’s.
Anyway… so when I saw that Zer01 won a few awards especially from the industry trade show itself I started looking into it. The first thing that I noticed is that there just was no infrastructure to be found. The more I googled the less that I found.
If as they claim they owned their own fiber, struck deals with the carriers, etc., then there would be infrastructure (offices, colo, people on linkedin, etc.) scattered everywhere. The fact that I could any of that of substance I found weird. There were other things but to me this was enough of a flag to stay away.
So I enjoyed seeing that my buddy Andy Ambramson did a post today of IDG’s Nancy Gohring’s in depth look at Zer01. She took the time and did the work to expose Zer01 for what it seems to be, a multi-level marketing company which has used a lot of buzzwords to gain a sales force for thousands of people. Beyond that it does not seem that much is there. It is worth the read of her article if you have time.
Oh and for all of the multi-level marketing sales people that signed up to sell Zer01 looks like you guys are going to have to go back to selling Goji berries.
