Rogers & Android

I had written this post our meeting with Rogers on Thursday talking Android! However, I felt that it was important for me to take some time and reflect upon the conversation which took place between us (Mike, Don and I) and Rogers. Therefore, parts of this post have been revised/updated from the original.

On Thursday (March 11th, 2010), Mike (in-person), Don (on the phone) and myself were given the opportunity to meet with some of the key stakeholders at Rogers who are involved in product management, customer engagement and technology certification as it pertains to Android (and iPhone). This was all made possible thanks to @RogersMary, which shows her leadership and initiative in customer engagement and providing a better value both to the customer and for the Rogers organization.

The folks we met with at Rogers were extremely nice and were down to earth and had a great conversation without any reservations about what we had to share with them and have an open dialogue with us. The presentation which we put together will be posted on scribd in coming days. The conversation ranged from talking about the challenges Rogers faced in getting Android to mishandling of the 911 Bug issue for the HTC Magic/Dream to the future plans on seeing Android be successful in the Canadian wireless market.

One thing which stands out to me is that Rogers is serious about Android. How serious is a question best answered as time goes by. The team at Rogers admitted that some of the learning of Android was lacking and certain issues could’ve been better handled. Specifically the 911 Bug Fix as well as the data cut off for users who had not applied the update. Similarly, the relationship with he manufacturer was also just as new. Specially when it comes to providing Android updates. While Android is gaining wide spread adoption across several carriers around the world, Rogers is slowly starting to bring new Android based devices in the market. For bringing these new teams Rogers has a special certification team which focuses primarily on making sure that the devices are compatible with the Rogers infrastructure and address any issues pertaining to incompatibility.

Moreover, when bringing up the topic of providing Google experience vs Rogers branded devices, there was no clear indication from Rogers whether this is a path they will pursue in the future, however they mentioned that it would be something they will consider seriously after knowing that there is a significant benefit in making a Google experience device available to customers. Our reasoning behind Google experience device was to allow for Android to be hacked the way it was intended. While doing so, Rogers would not be responsible to provide any updates for these specific devices since the update would need to be provided either straight by Google or by the manufacturer by way of OTA.

We also spoke to Rogers about the fact that the recent update to Magic and Dream essentially bricked the two devices by fixing the boot loader  / SPL and disabling users ability to install a custom ROM on it. The whole point of Android and Open Source is to be able to do what you wish with these “mini computers”. We conveyed the message across that these are mini computers and not just web phones which users use to check Email, Facebook and Twitter with their friends. These are much more. These devices are to some people a productivity boost, with the various apps available in the Market (for now only free one’s but that may change in the next few weeks) that users can use to make themselves efficient. If the users had the ability to update the ROM and install a hacked ROM like Cyanogen a lot of users would be happy. These are users who we considered power users of the devices. These are users who know what they are doing and are willing to take on the risk and challenge of having to install a new OS on the device to exploit the power within it. For those other normal users these types of activities are almost non-existent and pointless.

All in all I have a feeling that Rogers wants to get Android right and are just as new to Android as the rest of the carriers. However, the difference between the rest of them and Rogers is that Rogers is taking the initiative to learn and understand. This was not the impression I got before going into the meeting. However, I am not entirely convinced until I see results from Rogers. Having said that, I really do hope that Rogers is willing to really learn from both the user community and hope that in the coming months we’re able to have frequent dialogs with Rogers around this and hopefully make a difference for the overall Android community.

In the end we think that Rogers is going in the right direction, although they are not there yet, but we’re always here to help them get there. However, the first thing they need to do is understand what the community wants and why. I really hope that through our meeting, Don, Mike and I were able to provide some important feedback around what the Android community wants and why.

One more thing which I almost forgot to mention was that Rogers was nice enough to give us the opportunity to play, for a few minutes, with the upcoming Acer Liquid (running 2.1) and the Sony Ericsson Xperia (running 1.6). Mike and I didn’t have too much time fiddling around with the devices but we both felt they were great devices. I personally really liked the Sony Ericsson and am most likely going to write a review of the device once it is available. At which point I’ll decide whether or not to purchase the phone out right. Looking forward to the release of those two devices.

Leave no Droid behind!