Blog: Vodafone sends Wayfinder on its way, but cuts own throat on the stage of public perception and opinion
Blog: Vodafone sends Wayfinder on its way, but shoots self in foot on stage of public opinion
by Ted Mc from BlindMind.net 24 Mar 2010
Vodafone, apparently trying to head off what would be a costly lawsuit, and even more costly public image problem, in my opinion, is already too late, at least for the latter. But let me explain what I mean.
Before I do that, however, let me first say to anyone who thinks that the fight for Wayfinder Access is over, it's far from it. In fact, we're probably only halfway there. If you've followed the news of the demise of the Swedish company who were bought out by a telco giant wanting to buy competitors out of the way for its own means of establishing some dominance in the field of GPS navigation, and that, while sad, that the end is here, think again!
Everyone in the news seems to be simply talking about how sad it is that Wayfinder is gone. Oh, those poor jobs. Oh, it was a good company. Too bad. And then the realization hits that the company who bought and subsequently shut them down did so as part of a $200 million+ scheme to stake itself in the market for the purposes of providing GPS services to its mobile customers. So now we're all distracted with that, because, shortly thereafter, the likes of Google Maps and Nokia's Ovi Maps became virtually free to all. Oops!
Now all anyone's talking about is how much money Vodafone lost, and "oh, I bet someone lost their job over that decision", blah blah ad infinitim. But hardly anyone is talking about how, in the middle of such corporate waste and greed and intrigue, how a group of people who relied more on the products of that little company were hurt more than anyone else in the whole shambles. The Wayfinder Access users, who will now have their GPS solution for blind and visually impaired people, the solution that gives us independance and a means of finding locations, or getting ourselves out of trouble if we do get misdirected cut off prematurely.
No one is talking about how that GPS system was the ONLY GPS system that works to a professional level on Symbian mobile phones, which is approximately 70% of the smartphone market. So if you're a Wayfinder Access customer, now you don't just need a new GPS system, you need a new several hundred dollar smartphone as well. And oh yeah, you're going to need to buy a several hundred dollar screen reader all over again, too. The cost is so prohibitive that doubtless hundreds or even thousands will simply have to go without the GPS software and keep their current accessible phone, unable to afford to replace the cost of all three.
Sign the petition. Sign thepetition. Sign the petition. If doesn't matter if you yourself arenot a user of Wayfinder Access. Sign the petition. It doesn't matterif you are not blind or visually impaired. If you are outraged by whatyou read, sign the petition. Send the link to others who will sign thepetition.
While on that subject, though, yes there are some transfer options for screenreading software if someone were to want to replace their phone. But the point is, do you think any consideration was given to the impact of such a buyout and shutdown of this little company from Sweden? I say little, but they weren't really. Over 100 people lost their jobs. But compared to Tom Tom and Garmin, they were pretty little. And while that is truly sad, the company was in fact sold. Payouts for employees were given. They weren't just pushed into the street.
By contrast, some blind people now can't go INTO the street!
Do I think that Vodafone set out to harm the blind and visually impaired? No. And this is what makes me really mad. I believe they did so almost completely ignorant of the ramifications of their actions. I don't think prior to the fact that anyone REALLY looked at the market and saw that this is the ONLY piece of software you can run on an S60 mobile phone for this purpose that really works well. I don't think anyone said "oh crap...blind people are going to either have to buy new phones and software and spends hundreds and hundreds to do so, or go without what has surely become a vital part of their lives....OR, they're going to have to buy a standalone handheld device that does that same thing for several thousand dollars, or go without. Oh well. Hey, we bought a new company!"
Sign the petition. Sign thepetition. Sign the petition. If doesn't matter if you yourself arenot a user of Wayfinder Access. Sign the petition. It doesn't matterif you are not blind or visually impaired. If you are outraged by whatyou read, sign the petition. Send the link to others who will sign thepetition.
I don't think they did any of that. I don't think they gave it much thought whatsoever.
Do you think anyone really went to all the trouble to find out that now, as a result of their actions, and entire CONTINENT would now be without any solution for blind GPS navigation at all? I wonder if they know even now. It's India, by the way, Vodafone.
Still nursing their wounds from the large dollar amount lost in the investment into GPS just before other even larger companies decided to show some social conscience and class and make it free to the masses, what is Vodafone going to do now? The decision they make right here, right now on the world stage, I believe, is going to shape the future of the company. If they don't do the right thing, and I mean the REALLy right thing, and not just an arse-covering exercise, surely the public would never forgive them. Surely they will never get to Google or Nokia size by following up usuch a huge blunder in money wasting...with a public relations melt-down. Tell me there is a soul under there somewhere, even if just for the sake of realizing they need to be perceived as fixing this problem they created.
Please, folks, don't wait to see what they do. Show your outrage and help FORCE them to do the right thing. I fear it's the only way they will in fact do so. I've said it before...companies like this do the wrong thing only to the extent that we don't cry out. That we don't force them. We are actually partially at fault for any insufficiency of the final result here. If they thought for one second that they might get an onslaught of bad press that starts an avalanche of customer churns to other mobile carriers, and stock prices plummeting, they would fix things in a heartbeat, and without so much as blinking.
But the current lack of urgency on their part is simply a mirror of how little a threat they perceive us to be. If no one's talking in the press about it being a problem, then it's not a problem, is it? If there's no picketers outside the door, and TV cameras going, they will just continue to be ho-hum about the whole thing while it eventually dies in the wave of whatever the next news cycle is.
Don't let them! Please go right this second to:
Sign the petition. Sign the petition. Sign the petition. If doesn't matter if you yourself are not a user of Wayfinder Access. Sign the petition. It doesn't matter if you are not blind or visually impaired. If you are outraged by what you read, sign the petition. Send the link to others who will sign the petition.
Posted by Ted Mc at 24 Mar 2010, 8:34 PM 
Categories: Editorial, Visual Impairment, Blind, Mobile Carriers, News - Mobile, News, News - S60, Accessibility, News - Software, Symbian, News - Symbian, Advocacy
Tags: symbian visually impaired accessibility Mobile Industry News Vodafone blind Wayfinder Advocacy
Categories: Editorial, Visual Impairment, Blind, Mobile Carriers, News - Mobile, News, News - S60, Accessibility, News - Software, Symbian, News - Symbian, Advocacy
Tags: symbian visually impaired accessibility Mobile Industry News Vodafone blind Wayfinder Advocacy
Comments