Is It Me or is EA Mobile Just Not Getting It?

I have a few EA Games on my N95, thanks to the EA Try and Buy demo game pack found the Nokia Experience site.  I think by now I should understand the hand in hand partnership between carrier and content provider, but its still a bit questionable as to why content providers leave out the consumer that chooses to bypass their service carrier.  Even if I'm willing to pay for the content, why am I restricted by my carrier?

I'll be completely honest.... this is why people successfully find games that have been cracked.  If the content providers aren't getting the clue then they will forever be losing money. 

Basically in a nutshell, my N95 tells me that I can have these games based on compatibility, but EA Mobile says that I can't because my provider doesn't list my device.  Of course if you are using a provider specific device (in this case lets say the N75) then you shouldn't have a problem.

I would be dishonest if I said that over the years I've never downloaded a game or app from original outlets... but this was my reason for doing so.  And don't get me wrong... I'm not promoting that others do what I do.

EA Mobile isn't the only company.  Remember last year when I complained about the support issue of Digital Chocolate and Tower Bloxx?  Well to date I still have yet to receive an email from the company, and each and everytime I update my devices I have to go through Nokia's Software Market to request the application that I've already paid for.  I'm hoping that the upcoming N-Gage platform for Nseries devices can put an end to all of this madness.  With the recent press release on Digital Chocolate coming on board I hope I won't have to worry about them either.

Comments

[Levo]

Darla -- It's you and the FCC both! Just today the FCC announced rules for their upcoming bandwidth auction. One of the ground rules was to reserve about a third of the bandwith for bidders who agree to allow customers to use whatever phone and software they want on their networks. So just hang on a few years and the phone companies will catch up with you!

[Ricky Cadden]

Darla - I agree 300%. Its stupid for companies to limit themselves to only offer their content through the carriers. They don't see that the early-adopters are getting the shaft, hardcore!

[krisse]

The problem here seem to be the American carriers' stranglehold on what their subscribers can and can't see.

This kind of restriction on what you can buy online on a phone just would not happen with most European networks, especially here in Finland where they (correctly) see themselves as mobile ISPs.

Your broadband ISP wouldn't restrict what software you can buy online, so why the heck should your mobile ISP be allowed to do the same? It shouldn't, it ought to be illegal.