Who is your competition?

“It was important for the industry to lift its game on customer service to head off competitors like Google and Apple and recoup billions of dollars invested in super-fast 4G network and spectrum licences,” Optus chief Ken Russell said. “It makes me nervous that two core competitors have brand recognition with customers that is fundamentally higher than our relationship … That is a strategic risk that makes me nervous.

Service standards poor: Optus boss

Optus, a mobile phone network provider, thinks they compete with Google and Apple? This is such a strange way to look at it that I’m thinking that the reporter got the quotes mixed up. On what level does that competition happen?

It’s like saying that VicRoads, who provides driving infrastructure (like roads and stuff), is in competition with Volkswagen, who provides one kind of car that runs on the roads. I don’t get it.

Also: How can Optus screw this up? They have only one viable competitor in the mobile space, Telstra. Vodafone is a basket case, losing customers by the thousands.