“Can you hear me now?”
“Good.”
Those are the indelible words of Verizon Wireless’ “test man,” according to the company’s southwest regional president Brian Danfield.
Danfield gave a presentation to students Thursday in Tempe’s Memorial Union on
Verizon’s sales, network, sustainability and the future of “test man,” an event hosted by the American Marketing Association at ASU.
Investing in Verizon’s network, Danfield said, is the company’s top priority.
“You can get whatever devices you want out there,” Danfield said. “But if it doesn’t work, what are you going to do with it?”
Danfield said Verizon has invested more than $1 billion in Arizona’s wireless network, including financing of their new fourth-generation network, which will be unveiled in the Phoenix area later this year.
Network reliability has always been the top priority for Verizon, he said, but in 2007, a game-changer was introduced to the industry — the iPhone.
Its introduction marked the beginning of the smart phone era, and Danfield said it changed the complexity of wireless networks.
“You can put your money into one solution, or into several different ones,” Danfield said. “We have to evolve with the devices, applications and environment as well.”
Verizon maintained its commitment to the network, he said, but it kept up with the trends — sales of Blackberrys went through the roof, the Motorola Droid was introduced and plans continue for more advanced wireless options. The Samsung Galaxy, a tablet device running on the Android operating system, will be in Verizon stores later this year.
Danfield said in the midst of the smart phone rush, the company saw multimedia messaging increase 160 percent, mobile web use increase 110 percent, and text-messaging increase 100 percent, while standard voice calls fell 20 percent.
But still, Danfield said, the dedication is to improving the ever-growing and advancing wireless network.
“You know what, devices are cool,” he said. “But you know what people really want? They want it to work.”
That’s why Verizon Wireless’ fourth-generation network, dubbed LTE, or Long Term Evolution, is being implemented this year, and will be completed in the U.S. in 2013, Danfield said.
The fourth-generation system, which will be finished in the Phoenix area at some point this year, boasts the power to facilitate seamless online gaming, live video calls and as Danfield said, “movies in minutes, songs in seconds.”
For the future, he said products and marketing would undergo radical changes.
“The next 10 years we’re going to grow up,” Danfield said. “We’re going to do something different.
While rumors have swirled for several years about Apple’s iPhone coming to Verizon, Danfield said it’s still a rumor.
However, Verizon did announce Thursday that it would begin selling Apple’s iPad at the end of the month, and would package them with their own mobile hot spot devices, so
Verizon’s iPad users would have a Wi-Fi connection in any location with 3G service.
Aside from future products, Verizon’s future in advertising is changing as well, which may mean an end to “test man.”
Verizon’s new “Rule the Air” campaign has taken over, Danfield said, in an effort to tout empowerment of wireless users.
“It’s about customers being able to use our solutions to rule the air,” he said.
Matt Coast, the president of the American Marketing Association at ASU, said the group prides itself on giving members the tools and resources needed to find success in the real world.
“I believe our generation is a generation of change,” he said. “I believe ASU is a catalyst for that change.” Reach the reporter at mhendley@asu.edu
