Motorola doesn't get it

Does this statement by a PR flak from Motorola rub anyone else the wrong way?

"Nobody in the industry has ever said that Bluetooth would always be cost-free," Motorola spokesman Alan Buddendeck said on Thursday. "It will vary from operator to operator."

That's this most preposterous thing I've read this week (and there's been a lot of weird stuff written, with the Macintosh version of a yearly pilgrimage happening up in San Francisco).

I expect that sort of answer from Verizon, which decided that the phones Bluetooth features could only be used the way they wanted them to be and now they're being sued. Motorola is supposed to at least understand what they make and why.

To Mr. Buddendeck:

1. You clods manufacture and sell phones.
2. They have a number of features that you work hard to implement.
3. Customers read about the features and choose their phones based in part upon the feature set.
4. When the features don't work (either because you screwed up or because you let one of your halfwit vendors turn them off), customers become upset. At you.

The full Bluetooth functionality in the phone has already been paid for in the eyes of the customer. There is no 'cost-free' thing happening here.

One of these days, a standards based approach to modern wireless communications is going to happen and this crap will disappear move to some other industry. I really can't wait. Until then, we're all screwed.