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Verizon SNL skit: Is smartphone market too confusing?

Verizon and other wireless carriers are marketing so many devices and options that smartphone shopping may be too confusing for the general consumer. Even SNL has poked fun via a Verizon skit. 

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Brendan McDermid/Reuters/File
Guests use HTC's latest smartphone, the Rezound, during its launch event in New York this past November. The Rezound, which went on sale at Verizon the same month, is just one of many smartphone options the wireless carrier offers customers.
  • By Devindra Hardawar VentureBeat

While it’s pretty much hit-or-miss these days, when Saturday Night Live scores, it still does so with a vengeance.

Last night the sketch comedy show aired a segment that ripped apart Verizon’s 4G LTE marketing confusion, bringing to light the biggest problems facing the smartphone market today when it comes to general consumers.

In short, there are too many devices vying for your attention (many with terrible names), and the advantages of 4G LTE seems like gibberish to people who have little frame of reference to compare it to 3G. It’s an important reminder that, amidst the hype and frenzy surrounding new gadgets and technology, general consumers may feel left out of the loop entirely.

Verizon isn’t the only guilty party though, it’s simply just trying to fight fire with fire. All U.S. carriers are now touting way too many devices and rely on confusing definitions of 4G to entice consumers. It’s a scatter shot method, but it’s been working fairly well for AT&T and Verizon so far (less so for Sprint and T-Mobile, which offer fewer devices).

See also:

Steve Jobs gets a Grammy, one award out of Adele’s reach 
Microsoft India Store gets hacked, passwords and usernames exposed (updated)

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