The Sunday New York Times ran an article over the weekend that digs into the apparent madness behind cell phone and wireless mobile service pricing. Athour Saul Hansell eschews traditional economics and instead turns to behavioral economic insights to explain consumers’ seemingly irrational behavior when it comes to selecting cell phone plans:

Neither the cellphone companies nor their customers, as it turns out, always act in the rational way that economists might predict. Consumers often put immediate gratification and the avoidance of…

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The latest missive from the folks at Free Press has crossed the line:

When challenged, the wireless carriers actually compare their industry to another: soda.

This is from the Times editorial on July 22:

Phone companies point out that exclusivity agreements are commonplace in other industries. For example, they say, it is not often that one finds a restaurant serving Coke and Pepsi.

Sorry, but cell phones aren’t soda. Unlike carbonated sugar water, cell phone choice, network access and the mobile Web are increasingly essential…

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