The Nokia N95 has only been in stores for a couple of weeks but it has already been the source of much controversy, mainly the pricing of the unlocked device and the poor battery life. This week another reason for uproar was sparked by the guys at Truphone, a company that produce an Internet Telephony solution for Nokia devices. They were shocked to discover that both Vodafone and Orange had disabled the Internet Telephony features on their branded N95s, depriving their users of making Internet Calls and, perhaps more tellingly, making the Truphone product useless to those users.

Now I want to start by saying that I’m avidly opposed to Operators messing with devices be it firmware branding, device locking or removing features from (crippling) devices. I’ve commented as much many times before. However Truphone have taken this argument to the next step by claiming they will take the matter to Ofcom, the UK Telecoms Regulator, and it looks like everyone has decided to jump on the bandwagon demanding action against this “illegal” act.

Now, should this sort of thing not be happening? Sure. Should the user not have the right to buy a device that has all its possible features? Of course. Is it illegal for the operators to do this? No.

Take a look at the description of the Nokia N95 on the Vodafone and Orange webpages. Both sites mention the key features such as WiFi, 3G and Video Calling but nowhere is Internet Telephony or VOIP mentioned. I’m sure the same is true of the N95 descriptions in the literature provided in store and those given by the sales reps. The operator isn’t deceiving the customer into believing that built in VOIP functionality is included when it isn’t.

This is further reinforced when you take a look at the crippled Nokia E65 both Vodafone and Orange also provide (And yes, there is no doubt that these devices have been crippled). The E65 is a device which is more dedicated to VOIP calls than any other, it even comes with a dedicated Internet Call button which is prominently placed on the device. However take a look at the versions from Vodafone and Orange and you’ll notice that this button has been swapped for a Email button and a Media button respectively. Again VOIP isn’t mentioned in the list of features.

And yes I know everyone reading this will say they already knew the device features before launch but you aren’t the every-man in this situation. The vast majority of people going into a store to buy a mobile phone don’t know the features of a device before they enter, the world just doesn’t have that many mobile-geeks. You might also say that the operator should specifically mention that features X and Y are disabled on this device, which would seem like a fair compromise, but there is no legal reason for the operator to do this (in fact this would probably confuse customers). If they have sufficiently described the features of the device they are selling then they are in the clear. And after all that has been taken into consideration there is always the 14 day return policy that will allow you to return the device without charge if it isn’t to your liking, so nobody will get stung if they expected VOIP to be built-in..

Basically what I don’t like about this whole episode is that it was started because of the wrong reason. This shouldn’t be about Truphone feeling like it’s going to miss out on it’s cash from Orange and Vodafone users, as the Operators are only doing what any other company would do in their situation, and they’re doing it legally. Give me a group of users who are sick of the operator doing this sort of thing and who want to use their buying power to try and influence change. Show me where to sign up.

Don’t give me a company bitching because they’re pissed off that the big boys won’t let them steal a piece of their pie.