An Apple a Day … more operators to sell iPhone

September 29, 2009 — Damien

Following on yesterday’s news that Orange Uk will start selling iPhone … ending O2 / Telefonica’s virtual monopoly in the UK. Today, Vodafone in UK and Ireland  announced their plans to sell Apple iPhones.

Good news for the operators? well ending the monopoly of iPhone was a good move. An operator with a data usage strategy will want to be selling iPhones along side other data hungry phones like RIM, Android, Symbian devices.

Many first mover customers coming out of their 24 month agreements on the iPhone 2G will be happy to wait a few months, but 3G and 3GS users probably will be waiting another 12 – 24 months.

For Christmas does this mean an Apple under the tree??? I don’t think so.

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Orange UK to get Apple

September 28, 2009 — Damien

ORANGE UK announce that Apple is coming soon

Apple’s iPhone will be available to Orange customers in the UK later this year, ending rival O2’s exclusive deal over the must-have handset, the mobile operator said.

The announcement by Orange ends months of speculation that it was trying to muscle in on O2’s deal with Apple, which gave it exclusive UK rights to the iPhone in 2007. The 3G and 3GS versions will be available to Orange UK customers “later this year”, but no further details of dates, handset costs or tariffs are available yet, the firm said.

Operator exclusivity over Apple’s iPhone for the past 2 years has probably been good for boosting retention and aquisition in customers who love Apple or were already using smartphones.

This makes sense for the possible soon to be bigger operator. Customers on Orange are already offered a choice of Android, Symbian and Blackberry smartphones. Adding Apple to the range improves the chances of them staying with Orange and increasing ARPU and data usage.

What do you think? A smart move ??

 

*** 4 November – updated *** Orange is sending out emails to everyone who signed up to their Apple database. Orange claimed over 200,000 people signed up

 

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3 rewards customers who get customers

September 28, 2009 — Damien

From today 3 UK will reward customers with cashback for referrals.

Join 3’s Free Agent team and get paid for promoting our free SIMs online. You get £5 cash when each friend first tops up their SIM by a minimum of £10, and they get an extra £2 credit. There’s no limit to the amount of money you can make.

see also: http://freeagent.three.co.uk/

Posted in Mobile, UK, operators. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Happy New Year and welcome 2008

January 3, 2008 — Damien

My role as music product manager in a global organisation does allow for some time out .. today is the first official day back in the office … so happy new year.

A few interesting stories that I will certainly be watching

  • Warner and Amazon announced DRM Free for their USA store  – I wonder how long before Amazon launches in the UK
  • Fox announces video content on Itunes – but its still DRM’d
  • Billboard says 2008 will be the year we get digital album artwork as part of our online purchases – great news!
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O2 Sells 8000 iPhones on first night

November 19, 2007 — Damien

O2 sent an email to stores an hour after the launch, claiming that 2,000 customers who bought iPhones from O2 stores had registered their devices at 7:02pm. That figure soared to 8,000 by the end of the night.

Sales vary considerably from store to store, with anecdotes of disinterest from some, disbelief at the price tag from others and customers queuing in the snow at O2’s Aberdeen store.

Source: http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/17234.asp?men=2&sub=1

Most O2 and Carphone stores said they sold ’solid numbers’ of iPhones – tens rather than hundreds.

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Musiwave sold to Microsoft for 50m

November 16, 2007 — Damien

Microsoft is closing its acquisition of Musiwave, the French mobile music company, for USD46m in cash and USD4m in debt. The price is less than half what Musiwave’s California-based owner Openwave paid when it bought the firm for USD117m in Jan 2006.

The deal is important for Microsoft as it gives it a foot in the door for mobile content delivery to consumers … as well Musiwave still works with a lot of the leading mobile operators.

http://www.strategyeye.com/2007/11/16/microsoft_completes_musiwave_deal_for_usd50m/

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200000 iPhones to be sold by O2 UK by end of year

November 5, 2007 — Damien

O2 UK expects to sell around 200,000 iPhones by the start of the New Year. Sales will start on 9 November, and Matthew Key, CEO of O2’s UK business, told the Financial Times he expected “a couple of hundred thousand” iPhones to be sold in the first two months.

O2 has ordered “hundreds of thousands” of iPhones from Apple for its stores and online outlets as well as shops run by Carphone Warehouse. After the June launch in the US, 1 million iPhones were sold in just under two and a half months.

The iPhone will sell for GBP 269 in the UK, and customers will have to take out an O2 contract for at least GBP 35 per month for 18 months.

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Apple iPhone for Europe partnering with Vodafone, t-Mobile & Carphone Warehouse?

July 2, 2007 — Damien

On the rumour mill for some weeks has been the story that Vodafone and t-Mobile were in discussions about sole distributorship rights for a European iPhone. But now Gizmodo, have suggested that an announcement is due today and that both operators will win, leveraging the successes of both networks in different countries.

This would be great news for GSM users globally, a non-exclusive agreement would have far reaching appeal to mobile phone users than the American AT&T arrangement. Gizmodo also suggest that Carphone Warehouse (its name in the UK) will also get a distributor licence.

We wait to hear if it will be a 3G phone with better camera and more memory!

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Turkey’s Avea Mobile Operator Goes 2.0?

June 8, 2007 — Damien

In the last week new media marketing sites reported on a portal being developed Avea in Turkey. Secretly named GenCinSan (young people in Turkish) the site was launched this week as www.patlican.com.tr (patlican is eggplant/aubergine and a play on ‘it will explode’)

The new site is a reminder of early telco portals from the dotcom error and features include news, reviews, video, with a mix of traditional telco products and services. Tacked on to this is a 1/2 mix of web2.0 services – create your own profile and you can have a personal webpage or find other users with shared interests.

You have to join to be able to view almost anything on the site and be a customer of Avea if you want to participate …. which is all bad news for anyone checking the site. And to register, you have to give them your mobile number … funny stuff?

You can’t call this a web2.0 site as it is not driven by user generated content instead the focus is on a range of editorial content taken from other sites. Looking behind the scene its been developed by VSP/news portal e-kolay.net with support from azbuz and gayet.net. What all these sites have in common is the involvement of a leading media communications player in Turkey, Dogan Grou. Pretty powerful stuff

It might prove a nice new edition in the portal market for Turkey and relevant to Avea customers. Vodafone already offers a similar portal at netbul.com and other similar portals are mynet.com and previously mentioned e-kolay. Thats before you start looking at the long news and media sites.

Posted in Internet, Mobile, operators, web2.0. Leave a Comment »

Turkey delays 3G licence auction for lack of interest

May 24, 2007 — Damien

Turkey’s telecommunications regulator has postponed the tender for four third-generation phone licenses. The tender, which was supposed to be held May 25, will now be held September 7, an official from the Communications Ministry said on Tuesday.

There was limited interest in the contract conditions, said Ertuğrul Karaçuha, Head of the Telecommunications Board, reported business daily Referans. Fearing the necessary tender demand would not form, the tender has been postponed to September, he said. The Telecommunications Board made the decision on Monday.

 source: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=73976

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