by Patrick Altoft on May 5, 2007
Executives from both Orange and Vodafone are trying to persuade Apple to offer them exclusive access to the iPhone when it releases in the UK later this year.
Vodafone has long been a front runner but Apple has not made any decisions yet and Orange are clearly not wanting to lose out.
Many UK retailers are receiving emails and phone calls on a daily basis asking when the iPhone will be released, where they can buy it and how much it will cost. Apple hasn’t even released any TV or media adverts in the UK yet and customers are clearly confused about the situation. The sooner Apple picks a carrier the better.
An announcement is expected by September with a launch throughout Europe during December.
by Patrick Altoft on April 30, 2007
Orange has become the first UK mobile phone network to offer an “overdraft” facility on Pay as you go phones.
The service is called Reserve Tank and allows users to use £2.50 of extra credit to make calls and send text messages in an emergency.
Orange are launching the reserve credit initiative as part of the Speak Easy plan which is aiming to simplify PAYG tariffs by offering 15p per minute rates at all times.
by Patrick Altoft on April 12, 2007
Orange is about to start selling the Samsung i600 handset in the UK. The i600 is a slim, streamlined Smartphone with high level features.
The i600 offers a 1.3 megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, digital zoom, auto flash, advanced MP3 player and a large colour screen. Other features include WiFi, speaker phone, VGA camera, Bluetooth and conference calling.
The Orange website isn’t displaying any pricing details yet but I will update this post as soon as we find out where the best deals are. Its likely to be free on most contracts.
by Patrick Altoft on April 12, 2007
Orange is about to release a new mobile phone in the UK, the first to run Windows Mobile 6.
The SPV E650 features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, 2 mega pixel camera, ActiveSync email, removable Mini SD memory card and a host of business features.
The large 320 x 240 pixels screen switches automatically from portrait to landscape mode when the keyboard is open. In the event of a theft all data on the phone can be erased remotely thanks to a Microsoft Exchange Server feature.
Other features include WiFi, EDGE and GPRS.
Full details and prices to follow.
by Patrick Altoft on March 15, 2007
Despite having enough interest in the Big Brother sponsorship deal to ask all 12,000 UK staff for their comments Orange has decided not to pursue it further.
An Orange spokesman said:
We asked our staff what they thought about sponsoring Big Brother as we like to get them involved in the decisions their company makes. In this case, the majority of our staff felt that we shouldn’t sponsor Big Brother. Having taken this into consideration and having evaluated it further with our sponsorship team, we have declined this opportunity.
According to the Independent the majority of Orange staff were opposed to the deal. Other sponsors being lined up include Phones4U, the main rival of Carphone Warehouse.
by Patrick Altoft on March 13, 2007
Mobile phone network Orange are apparently considering sponsoring Big Brother, according to an article in The Register.
Carphone Warehouse recently suspended its sponsorship of the controversial TV show and Orange has asked all 12,000 of its staff in the UK to vote on whether it should take over the slot.
Orange offered this in a statement:
We’re looking into whether Big Brother is an appropriate programme for us to sponsor. In fact, we’ve asked our 12,000 employees for their opinion. We’re waiting to see what comes back from them and then we’ll make a decision.
by Patrick Altoft on March 1, 2007
The Sony Ericsson W880i we reported about earlier this month will be released today in the UK. Most retailers are offering this great handset free of charge for contract customers.
Lucky customers signing up to a T Mobile tariff on the official T Mobile website will be able to choose the W880 on a Flext 35 price plan. T Mobile have included some extra features on their version of the W880 such as a dedicated music button giving access to the T Mobile Jukebox service offering full track downloads for £1 per song.
Other offers from O2 and Orange include savings of up to £175 with 5 months free line rental.
The Sony Ericsson W880 is just 9.4mm thick, the same as a CD case, and is the slimmest ever Sony Ericsson mobile phone yet. A 1GB Memory Stick Micro is included in the package so you can store around 1000 tracks.
Also included is a 2 megapixel digital camera.
Click to buy online from T Mobile, O2 or Orange
by Patrick Altoft on February 26, 2007
Orange, the UK mobile network, is understood to have signed a deal with Carphone Warehouse to allow them to continue selling Orange contracts until January 2008.
After Vodafone pulled its new contracts away from Carphone Warehouse there had been speculation one of the other networks might follow. It appears that Orange took the opportunity and managed to negotiate a much better deal with Carphone.
Strangely the new deal requires Carphone to connect a certain number of Orange broadband customers despite the fact this is in direct competition with the TalkTalk broadband they have been pushing hard this year.
Apparently the new deal requires Orange to pay less money up front and then top up the commission with payments relating to the customer spend in the future. Interestingly Orange are also restricting the number of online sales Carphone Warehouse can make which indicates Orange wants to sell more contracts on its own website rather than via a third party.
Via Mobile Today
by Patrick Altoft on February 18, 2007
An interesting article in the Telegraph today reports that Orange are developing a technology to turn mobile phones into remote controls and television screens.
The service will allow Orange users, who subscribe to a joint TV, mobile and broadband package, to use an Orange version of the Sky+ remote record system as well as an Orange version of the Slingbox mobile software we wrote about last week.
Orange hopes to launch broadband TV later this year and will offer users the ability to transfer content between phone, TV and PC with ease within 2 years.
There are plans to provide a search application so users can view and search for content across all 3 mediums.
Eric Abensur, Orange spokesman, said:
When you buy content you should be able to watch that content wherever you want to, whether that is on your TV, on your PC or on your mobile.
New services like this are already in use by other companies but it will take a network like Orange to explain how the applications work as well as spending time persuading customers that this product can benefit them before we see mass adoption.
by Patrick Altoft on February 14, 2007
Orange has announced today that it will be upgrading its 3G network to HSDPA this year.
The 3G network covers 90% of the UK but we understand that Orange will be concentrating the HSDPA enabled 3G+ service on commercial areas such as London and major airports. According to Orange the top 5 cities will have HSDPA at some time during 2007.
Customers will have a choice of HSDPA handsets as well as a range of data cards that can be fitted to laptops and other devices.
Neil Laider, VP of Orange Business Services, said:
Mobile broadband is designed to increase the productivity of our customers, wherever they happen to be working. 3G+ provides faster response times and enhances applications where bigger file downloads or faster data streaming is required.
For example, a 3MB PowerPoint presentation will typically take just 34 seconds to download using Orange 3G+ compared with 20 minutes via GPRS. Customers with 3G+ enabled mobile office cards will notice these benefits as 3G+ is rolled out across the network. Orange is future proofing by ensuring all mobile office cards are 3G+ ready.
