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 23, 2007
Vodafone has issued a statement detailing exactly why they have been crippling VoIP support on the Nokia N95 in the UK.
Apparently Vodafone “doesn’t believe” VoIP is “a mature technology” and is concerned that it requires “in-depth testing, a solid end-to-end customer experience, billing integration and customer service support which is not currently available”.
The statement goes on to explain: “There is a misleading perception that VoIP services are ‘free’. This is, however, not the case when it comes to using VoIP over mobile where customers will need to use data connectivity to establish a service and may incur further charges.”
“Vodafone feels responsible that customers should not incur unnecessary charges when competitive mobile rates are a cost-effective choice for customers.”
“Lastly, it’s important to note that customers can download VoIP applications if they choose to do so or can use VoIP services via a laptop and data card.”
by Patrick Altoft on April 5, 2007
Vodafone has signed a deal to sell Sagem mobile phones with Vodafone branding as part of Vodafone’s Original Design Manufacturers Strategy.
The handset is scheduled for
release by June 2007 and will be ultra slim with all the features of a normal GSM phone as well as a nice 65K colour screen.
Vodafone is using its brand equity to leverage the sales of cheap devices. The Sagem brand, which is associated with low cost handsets, will apparently not be shown on the phones. Makes you wonder why they are sending out press releases about it.
Jens Schulte-Bockum, Global Director of Terminals at Vodafone comments:
Vodafone’s Original Design Manufacturers strategy is intended to use
Vodafone’s size and purchasing power to engage with the best white label
handset makers and then use the power of the Vodafone brand to bring
their products to market. We are pleased that we have signed this
agreement with Sagem Communication which will build on their experience
in European markets to create for us a high quality and affordable
handset for sale across Vodafone’s markets.
by Patrick Altoft on March 31, 2007
Vodafone has announced partnerships with tow major retailers in the UK this weekend in a bid to kick start its business again after a recent slump in growth.
Since Tesco became the fastest growing mobile retailer we have been expecting one of the other supermarkets to join the mobile phone business. Today Vodafone confirmed that Asda, PC World and Currys would be selling Vodafone handsets in te near future.
Asda will sell its own branded mobile phone service using the Vodafone network while Currys and PC World targets small businesses using in store Connectivity Centres.
Recently Vodafone has suffered increased pressure on margins in the UK due to stiff competition.
by Patrick Altoft on March 21, 2007
Buried inside a Guardian article about how Google is hunting for a manufacturer for its Google Phone is an interesting snippet of information about the iPhone.
Apparently Vodafone is currently the front runner in the race to distribute the iPhone across Europe. With Apple obviously keen to choose just one carrier Vodafone are as good a choice as any. The fact that the speculation is in The Guardian does give a certain credibility to the story.
Apple wants to secure a deal with a single pan-European network for the launch of its iPhone by the end of the year, with industry insiders suggesting Vodafone has emerged as an early front runner.
If such a deal does go ahead with Vodafone we could see Carphone Warehouse shares take a slight downturn. Carphone famously fell out with Vodafone last year and are now unable to sell any Vodafone contracts online or in store.
by Patrick Altoft on March 21, 2007
Still reeling from complaints about their email service, which remains unavailable almost 100 hours after the problems first started, Vodafone is facing fresh criticism for losing 11,500 votes for Saturday’s Dancing on Ice final.
According to The Guardian the votes went missing due to a technical error, which could be related to the email system problems, and were not delivered until yesterday.
According to ITV there was 1.5 million votes cast for the show so the small number of missing votes wouldn’t have made a difference. The incident is still most embarrassing for Vodafone in a week they will want to forget.
The official Vodafone statement:
Vodafone UK has confirmed that due to a technical problem 11,500 text votes for the Dancing on Ice final were not delivered to ITV until Monday morning.
These votes represented only a small minority of votes cast by Vodafone customers. All other texts were successfully delivered.
The Vodafone customers who were affected received a message to tell them that the vote was too late and Vodafone UK will this week be automatically refunding those customers the cost of their text.
by Patrick Altoft on March 20, 2007
Vodafone’s email service apparently ground to a halt yesterday morning and is still down as of 12.20pm UK time today.
Users visiting Vodafone.net are being greeted with a “service unavailable” message stating:
We regret to inform you that the Vodafone Mail service remains unavailable. However, please be assured we are working to restore service to you as quickly as possible and we will ensure you receive regular updates on this site with regards to the status of the incident.
According to The Register Vodafone doesn’t really seem to know what the problem is.
This is a screenshot taken from the Vodafone.net page just now:
by Patrick Altoft on March 16, 2007
Vodafone has announced a new flat rate data tariff for its European customers today offering a full days use for 12 Euros.
The tariff will be launched on 1st July 2007 and promises to significantly lower the data costs for people who only want to use this sort of service for a few days at a time.
Aimed at both business and personal users who want to use laptops while travelling the service uses 3G and HSDPA in some areas to offer fast data transfer.
Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone, said:
Following the success of our Passport service, which has made it cheaper and simpler to call home over the past two years, we are now applying the same principles of value and simplicity for customers who need to access their corporate intranets, business e-mail or surf the web when they are abroad.
With high speed 3G networks already deployed in many European markets, ongoing investment in new technologies to increase download speeds and clear, effective tariffs, Vodafone should be the network of choice for those seeking to use their laptops when travelling.
Previously Vodafone offered data transfer on a per Megabyte basis which was costly for some users and proved difficult for people to keep track of the costs.
The new tariff offers 24 hours of data, capped at 50MB for a fixed fee of 12 Euros + VAT.
by Patrick Altoft on February 16, 2007
Reports are surfacing from UK Vodafone customers about problems with their latest bills.
One customer commented:
On contacting Vodafone we were told that they had encountered problems with this months billing. Certainly the operator we spoke to didn’t seem to have all the answers to our questions at hand.
We have confirmed with a number of other Vodafone customers and all have had similar issues.
Apparently Vodafone are checking all FREE TEXT plans for 100, 250 & 500 texts again and will contact you if your bill is incorrect.
In the meantime we suggest you check your bill carefully and contact Vodafone customer services if you have any problems.
Via lcove
by Patrick Altoft on February 12, 2007
Vodafone continues its deluge of third party applications with a cool implementation of Google Maps. In partnership with Google Vodafone has developed a location based version of the popular Google Maps for use on a mobile device.
Available for download as a Java application the service will offer easy to use maps and listings of local restaurants as well as other attractions and services. The package will include navigation capabilities and local search. The service is free, subject to your normal data charges.
On first inspection the service appears similar to the popular Orange Local application but with the addition of the hugely popular Google Maps service.
Frank Rovekamp, Global Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone, commented:
Vodafone sees Google Maps as a new milestone in the relationship that
both companies are developing. It is a prime example of how Vodafone,
through its location service and distribution scale, can complement
Google’s products and unlock mass-market access to exciting services..
One of the popular features of the Apple iPhone when it was announced last month was the Google maps integration so it was only a matter of time before other manufacturers produced rival applications.
Google maps mobile isn’t an exclusive service to Vodafone, as we reported last week.
