Mobile Inc » Vodafone

Google Have Just Told Vodafone To Jog On | Will Retail Nexus One Themselves Via Google.com

Murat — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:39:33 +0000

No sooner than ranting about manufacturers beginning to have the upper hand, Google today confirmed that they intend to turn operators into their bitches.

As you all probably know by now, Google are releasing their own phone called the Nexus One. The phone is nice, good features but definitely no iPhone killer. However as suggested by Mobile Industry Review it represents something much more than that.

About 6 years ago the first Nokia handsets shipped with Wi-Fi capabilities, there was a huge buzz about being able to make free calls over the Internet using your mobile, however operators put a stop to that by strong-arming the manufacturer by literally saying “Disable it or we won’t bulk buy your phones”.

Sure enough the Wi-Fi stayed but the phones never got VOIP calls until YEARS later. And when it did arrive they tried to charge for it. Operators want other stuff too like putting their own maps application on phones, app stores, and a whole bunch of extra crap they were never meant to do. If you’re trying to build something into the core user interface it’s probably better to let the people who made the rest of the phone do it.

This is typical of how things work in the mobile industry, manufacturers bend over backwards for operators because without them it’s extremely difficult to get your latest and greatest mobile into consumers hands.

But what if you’re the most visited company on the web?

Google have told Vodafone they won’t be able to retail the phone themselves. If a customer walks into the Vodafone store or goes online wanting a Nexus One, they will be pointed to the Google.com/phone website.

As Ewan at MIR says:

(yes, it’s powerful, yes it’s got some cool apps) but the real meat was in their strategy of breaking the operator stranglehold on the mobile industry.

Apple has already shown the kind of flex that giant, sought after brands can have on operators.

Of course you’ll still need an operator to get the phone working but that isn’t the point. This is the very, very beginning of a massive shift. This is the first time it’s been done this way and won’t be the last.

Vodafone Is THE Network Of Choice For Celebrity Stalkers

Murat — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:24:43 +0000

Slighly strange choice of topic for this Vodafone ad from Argentina. Watch the Video below for your step by step guide on how to stalk Eva Mendes.

That reminds me, does anyone have Cheryl Coles Natascha McElhone’s (Karen from Californication) number?

[Via AdFreak]

When Social Media Attacks! Vodafone Facebook Campaign

Murat — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:06:10 +0000

‘Social Media‘ is the buzz word right now across brands, agencies and advertising in general. They all want a piece of the action, where ever the consumers go in their millions, brands are never far behind.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter are on the hit list for many companies, it allows interaction between consumers and brands on a more personal level. You can now comment on products you like, share them with friends and in many cases get responses to your questions and feedback. All this is great of course if your brand is loved by everyone but what happens when it’s not…?

If you’ve been on Facebook recently you have probably seen the Vodafone event invite in the sidebar as part of their new campaign.

Vodafone have launched a promotion giving all customers free Facebook access on their mobiles for one week. To support the launch Vodafone have created a fan page allowing Facebook users to join events, get updates, post forum and wall comments.

Now this is the part where it gets particularly interesting as the amount of fans has reached over 50k with over 77k joining the Facebook event Vodafone have started for this.

That’s a pretty good turn out but suddenly Vodafone have enabled all of these people to have a voice about the brand. Although (very) few are complimentary, the majority seem to either have something negative to say about Vodafone or pointing to superior competitor deals in the market – which I think is worse.

You can delete a comment saying ‘Vodafone is shit’ but what do you do if someone says there are much better deals on Orange, Three and O2?

Three and Orange are offering free Facebook, Bebo and Myspace with a £5 or £10 top up and O2 have unlimited internet tarriffs for the iPhone, all of these are mentioned in the comments.

Check out some of the comments I’ve picked below. If you’re a Vodafone customer reading about how everyone else is already getting all this stuff free for longer than a week wouldn’t you start considering a change?

On top of this there are tons of comments with bad language, it looks like it’s becoming hard for Vodafone to moderate which is another issue with allowing people to comment.