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3GScottishUser
29th July 2005, 04:22 PM
From Mobile Today 28/07/2005:

Vodafone is planning to out-muscle 3 in the coming months with a wide range of good-looking 3G phones, including the three-megapixel Samsung Z700 (right), which 3 is not taking.

3 is continuing to keep its handset costs down by focusing on preferred manufacturers LG, NEC and now Sony Ericsson, starting off with the K608i.

Vodafone has already had strong sales of the Samsung Z500. Sources claim that the handset made a dramatic impact on sales at The Carphone Warehouse as soon as it became available earlier this month.

Vodafone is keen to camouflage 3G on its forthcoming 3G handsets, hoping that looks, better tariff deals and preferential subsidies over 2G handsets will be enough to sway consumers.
A source close to Vodafone said: ‘They’ve realised that the word “3G” is not only failing to turn customers on, it’s actually turning people off.’

Motorola’s new 3G RAZR, the V1150, is expected to figure prominently in Vodafone’s renewed 3G campaign, alongside Sony Ericsson’s slimline V600i.

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/artman-test/publish/article_577.shtml

Postscript: Exactly as I have been predicting for over a year. Looks like Vodafone and the others are going to try and distance themselves from the damaged customer perception that 3G has earned so far. If I was Voadfone I'd dump the 3G branding in the UK and badge the service UMTS as it is on the rest of Europe.

Ben
29th July 2005, 04:39 PM
All sounds very positive - and yes, I think I agree about using UMTS for branding... talkumts.co.uk... sounds ok to me! ;) What I'm most pleased about, however, is Vodafone's increased push of 3G - there are some great deals on their website right now, and having all their SIMs 3G capable is just brilliant. By getting as many phones out there as they can they'll soon be able to identify more areas to extend 3G coverage to. I'm becoming significantly more optimistic that extensive 3G coverage is on the cards at Vodafone after initially reading that it would only ever cover the most lucrative areas.

I still have a few dislikes when it comes to Vodafone, but their energy at the moment is commendable. As http://www.vodafone-emailme.co.uk/vfemailme/coming_soon.jsp shows, they've got the N70 on the way too!

3GScottishUser
29th July 2005, 05:15 PM
Try using vodafone UMTS in Germany... its an eyeopener!

Its very clear that 3G/UMTS can work very well and when integrated into a network that has good GSM coverage one can't notice any diffrenece apart form the faster downloads when browsing. The new handsets will make a workd of difference and I bet (as I have said many times before) most new 3G customers on Vodafone wont even know they are using another technology as the whole service is similar in look and feel to GSM but a better experience re the above.

Jon3G
29th July 2005, 08:09 PM
As http://www.vodafone-emailme.co.uk/vfemailme/coming_soon.jsp shows, they've got the N70 on the way too!


And knowing Voda this will be a true release date. All very interesting

Maybe my next swop target phone