3GScottishUser
9th October 2005, 11:17 AM
From 'This is Money' (09/10/2005):
BOB Fuller candidly admits he got it wrong when his company set out to blaze a trail with 3G. They learned the hard way over three years and now, he boasts, nobody does it better.
And as chief executive of 3, he says he knows better than anyone how the public is using the technology. Fuller insists that 3G phones are more than just ordinary mobiles with a few extras - he believes they form an entirely new category of communications.
'There is a big difference between how people expect to use their 3G phones and how they actually use them,' he says. 'Before we launched, we did lots of research, but most of it was wrong.'
For instance, the first 3G marketing tended to feature video calls between handsets. But in practice, that turns out to be a sideshow. 'The three big areas are music and music video downloads, games and sport,' says Fuller. 'The big rise in usage that we see comes every Saturday evening after the football finishes,' he points out.
[...]
In the company's early years, Fuller had to put up with an endless stream of knocking stories. Handsets were bulky in a way that users had not seen since the first days of what used to be termed 'portable telephones'. The batteries lasted for only the blink of an eye and the screens were poor quality.
As the pioneer, 3 also discovered that third-generation networks did not behave like established systems and there was a constant technical battle to make sure that when callers passed out of one cell area and into another, the connection was not dropped.
Those may have been tough days, but Fuller is clearly glad to have gone through them. 'We understand 3G like no one else in the business,' he says. 'It was a tough learning curve, but it is one that Vodafone is still on and some rivals have barely even started.'
Full Story: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=404209&in_page_id=3
So what many of us have been saying for years appears to have been confirmed. Videocalling is a 'sideshow'. 3 have had lots of technical issues, not only with handsets but have been fighting a constant battle to get the network performance up toa reasonable standard.
I doubt that Bob is happy to have presided over the shambles that the first 30 months of 3 UK brought to market and don't think others are guaranteed to make the same errors that 3 did. Others may have similar network glitches but with each of them having relibale 2G backup the extent of the problems will prove far less noticeable to customers. 3 have so far been unable to sell their basic telephony service at similar rates to established networks and what is even more concerning is that the added value video service look set to be slashed to attract interest. (£2.50 Video Essentials now replace by Daily Downloads at £1). Good news for customers but hard to see where the 'profit' will ever come from if they cant sell services at realistic prices. Looks like any income is better than none and the priority now appears to be increasing the non-voice revenues by slashing add-on prices and adding non-voice products to the highest commission tariffs in a very stealthy manner.
Some really big mistakes have been made by 3 UK, videocalling being the least important. Customer service and quality of experience now has to match other alternatives or 3 wont make it through 2006. Mr Fuller may be putting on a brave face by highlighting past errors and climing that those have empowered his operation with expertise, but the rest are not standing still and are years ahead in terms of cutsomer care and that could be the hardest challenge for 3 UK in the following months.
BOB Fuller candidly admits he got it wrong when his company set out to blaze a trail with 3G. They learned the hard way over three years and now, he boasts, nobody does it better.
And as chief executive of 3, he says he knows better than anyone how the public is using the technology. Fuller insists that 3G phones are more than just ordinary mobiles with a few extras - he believes they form an entirely new category of communications.
'There is a big difference between how people expect to use their 3G phones and how they actually use them,' he says. 'Before we launched, we did lots of research, but most of it was wrong.'
For instance, the first 3G marketing tended to feature video calls between handsets. But in practice, that turns out to be a sideshow. 'The three big areas are music and music video downloads, games and sport,' says Fuller. 'The big rise in usage that we see comes every Saturday evening after the football finishes,' he points out.
[...]
In the company's early years, Fuller had to put up with an endless stream of knocking stories. Handsets were bulky in a way that users had not seen since the first days of what used to be termed 'portable telephones'. The batteries lasted for only the blink of an eye and the screens were poor quality.
As the pioneer, 3 also discovered that third-generation networks did not behave like established systems and there was a constant technical battle to make sure that when callers passed out of one cell area and into another, the connection was not dropped.
Those may have been tough days, but Fuller is clearly glad to have gone through them. 'We understand 3G like no one else in the business,' he says. 'It was a tough learning curve, but it is one that Vodafone is still on and some rivals have barely even started.'
Full Story: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investing-and-markets/article.html?in_article_id=404209&in_page_id=3
So what many of us have been saying for years appears to have been confirmed. Videocalling is a 'sideshow'. 3 have had lots of technical issues, not only with handsets but have been fighting a constant battle to get the network performance up toa reasonable standard.
I doubt that Bob is happy to have presided over the shambles that the first 30 months of 3 UK brought to market and don't think others are guaranteed to make the same errors that 3 did. Others may have similar network glitches but with each of them having relibale 2G backup the extent of the problems will prove far less noticeable to customers. 3 have so far been unable to sell their basic telephony service at similar rates to established networks and what is even more concerning is that the added value video service look set to be slashed to attract interest. (£2.50 Video Essentials now replace by Daily Downloads at £1). Good news for customers but hard to see where the 'profit' will ever come from if they cant sell services at realistic prices. Looks like any income is better than none and the priority now appears to be increasing the non-voice revenues by slashing add-on prices and adding non-voice products to the highest commission tariffs in a very stealthy manner.
Some really big mistakes have been made by 3 UK, videocalling being the least important. Customer service and quality of experience now has to match other alternatives or 3 wont make it through 2006. Mr Fuller may be putting on a brave face by highlighting past errors and climing that those have empowered his operation with expertise, but the rest are not standing still and are years ahead in terms of cutsomer care and that could be the hardest challenge for 3 UK in the following months.