[3GScottishUser]

Looking around the shops one thing is evident. ThreePay is dead in the water. No sign of it on the high streets for now. The cheap dumped NEC's and the expensive upkeep seems to have been a contradiction that was doomed to failure. It provided a temporary boost for 3 UK last year but had lttle chance of making any lasting impact.

SO why did the big boys of the High Street choose to ignore 3's pre-pay product? They stock all the rest but chose not to get involved with ThreePay. Did they research the market and sus out something that others did'nt? Perhaps they felt too much time would be consumed dealing with problems etc? Margins not good enough? Who knows? Interesting to note that the companies you trust to keep you fed and watered each week left 3 in the cold. Hmmmm....

Any thoughts?

[Hands0n]

Thoughts??? - oh you had to ask :)

1. Tesco have their own Virtual Network and so I would have thought that they would see selling other networks as being a bit daft (do they sell anyone else I wonder?).

2. You forgot Come-it who had cleared their displays of 3 stock at the turn of 2005. They had all of the other networks PAYG there.

3. Biggest mistake with Threepay 2004/5 is that the public's expectation of cheap PAYG phones is no longer being met. Except for one or two very naff models the Threepay portfolio is quite expensive (by comparison with 4Q/2004 and other networks). The proposition is not holding water anymore - from the customers point of view.

I almost cannot wait for 4Q/2005's assault on the PAYG market. Nice shiny new phones for Christmas? Yes please :)

[solo12002]

Thoughts??? - oh you had to ask :)

1. Tesco have their own Virtual Network and so I would have thought that they would see selling other networks as being a bit daft (do they sell anyone else I wonder?).

Yes they do sell other networks, look in their shops or online, and yes funny enought they dont stock three!

[Hands0n]

Ah, thanks solo12002, I hadn't noticed before. Perhaps, then, the high street shops don't make enough margin on the sale?

Taking up 3GSU's point on expensive upkeep - I think there's a good point being made also. My kid's NEC E338 on Threepay is a nice handset. She loves it. It is certainly more robust than her previous SE-T610 (so far). But the cost of keeping it topped up for her mode of use is significantly higher than we had under MMO2's tenner a month, 300 inclusive texts and still the tenner for calls or texts when the incls ran out.

[miffed]

This is very interesting , and may give us an indication of TRUE sales performance (after returns etc )
Tesco are famous for stocking virtually everything that sells & knocking it out cheaper than anyone else on the high street dare (remember levi Jeans ? at the moment I beleive Florists are the latest ones up in arms over it !)

Look at the diversity of products that Tesco DO sell , If there is a demand for it, Tesco want a bite !

[chanaaf]

I can't see Threepay coming to an end. It must still be a pretty good money spinner surely.

[Ben]

Oh it's definitely not going anywhere, but it's definitely lost that 'umph' it had, especially pre-Christmas. I can understand why Tesco especially wouldn't want to retail them for the time being, but once the product range improves (new handsets) again then - unless they're worried about competition with their own tariffs - I'd imagine they'll want a slice of the action.

slice... damn I really need a Pizzahut now. :(

[Jon3G]

I cant see 3 going anywere either, however I do think the handset range needs to improve to capture the wider range of customers.

[Hands0n]

I reckon the LG 81xx would encourage Threepay sales if they could get the price down. Its too expensive. The NEC E338 is not for everyone, but it is priced right. But then again, perhaps Three made a rod for their own back when they offloaded Threepay during 4Q/2004. The expectation of cheap phones and tariffs is not there anymore [on Threepay].

But I agree with y'all, Threepay isnt going anywhere real soon. It may morph around a bit, f'rinst I quite like the all-cash £15 top up idea, but hate the 30-day rip off ... err I mean expiry. I can just tolerate them clawing back unused minutes at the end of my contract month, but only just!

[maven]

I've heard it from a VERY reliable source that Tesco are going to slowly weed out all other networks apart from their own in the next 18 months or so.

[Jon3G]

why would they want to weed them out. If they wanted to get rid they would just dump them and off load the stock

[Hands0n]

I feel a Christmas 2005 Pre-Pay bonanza coming on :)