Easymobile denies it's a "flop"

[3g-g]

Taken from el Reg, you can read the original article here.

EasyMobile has rejected reports that the discount mobile telephone outfit is a flop. When it launched in March it claimed to have sparked a "mobile war" in the UK amid claims that this new cut price approach would shake-up the sector.

However, far from being a threat to the established mobile phone industry, The Telegraph reports that the Stelios-backed business has failed to take off and only signed up 5,000 punters in the two months since its launch.

But speaking to The Register, easyMobile boss Frank Rasmussen dissed the report insisting that the numbers quoted were "not correct". He declined to say exactly how many punters easyMobile had attracted so far except to say that it was "more than 5,000".

And since the company has only been marketing the business for the last two weeks (March was just a "soft launch" apparently), Rasmussen added it was "a little too soon [for others] to judge".

Indeed, plans to roll-out easyMobile into Europe are still going ahead. Last month TDC - one of the companies behind easyMobile - has teamed up with Dutch network operator Telfort to launch the no-frills mobile service in the Netherlands.

Speaking last month, Rasmussen said he had "great expectations for... the Netherlands", proclaiming: "We have already introduced the concept in the UK and gained our first international experience. In spite of the incumbent British operators having responded aggressively to our introduction, the launch in the UK was very successful and exceeded our expectations."

I dunno, I can't see Easymobile working here. If they continue to roll it out I can only see it being very small in subscriber base. CPW, Tesco and Virgin have got this area well and truely sown up. Just stick to cheap flights Stelios.

[Hands0n]

Too early to tell. The visible profile of Easymobile is low to non-existent in the street. Ask around your friends, family, pub mates etc ... almost none will have even heard of Easymobile. But they have a tantalising proposition - cheap tariff, no frills, voice and text - what we are all used to and wanting.

Easymobile have an opportunity to fill the vacuum left by the [soured H3] 3G experience of 4Q2004 for many who have now chucked their 3G LGs and NECs in the bin and gone back to the traditional PAYG.

I think that the mobile market has shifted somewhat - big news right now is Content in the form of Ringtones (and the infamy that has generated in its short life). Audio and Video clips are there too - the content producers are ramping up their offerings. I'd expect the same clamour for our £'s as has occured with ringtones so far.

Now if this can all be done with an existing handset (they're all quite good these days), and at a ridiculously low voice & text tariff, then Stelios might just be in with a winner - the money saved on tariff can be spent on Content. He needs to focus on that strategy, I reckon.

[3GScottishUser]

Expect them to extend their launch promotional pricing offers through the summer as Stelios and co blitz the marketplace with £1m worth of advertising.

The prospects for prepayers are brighter now with more players in the market. Better value is now being offered to the 60%+ of the UK mobile consumers who still prefer to pre-pay.

[Ben]

"Better value is now being offered to the 60%+ of the UK mobile consumers who still prefer to pre-pay."

Which begs the question - when will us contract users start seeing better value? There are some major ripoff tariffs out there at the moment!

I'm not sure if EasyMobile will sink or float, but obviously it'd be great for prepayers if it succeeds.

[Jon3G]

It can only be a good thing for prepayers, but I do have to agree that us post pay people need better deals and need looking after

[Hands0n]

Maybe we'll eventually swell that 60+% to even higher levels, rendering Post-pay contracts redundant! Its less overhead for the mobile ops too, so I can see they would be attracted to the notion. Only problem, how to shift those totally over-priced handsets via pre-pay and without the contracts subsidy? Oh, I know. Lower the prices to more reasonable retail levels, say no more than 200% margin rather than ridiculous retail margins that exist. Sacre bleu, burn the heretic!!

[3g-g]

The issue with pre-pay becoming better value is working it's way up to the contract cutomers. I took months persuading my brother to take out an Orange 3G contract after being with O2 PAYG for eons. His first bill came in and it was a biggie, so he put it down to over use, the novelty factor of being able to make calls and texts at any time and not needing to worry about topping up. His 2nd and 3rd bills came in.. all still pushing £80, and he was sure he'd cut down on use. Then Orange release some offer on PAYT, top up with £15 a month and get 3000 text messsages or something free. Now he thinks he's being shafted for having a contract as there's no special offer like that for him.

Fair enough there's a push on by all the ops to reward loyalty etc, but I think they're getting some contract customers worked up. I imagine the Ops will be sitting thinking "ah, we don't need to rush and make offers for them, they're stuck for 12 months anyway, they aint going elsewhere".

[Hands0n]

Originally Posted by 3g-g

I imagine the Ops will be sitting thinking "ah, we don't need to rush and make offers for them, they're stuck for 12 months anyway, they aint going elsewhere".

That would rather be traditional and typical telco thinking over here. The chicken that comes home to roost will be churn. But churn to what? Contract with another mobo or PAYG with the same or different mobo? These must be considerations going round the marketing meetings table. I can't imagine for a moment that they'll be ignoring the obvious.

Perhaps they dont really care. Perhaps the stats show them churn-out and churn-in deriving status quo or perhaps even an improvement? Oh to be a fly on the wall some days!

T-Mobile must now be a significant force to be reckoned with - considering that it now has the largest customer base (their own plus the Virtual Nets customers). Laughing all the way to the bank.

The current strategy for the Contract customers seems to be to offer them the latest and greatest handsets cheap or FOC. PAYG get yesterdays handsets, or pay through the nose for a new one. Fair enough one might say. There has to be some differential.

But are Contract renewals as lucrative for the punter? It is not always the case - H3 being one in point! The deals may not be so good for a renewal as for a brand new contract.

Its a muddle alright - and one that will do no good if it leaves the punter confused. We all like the simple life - and so a hop across to a cheap(er) PAYG tariff does look compelling. But I'm not sure where I'd put my money on the future yet. For sure, the result has to be a better deal for the customer. No?

[kryten]

Lets face it, none of Stellios' ventures besides EasyJet have worked. Easy bus only offers one route, between London and Milton Keynes via Dunstable; what happened to London to Manchester £1 each way?

[Ben]

EasyCruise will probably work... it'll be like Ibiza on a boat. Ugh.