T-Mobile Internet event Century Club London celebrating Web ‘n’ walk
Rating: web ‘n’ walk away, no more
By Bena Roberts
In 2005, I remember writing an article about T-Mobile’s mobile Internet strategy called “Web ‘n’ walk…Away”. Two years on things have changed. I still am not over keen on the name of the Web ‘n’ walk but T-Mobile has wisely and strategically sexed-up the device range.
Gone are the bricks in your pockets such as the MDA. They have been replaced with devices that ooze appeal and make you want (not need) to purchase insurance. One device not released yet that is on my hit list is the Samsung F210. If you haven’t seen it check it out – I have taken some pictures that I will update later on. It’s sexy, looks like a MP3 player and is just on the button.
But devices don’t make users click on the Internet the interface and the usability of the mobile internet remains paramount. This is where I am not going to get ahead of myself. It would be easy to say that in two years T-Mobile has reached new heights and gush about its new lease of life.
But, I don’t want to do this as this is the start and not the end of a necessary and continued upheaval viewing the Internet on mobile. This is where it gets exciting; because competitively T-Mobile now has everything to play for. Vodafone has the new Mobile Internet (terrible name which brings back nostalgic images of WAP) and Orange is starting its new off-portal strategy (but I think it’s been delayed to August).
The war starts now and increased competition is necessary. I candidly asked a senior executive at T-Mobile about Vodafone’s Internet Strategy and he said, “Yes, since Vodafone started its campaign we have seen an increase in subscribers”. Naturally he prefers to remain unnamed.
I saw a great demo of Mobile TV and for GBP 1 per day plus 20p downloads the day rate for Mobile TV sound reasonable. The overall event promoting the Internet was casual but fun.
The main news: T-Mobile has 500,000 regular users and predicts one million users by the end of 2007. Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo are the most popular category.
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