Vodafone launches own-brand low-cost 3G mobile handsets
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British mobile phone giant Vodafone has launched its first self-branded low-cost third generation (3G) mobile  handsets which will be rolled out in Europe from October.
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Mobile phone giant Vodafone   unveiled plans to return an extra 3 billion pounds (&#36;5.6  billion) to investors and hiked its dividends on Tuesday,  spicing a well-flagged new strategy to cut costs and embrace  new technology.
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Optus and Vodafone have moved to counter Telstra's head start in third generation mobile services, agreeing on Thursday to build a rival second 3G network in Australia.
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Web 'n' Walk grasps the nettle next week T-Mobile will allow VoIP calls over its Web 'n' Walk-branded 3G network for the first time when it launches a set of new data tariffs next week.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Vodafone Group will introduce what could be its first mobile phone to carry its own brand exclusively, and not that of the phone manufacturer. A Vodafone spokesman confirmed that the phones will be introduced at an event in Hong Kong on Thursday, but would not provide additional details. The handsets will likely be made by China's Huawei Technologies Co., which said in February that it had signed an exclusive deal to provide Vodafone with its own brand of 3G phones. The phones would be sold in 21 countries, Huawei said, with the first handsets expected to hit the market in September. The deal with such a large operator marks a significant step for a Chinese manufacturer in Europe, which has been dominated by device makers from Europe, the U.S. and Korea. Vodafone already sells self-branded phones, but they also carry the name of the manufacturer. The handsets for its Simply offering, for example, feature the operator's logo prominently, but the name of the manufacturer, Sagem, is visible as well. Phones that carry an operator's brands exclusively are typically made by less well known phone makers. The operators often use them to improve their bargaining position with the top handset manufacturers, said Ben Wood, an analyst with Collins Consulting in the U.K. "A good [self-branded phone] strategy by network operators is a very effective stick to beat the major manufacturers with, to make sure they hit pricing in particular, but also the technology and functionality curves that the network operators want," he said. The self-branded devices are unlikely to steal much market share from the big handset makers, however. "It keeps them on their toes but I don't see it as a big threat," Wood said. "It's highly unlikely that the network operators can ever get the brand resonance on an own-branded device that manufacturers like Motorola, Nokia and Samsung get." That's partly because phone makers often spend several million dollars marketing a new phone in a single market, and operators are unlikely to match that, Wood said. In addition, end users aren't always happy with the service they get from their operator, so the self-branding may not instill loyalty. Operators typically offer self-branded phones tactically, to target a specific segment. For example, Orange sells a self-branded line of high-end phones targeted at business professionals. O2Â offers a self-branded phone for the low end of the 3G market. The new Vodafone phones may also target low-end 3G users.
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By SCHWARZ, Reuben  THOUSANDS of Vodafone customers have set up profiles of themselves on Vodafone's social networking site, Self Central, since its launch one month ago.   The site lets customers upload video clips for $1 and audio clips and photos for 20 cents.
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VODAFONE is to offer its 16.2 million mobile phone customers its own-brand broadband after striking a deal to use BT lines. The service, to be launched by the end of this year, will allow Vodafone to sell packages of mobile airtime, text messages and home broadband services.
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Britain&#39;s BT Group Plc re-entered the mobile phone market yesterday, launching its own branded cellphone service on Vodafone&#39;s network as it looks to boost revenues with its fixed-line business in decline.
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(InfoWorld) - Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson believes companies will be able to make 3G (third generation) mobile phones for as little as $70 next year as component makers step up their efforts to simplify the handsets, an executive said. The low-cost 3G handset would likely allow users to browse the Internet, and use messaging and voice services, according to Sean Gowran, president of Ericsson Taiwan. Low-cost handsets have been aÂ buzzword in the industryÂ for the past few years as a way to tune more people into the existing global GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless network. The GSM Association (GSMA) has evenÂ launched a contestÂ to inspire mobile phone makers to create a low-cost 3G handset, an idea similar to their contest a year ago aimed at producing a GSM handset for under $30.Â Motorola won that contest. Demand for the low cost GSM phonesÂ has been brisk in emerging markets such as China and India this year, where mobile phone use is growing at frantic pace. India recently announced its strongest month ever for wireless subscriber growth, at 6.71 million people in October. The figure brings its total to 136.22 million subscribers, up from 75.9 million at the end of last year, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. By 2010, there will be 405 million mobile phone subscribers in India, according to market researcher iSuppli, thanks to ultra-low-cost handsets. In China, theÂ number of wireless handset usersÂ climbed to 449.02 million at the end of October, up from 393 million at the end of last year, according to the Ministry of Information Industry, that country's telecom industry regulator. Ericsson believes that efforts to reduce costs have had a big impact on the mobile phone industry. Cheaper components, and fewer components will be vital to efforts to develop a $70 3G handset. "The number of components is dropping dramatically," said Gowran. Fewer components reduces manufacturing complexity and can allow handset makers to reduce materials costs. The difference between a low-cost 3G handset and a high-end one will be huge, he said. An advanced handset with all the latest features, smart phone computing capabilities, the latest digital camera functions, multimedia applications with plenty of memory and the ability to use push mail and mobile TV will still be more expensive at around $500. Gowran also clarified that the $70 target is not an end-user price, but a cost-to-make price, and that Ericsson would not be producing such phones since it does not build mobile handsets anymore. The Sony Ericsson Mobile CommunicationsÂ joint venture with Sony took over all Ericsson handset production, and Gowran said he could not speak on behalf of the company. The original talk regarding low-cost 3G handsets was given by Robert Puskaric, the head of the mobile platforms division at Ericsson, at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2006 conference in Hong Kong. The exhibition runs through Friday.
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The UK&#39;s biggest service provider, with million customers, is leading the 3G push with 10 new handsets, seven of which will be exclusive to Vodafone - with the Sharp 902 debuting as Europe&#39;s first two-megapixel camera phone.
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Britain's Vodafone Group Plc   launched the first of its own-branded 3G handsets on Thursday,  as the mobile phone giant tries to expand the market for  higher-paying 3G services by luring more prepay users.
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Cell phone giant Vodafone Group PLC, which has spent years struggling to recoup billions spent on 3G licences, finally launched the cutting-edge service Wednesday in much of Europe and introduced or beefed up its operation in a dozen other countries.
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Vodafone on Monday geared itself up for the launch of Apple&#39;s iPhone in the UK by unveiling its range of mobile phones for the all-important Christmas market and an &quot;all you can eat&quot; music download service.
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The mobile telephone company,  Vodafone, begins to use its brand name across India.
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Vodafone Group PLC launched high-speed Internet services for mobile phones across much of Europe on Wednesday, ending a wait of several years since the world's biggest cell phone company spent billions for new wireless licenses at the height of the technology bubble.
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Orange has unveiled its third-generation (3G) mobile phones in the UK after a long-delayed commercial launch.
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VODAFONE yesterday began its major push into the market for third-generation mobile phones with plans to launch 10 handsets before Christmas.