Vodafone targets 3G markets during Christmas |
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Sun, 18 Sep 2005 16:05
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LONDON - Mobile phone giant Vodafone is aiming to take the 3G markets by storm this Christmas and towards this end has unveiled 15 new handsets. The company said that out of these 15 handsets, six would be retailed at "entry level" prices.
Vodafone is pushing the third generation handsets in order to make it more popular among masses and the company has calculated that Christmas is the best period to launch its push. Analysts say that Vodafone's move is a forerunner to a High Street price war as mobile operators look to gain the upper hand in what they hope will be a hectic shopping season. The pricing of Vodafone's models has not yet been decided, but the company said that the Samsung Z140, one of the "entry level" models would in all probability sell for £130.
"We are confident this is going to be a 3G Christmas. A significant proportion of the range is targeted at mid to entry-level price points, encouraging the mass-market adoption of Vodafone live! with 3G," said Peter Bamford, Vodafone's chief marketing officer. The company's 3G-subscriber base in the UK has swollen to 282,000 at June-end and this is an impressive figure considering that the 3G services were launched only last November.
Eleven of the fifteen handsets would be available in the UK. Vodafone said that four new handsets would look to capture the high-spenders' segment in the market. Two of these four handsets are made by Sharp and two by Toshiba. One handset, Sharp's 902 Ferrari phone would carry exclusive content from Ferrari.
The entry-level phones are exclusive to Vodafone and include two each form Sharp and Samsung and one each from Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Handsets like the Motorola RAZR V3x, the Nokia N70 and 6280, and the SGH-Z500V and SGH-Z140V phones from Samsung are also available, but these are non-exclusive ones.
Vodafone expects to hit the 10 million-customer mark with its 3G services.
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