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Vodafone thinking long and hard about its Verizon stake

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 17th 2009 @ 1:06PM

Though Verizon Wireless and corporate half-parent Vodafone are finally getting close to achieving technological synergy now that both are moving to LTE for their next-gen networks -- and contrary to recent statements -- rhetoric is heating up that suggests the marriage may not last forever. Speaking at an investor's get-together this week, Voda CEO Vittorio Colao said that "the board continues to look at" the company's investment in the joint venture with Verizon -- which we take as executive-speak for "everything's for sale for the right price." The popular rumor is that Vodafone's bummed about Verizon's failure to pay dividends for the past four years, which effectively means that Big Red isn't actively contributing to the wireless giant's bottom line. Verizon's made no secret of the fact that it'd love to own the joint venture outright, so come on, guys... Verizon's got money, Voda's got the goods, let's sit down at that oaken conference table on the 45th floor and work this out.

LiMo Foundation could be close to bearing fruit for Samsung, Vodafone in a big way

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 10th 2009 @ 8:14PM

The LiMo Foundation's platform is far from vaporware -- countless Japanese domestic market handsets run it in one form or another, which makes sense considering that NTT DoCoMo, NEC, and Panasonic are all counted among its founding members -- but outside the land of the rising sun, LiMo's had very little end-user impact even as it's collected big-name members and released several rounds of specs and whitepapers over the last year and a half. To a certain extent, that's by design; unlike Android, LiMo is as much about creating synergies for manufacturers and carriers as it is about giving subscribers flashy user interfaces, but a new Samsung for Vodafone leaked on Boy Genius Report today suggests that we might be getting flashy UIs nonetheless. We don't know what this phone will ultimately be called, but it doesn't take more than a couple glances to pick up on the fact that it's relatively high-end, equipped with an 8 megapixel cam and full AMOLED touhscreen. The social-oriented interface looks seriously tricked out with faces (hopefully of people the user knows) moving in and out in three dimensions -- usability is an open question, but at least it's pretty to stare at, which is really what a good phone's all about anyway, right? Word on the street is that this might be announced at a London event on the 24th, but here's our question: where's Verizon in all this?

Vodafone announces unified app framework

by Chris Ziegler posted May 13th 2009 @ 9:28AM

Common widget platforms have been a hot topic among global carriers over the past year or so, with AT&T (among several other major players) coming out and saying that they're actively pursuing standardized OS-agnostic frameworks like the OMTP's BONDI initiative. Vodafone also happens to be a member of the OMTP, and the massive multinational operator has laid down the law this week by announcing that it will be creating a single clearinghouse for internet app developers looking to expose their wares to Voda customers around the world. In addition, there'll be a single set of APIs for location awareness, direct operator billing, and other goodies that should take some of the pain out of developing apps that can work across multiple devices. An SDK will be available to some partners starting in the summer, with broader release following on after that.

Vodafone UK tempts prepaid market with text incentives

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 29th 2008 @ 9:11AM

The normally pedestrian procedure of re-upping your minute bank just got a little more exciting for customers of Vodafone's prepaid service in the UK, where the launch of the aptly-named "Text Unlimited" promotion offers incentives for topping up. Adding £5 worth of voice over the course of the month wins you unlimited texts on weekday evenings the following month; £10 get weekends, too, and £30 leads to an unlimited playground of messaging nirvana. The service launches September 1, and Vodafone's using the opportunity to tie it in with the prepaid launch of the Sony Ericsson K770i in "Touch of Pink" and "Star Heaven Silver". Whoever thought of the names of those colors should be rewarded with at least one month of unlimited messaging, eh?

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 scores cameo on Vodafone's site for October release

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 22nd 2008 @ 11:49AM

The uncertainty of trying to predict exactly when -- and where -- Sony Ericsson's beastly X1 would launch has come to be one of the more entertaining dramas in the mobile world this year, but it looks like Vodafone's ready to shut down the rumor mill. The Windows Mobile superphone has now been slapped with an "expected" launch date in October for Voda's UK audience, which means we can probably expect it in at least a few other European locales in the same timeframe. Americans (of both the South and North variety), Asians, Africans, Australians, and Antarcticans, though -- well, there's no telling where you guys stand at the moment, so hang tight.

[Via CoolSmartPhone]

Vodafone expects BlackBerry Bold in August?

by Chris Ziegler posted Jun 15th 2008 @ 8:52PM

Remember that time Vodafone was targeting May for the launch of the BlackBerry Bold? Yeah, those were the days! Let's not dwell on the past, though -- no use crying over spilled milk, our mommies always used to say. Instead, let's focus on exactly when Vodafone thinks it can launch the Bold now, which happens to be August -- and this time, the word comes from an official Voda website that was intended for public consumption, so they have more eyeballs on it and more liability if they miss the date. Thing is, the description of the phone lists the Sony Ericsson W980i, not the Bold, so maybe there's just a little smidge of buffoonery going on behind the scenes. August sounds totally plausible, though, so we're sticking with it until we hear otherwise.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Update: It's been updated to July -- sweet. It's like the opposite of a delay!

New Vodafone plans include unlimited internet -- and fine print

by Chris Ziegler posted May 5th 2008 @ 2:40PM

New plans being lauded by Vodafone in the UK are going to run mobile internet fiends £7.50 (about $14.80) less than they otherwise would've thanks to the inclusion of unlimited data right in the bundle. The packages start at £25, and those over £40 also get their pick of unlimited texts, unlimited landline calls, or unlimited Vodafone-to-Vodafone calls. As any skeptic could've easily guessed, there's some critical fine print attached to the deal: the "unlimited" isn't so unlimited, getting capped at 500MB as part of Voda's fair use policy. For a sub-$15 plan that's not intended for tethering, that doesn't seem to be a problem -- but seriously, why even throw the word "unlimited" out there then?

Vodafone Germany launching two DVB-T sets next month

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 24th 2008 @ 3:50PM

Germany's been one of the European countries protesting the hardest against the EU's selection of DVB-H as the union's mobile TV standard of choice -- and for good reason, seeing how it already had a nice little chunk of cash sunk into T-DMB. We're not sure if this is Germany's version of passive-aggressive civil disobedience or if this is just how they plan on rolling for the time being, but Vodafone Germany is actually looking at rolling out a pair of phones next month that simply pull down plain ol' DVB-T signals -- the kind generally destined for home televisions, not pockets. This obviously gives the service a far larger footprint and content profile right off the bat, but the tradeoff is that DVB-T was never designed for the small screen and suffers from a greater power draw than either DVB-H or T-DMB. Anyhoo, the phones in question are the Windows Mobile-powered g-Smart t600 from Gigabyte alongside LG's HB620T clamshell. Both are expected to go out the door for about €100 ($159) on contract, apparently, which is just as well seeing how the t600 lacked 3G data last time we checked in on it. Who'd really trade fast data for television that's going to drain your battery faster than you can say "David Hasselhoff," anyway?

[Via the::unwired]

Vodafone chief: Verizon needs LTE before we do

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 16th 2008 @ 12:40PM

BusinessWeek recently engaged Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin in an interesting, lively, and positively revealing interview about his company's 4G prospects, Android, and its marriage to Verizon, among other juicy morsels. The whole transcript is a good read, but we were particularly interested about his comments about LTE, the GSMA-adopted roadmap to 4G for GSM carriers. Despite the presumption that Vodafone would be moving to LTE alongside virtually everyone else, Sarin is careful to note that the company has not committed to it yet; they're still concerned about some intellectual property and technical issues, so they're steering clear of signing their names on the dotted line for the time being. He also says that partner Verizon is in more desperate, immediate need of LTE than it is, because EV-DO can't scale up to near-4G speeds to bridge the G gap the same way HSPA can. Either way, though, he says that Voda will be rolling out LTE in the 2011-2012 time frame, and that "for nobody is it an experience before 2010" -- so what difference does a year make, really?

[Via mocoNews]

Vodafone cleans house, 450 big wigs shown the door

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 19th 2008 @ 9:29AM

If you're going to cut the fat and get down to business, we suppose there's no better place to start than somewhere vaguely in the middle, and that's exactly what Vodafone has taken to doing in a just-announced round of job cuts. 450 heads in management will roll, mostly in the megacarrier's UK headquarters, while the overall population will remain stable by replacing 'em with 330 "retail advisers" specializing in explaining data services to customers and another 160 in various sales, service, and billing roles. Along with the Orange tower synergy, we're really starting to notice you getting a little thinner in the waist, Voda.

[Via mocoNews]

On-device self service for Vodafone: chew out your phone, not a live rep

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 26th 2008 @ 4:53PM

Likely in an effort to reduce customer service costs and keep the tools for resolving the most basic, common phone problems in the hands of the users themselves, Vodafone has inked a deal with SNAPin Software to bring its SelfService software to handsets. Available initially on smartphones, the app will let folks keep tabs on their accounts, diagnose common configuration issues, and fix them all without having to interact with a pesky (read: expensive) human. Trials conducted by the carrier indicated that the app was well-received, and interestingly could actually boost revenue by making previously timid users more willing to branch out and try new offerings, knowing that they can be bailed out by the software if they find themselves in some sort of quagmire.

[Via Slashphone]

Vodafone continues self-branding tradition with 227 and 228

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 25th 2008 @ 6:55PM

These two bad boys aren't about to turn any heads, but hey, that's not exactly what they were designed to do. Like self-branded Vodafone handsets of days gone by, the 227 and 228 from Vodafone are intended to fill in the lower end of Vodafone's expansive lineup (if you can really drop a smartphone down into that category, anyway) while name-brand devices occupy every other nook and cranny. To give you an idea of just how low end these particular suckers are, Vodafone's product pages list "color display" as the only feature of the models other than the form factors themselves. On the upside, they're free on contract and are available now on some of Vodafone's European networks, so we guess we don't have a lot of room to complain.

[Via Slashphone]

Read - Vodafone 227
Read - Vodafone 228

Don't put all your eggs in one basket: Vodafone selects Neverfail for BlackBerry failover

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 25th 2008 @ 4:59PM

Recent outages of RIM's carrier-wide systems in the States have put a giant spotlight on just how quickly the world's BlackBerry addicts can go into the most severe forms of withdrawal when their life-sustaining email is unceremoniously yanked from their sore thumbs. For companies rolling deep with their own BlackBerry Enterprise Servers on Vodafone, though, life just got a little easier thanks to the addition of Neverfail's high availability service, which stands guard over the back end and can take a number of actions if any problems are detected, including automatic restarting of software and servers, redirection to failover systems, or notification of IT peeps. Of course, it'd be great if the primary system just stayed online to begin with, but failing that, this seems like a solid option for companies whose executives immediately curl into the fetal position and start sobbing uncontrollably if the 8800 in their breast pocket turns into a paperweight.

[Via IntoMobile and Mobile Europe]

Vodafone, Orange detail upcoming "joint network efficiencies" in UK

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 25th 2008 @ 6:47AM

Perhaps spurred to action by T-Mobile's cooperation with 3, Vodafone's and Orange's UK networks have fleshed out some details over how exactly they'll be sharing infrastructure going forward. Starting this year, the two carriers will begin tag-teaming some cell sites across the country, leading to a roughly 15 percent reduction in the total number of sites needed (or so they say) in the first two years of the plan. They're quick to point out that they'll both continue to maintain totally separate networks and be solely responsible for the quality of service provided, it's really just a simple matter of slapping both companies' repeaters up on the masts. Seems like a win / win, we figure.

[Via MobileBurn]

Samsung i640 now available on Vodafone

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 23rd 2008 @ 4:38PM

Took a little while, but the Samsung i640 is finally here. Well, "here" is the proper word to user if you live in the UK, anyway; otherwise, "there" is likely a better term. The follow-on to the attractive i620 (and the i600 before that) packs Windows Mobile 6, HSDPA, a 2 megapixel camera, QWERTY keyboard, and the BlackJack II's scroll wheel into a fabulously compact slider form factor. The i620's white was a nice change of pace, but we imagine they'll still be able to push a few of these in the subdued, biz-friendly black we're seeing here, especially considering that it's as cheap as zilch on contract.

[Via Coolsmartphone]