Visit to 3UK in Maidenhead

Yesterday I nipped down the road to Maidenhead to meet the folks at 3.

Titled a bloggers update session, it was a chance for a handful of us to hear 3's views on:

• regulatory matters
• future possible inclusions to the range
• roadmap odds and sods

Two bits of news: 1) 3 revealed it is near completion of a redesign of its portal which centres around a better music offering; 2) 3 is about to offer a pay as you go USB modem.

Other than that there were upbeat statements on progress of pushing adverts to subscribers, sales USB modems, and of course sales of the new Skypephone. Upbeat, but no numbers for the latter two predictably.

On the retail side, 3 continues to grow with 250 stores rising to 270 next year. It also has 120 concessions.

Perhaps not surprisingly 3 is most upbeat when talking about the new Skypephone. Comms Director Guy Middleton said things like: "It asks a lot of questions of other operators," and "So it's not real VoIP? No, it's better than that. I also think the talk about lack of SkypeOUT is bogus - sometimes it's cheaper than if you had SkypeOUT."

But it's an open secret that technically its still causes a few headaches. For the press conference held in Millbank tower last month the local base station had to be adjusted so that phones would work (well it was high up on the 32nd floor). Meanwhile at the briefing one of the bloggers attending talked of coverage problems making it difficult for him to get a connection - he was told it was probably due to being on the edge of the 3G network. I too have had annoying drop-outs while using the phone - it's not a major problem because I have always been able to just reconnect - but still it's not at the same quality level as a usual mobile call.

Moving on, Middleton gave us his take on the regulation scene.

Not surprisingly 3 is concerned about the lobbying power of the big four (O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone) who it says are pushing hard to maintain the current termination rates which because of 3's relative size it pays much more of than the others. "We favour a nominal charge," says Middleton. Its also widely publicised that 3 wants more done on the question of portability (currently it must be within two weeks). one of the bloggers in the room was living proof of the problem: he had recently transferred from Vodafone to 3 and had to wait three weeks to get his number ported.

"Read the lobbying statements from the operators on Ofcom's website. It's like watching a child that doesn't want to eat his vegetables," said Middleton wryly, noting that most numbers are ported in 48 hours in Australia.

After hearing this depressing analysis of the state of play on portability we were introduced to Adam Davis, Head of Marketing and Product Management UK Handsets. Among other things he's the guy who has the intriguing job of meeting all the device manufacturers and advises the company on which new devices to include in its product range (often referred to simply as 'in range'). He went through the main manufacturers one by one.

On Nokia: "Nokia hasn't shown us anything like the iPhone yet. They showed  us the N88 (full name to be confirmed). It's Nokia's first 3G slider. It's really for the luxury market - which we don't cater for. It's available in February and we will consider it. Then there is the N78 which Nokia want to be the upgrade path from the N73/76 but I don't really think it is an upgrade to that.

"Then there is the N82. Very similar spec. It seems a bit of an afterthought and it seems to make the N78 a bit redundant - no operator will take both.

"The N96 is the N series 'hero' with TV and video. But TV and video has been tried. We will range it and tariff it like the N95.

On Sony: "Still developing the Walkman and Cybershot phones but they need to sort out their core platform because it doesn't support Symbian well. The new phones will - no surprise - focus on mobile internet, but I'm not that impressed. They have also decided to do a clamshell but I'm not convinced it will sell that well. There will also be player improvements. The new 8Mpix slider Cybershot looks great though - a big thumbs up from me.

On Motorola: "The roadmap is expensive and their chipset is wrong until year end. It has no real competition for Nokia's N series. They admit they have a problem and that they are only strong in 2G phones.

"The new 5Mpix RAZR is good but I miss the original RAZR - it works. But now they will integrate a music offering with an iPod style wheel user interface which looks good.

On Samsung: "I haven't seen anything yet but I definitely need them in range. They are looking at HSDPA and 3G which will make sense to both of us."

But apparently the greatest focus next year will be on working on improving the SkypePhone: "The important thing next year is improvments to the phone. The problem is different things are wanted in different territories but we are looking at things like improving the camera, HSDPA, SkypeIN/OUT. But the bottom line is the price must not increase."

So that was that.

Naturally there was a bit of a discussion about the iPhone, which predictably 3 isn't that impressed by beyond admitting that it's nice to use. But the overriding feeling for me was that so much of 3's future in the UK now rests on the humble Skypephone. Which seems to me a rather risky strategy as Skype on the X-Series hasn't been a big winner and 3 needs to sign up say half a million SkypePhone subscribers  fairly quickly for it to be deemed successful. A tough proposition when the Skype service being offered is really Skype 'Lite'. One blogger pointed out that you can't look at 'profiles' like you can on a PC - which makes it quite hard to recognise who is calling you if you have a large number of contacts.

One thing is sure, 3 may have a near impossible fight taking on the big four operators, but by making Skype so central to its business it is sticking to its billing as a 'disruptive' player which perhaps gives it an edginess that does no end of good to its brand image. But it also means that its fate next year is in the hands of the kids - a risky thing for any operator to do when it is such a difficult demographic to pre-judge. The longer we have to wait for Skypephone sales figures the more we can assume that sales are somewhat below target. Great figures are rarely hidden from the prying media.

Bootnotes: PR blogger Neville Hobson was also there ('twas he that is having the connection problems in fact). He's done a very interesting review from a PR angle here.

 

(Ken Young)

Comments

[confusedaboutmobiles]

I agree that 3 are going to find it difficult to now compete. The big 4 networks are coming now with increasingly better tariffs and with the launch of tmobile's combi packages; and oranges animal packages with unlimited landlines or texts, 3 doesn't seem like a good deal anymore. They used to be known as a cheap network where anyone could get a contract but now it is hard to get customer's through a credit check with them. Good luck with skype, 3, you're going to need it.

[r4]

Hi i thinks samsung new series were nice with many function and i am also agree with you other brand mobile opinions...

[jordan 1 flight low]

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, all losses are restored, and sorrows end.Do you like it?

[jordan 1 flight low]

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, all losses are restored, and sorrows end.Do you like it?

[does generic viagra work]

Really very great information about UK mobiles. It is found very interesting.... Thanks for sharing it. Keep posting such an informative article... I'm looking forward to your new posts.

[moncler jackets]

I love it, simple and sweet! And potential to add personalized details in the future :)

[lilylee86]

That is great and if you wish, just check:http://www.joyfax.com

[online levitra]

Thank You a ton for writing such a wonderful piece of information. Keep sharing such ideas in the future as well. This was actually what I was looking for, and I am glad to came here! Thanks for sharing the such information with us.