Nokia Unveils the Eseries of Business Devices

October 12, 2005 - Nokia unveils the first three models within its long-awaited Eseries of UMTS/WLAN-enabled enterprise devices, compatible with the Series 60 platform. The Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia E70 support most of the key enterprise e-mail solutions, as well as wireless VoIP (via Nokia's partnerships with Avaya and Cisco), Push To Talk, Bluetooth and Infrared.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Handset manufacturers should recognize that the real threat of the Eseries goes far beyond the hardware. The Eseries devices look good on their own, but even better in the context of the Nokia Business Centre and Nokia's 'one-stop-shop' partnerships with IT vendors, systems integrators and middleware and security providers.

► Competitors should consider a more vertical sector-driven competitive response to Nokia's scattergun Eseries strategy.

► Competitors should attempt to claim that the Eseries is a disappointment, and fails to significantly further Nokia's post-Communicator story.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► As the Eseries is not yet commercially available, there are no end user recommendations at this time.

Web ‘n' Walk Battles with i-mode, Vodafone live!, Orange World and 3

October 6, 2005 - T-Mobile UK launches Web ‘n' walk with five devices including the MDA Pro and will increase the number of devices to eight before the end of the year. Most of the devices are available for free on three content and minute bundles 

Recommended Competitive Responses

► O2 needs to train staff at the point of sale on i-mode immediately and change in-store branding from Escape into O2 Active to i-mode. i-mode has launched, but the marketing machine is still getting into first gear.

► Vodafone needs to do more than simply improve its live! handset range this Christmas. Uptake of live! has been slow, because users still don't understand what it can offer.

► 3 is winning in the content uptake race because its prices are transparent and affordable. The operator must enforce that all of the off-portal content available on its site is made for mobile.

► Orange needs to impress that its portal was one of the first to offer access to Google. WAP users can already explore off-portal with Orange and Orange doesn't charge extra for off-portal access. 

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Mobile portals offer the chance to download more than just ring tones. The latest gossip, celebrity news, weather, chat or flirt services are available in a few clicks. However, consumers must make sure they understand the cost of accessing the portal before exploring. Without a data bundle, prices can soar out of control quickly.

► Access to Google and the Internet is great on a PC, but not so great on a small screen mobile device. Web ‘n' walk is not a PC replacement, but more of a time filler for when users are not on the PC.

Vodafone NL Launches Pocket Connect Push E-mail

October 3, 2005 -- Vodafone NL launched Pocket Connect, its own-branded push e-mail solution, allowing end users real-time access to e-mail, contacts and diary, with e-mail automatically ‘pushed' to the user's handset. Vodafone Pocket Connect can currently be used with the Nokia 6680, Nokia 9300, VPA Compact, IPAQ 6515 and the existing BlackBerry 7100v and BlackBerry 7290.  

Recommended Competitive Responses

► T-Mobile NL should come clean about the MDA Pro; its in-built push e-mail functionality is not yet up and running. At the very least, T-Mobile NL should be able to guarantee a date.

► KPN Mobile should make more of its i-mode for Business, which includes push e-mail via i-mode within the headline EUR 7.50 'unlimited' data rate.

► Orange NL has established very competitive e-mail pricing for Orange Real-Time Mail, but its sales effort is hurt by its marketing, which insists on positioning this service and handset subsidies together.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Prospective end users should check the handset subsidy terms and conditions before purchasing a push e-mail solution, as these invariably form the bulk of the total cost of ownership.

► End users looking to purchase a push e-mail device and solution should wait out the market a little longer; T-Mobile NL, Orange NL and Vodafone NL are all expected to roll out additional push e-mail devices in the coming weeks and months.

 

Samsung and Bang & Olufsen Create Bizarre Premium Phone Together

October 6, 2005 - Bang & Olufsen and Samsung Electronics' Mobile Business have cooperated to make the Serene mobile phone that breaks with conventional assumptions. The display and microphone are placed in the lower shell in a landscape orientation and the circular keyboard and loudspeaker are placed in the upper shell. Serene will be launched in Europe, Russia, and the Ukraine in Q4 2005. 

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Nokia needs to avoid giving its arrogant design staff - who view mainstream silver clamshells with disdain -carte blanche and temper the urge to release design-centric phones that impact usage as a voice device. Judicious use of focus groups can help weed out the elements that are essential and those that should be suppressed.

►Motorola needs to execute on its plans to introduce a slew of products with uniquely slimmed or rounded form factors.

►LG needs to innovate, not imitate. Traditionally, LG has followed Samsung's lead, but some of the company's Korean designs are appealing and should be rolled out broadly.

►Kyocera and Sony Ericsson must pay attention to broad industry trends pointing towards thinner clamshells and more easily differentiated designs, but both need to flesh out their product lines and gain broader distribution before they will have earned the luxury of creating limited halo products.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► European consumers (where the Serene will be initially targeted) looking for a reinvention of basic voice handsets with simplicity as the primary design goal should look at the Vodafone Simply. It lacks pretense, cool design, and exclusivity, but it does make basic voice functionality easy.

Free Advisory Report

The French MVNO Market Expands, in all Directions

The French MVNO market has been late to flower, and the fruit looks very strange indeed. Whereas the focus of early MVNO markets has been the low-cost consumer sector, the French MVNO market - just one year old - is already highly diverse. In the rest of Europe, the term 'MVNO' has become synonymous with cheap, unsophisticated consumer-centric tariffs: online SIM-only and ‘no-frills' offers, intense price depreciation and the proliferation of youth-centric brands.

However, of the ten French MVNOs created to date, only two offer a classic prepaid tariff. Three offer subscriptions with some inclusive value-added ‘unlimited calling' - considered throughout Europe to be the cutting edge of tariff innovation.

Furthermore, 40% of all French MVNOs have successfully negotiated for GPRS or UMTS capacity leasing, with clear ambitions to compete in the higher-value mobile content space. What's going on?

Read the full Advisory Report

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