O2 drops i-mode mobile internet service in Britain
Mobile phone company O2 is understood to be dumping its i-mode mobile internet service in Britain, owing to low take-up and a lack of attractive handsets.
The company, owned by Spain's Telefónica, launched i-mode less than two years ago with its largest advertising campaign since rebranding from BT Cellnet.
The £10m spent has brought in only 260,000 active users in Britain. While the service, developed by Japan's NTT DoCoMo, has done well in Ireland and will continue there, O2 had already held back from launching i-mode in its other main west European market, Germany.
The failure of i-mode will bring back some uncomfortable memories for O2 which under its previous parent, BT, was responsible for the last failed attempt to get the internet on mobile phones under the banner of "Surf the Net, Surf the BT Cellnet". The service was a failure with consumers, who quickly discovered it was nothing like the internet they knew.
The i-mode service seems to have fallen into a similar trap. It is essentially an interim technology, offering a made-for-mobile suite of net-based services. It had over 80 partners providing free and paid-for subscription content from launch in October 2005, including e'Bay, internet bank Egg and the BBC.
Since i-mode's introduction, the mobile internet has moved on with companies including T-Mobile and Vodafone offering customers a web experience, on a range of mobile devices, that is similar to that from a computer. O2's own Active mobile internet portal, for instance, is available to more than 15.8 million users on 240 different handsets. In contrast, i-mode was available on just a dozen phone models.
There were also complaints from some customers last year when O2 ended a free surfing offer on i-mode. Many complained they never received the text message that said the offer had ended and their bills sky-rocketed.
Regards Satdude. :thum:
Mobile phone company O2 is understood to be dumping its i-mode mobile internet service in Britain, owing to low take-up and a lack of attractive handsets.
The company, owned by Spain's Telefónica, launched i-mode less than two years ago with its largest advertising campaign since rebranding from BT Cellnet.
The £10m spent has brought in only 260,000 active users in Britain. While the service, developed by Japan's NTT DoCoMo, has done well in Ireland and will continue there, O2 had already held back from launching i-mode in its other main west European market, Germany.
The failure of i-mode will bring back some uncomfortable memories for O2 which under its previous parent, BT, was responsible for the last failed attempt to get the internet on mobile phones under the banner of "Surf the Net, Surf the BT Cellnet". The service was a failure with consumers, who quickly discovered it was nothing like the internet they knew.
The i-mode service seems to have fallen into a similar trap. It is essentially an interim technology, offering a made-for-mobile suite of net-based services. It had over 80 partners providing free and paid-for subscription content from launch in October 2005, including e'Bay, internet bank Egg and the BBC.
Since i-mode's introduction, the mobile internet has moved on with companies including T-Mobile and Vodafone offering customers a web experience, on a range of mobile devices, that is similar to that from a computer. O2's own Active mobile internet portal, for instance, is available to more than 15.8 million users on 240 different handsets. In contrast, i-mode was available on just a dozen phone models.
There were also complaints from some customers last year when O2 ended a free surfing offer on i-mode. Many complained they never received the text message that said the offer had ended and their bills sky-rocketed.
Regards Satdude. :thum: