Posts Tagged ‘o2’

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Is Michael Jackson converting customers to o2 this morning?

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Finally, the benefits of being an o2 customer are becoming clear!

If you’d like to go to one of Michael Jackson’s strictly limited (until next time) concerts at the o2 Dome, then this morning was D-Day for you.

Priority tickets were available from 7am this morning to o2 customers.

I still don’t really see the connection between being an o2 customer and getting these sorts of offers. It’s certainly cool. But is it going to make me switch operator?

Maybe. I wonder.

At 721, Mr Data Centre himself, Steve O’Donnell of The Hot Aisle, logged on to the o2 Blueroom site and found it unavailable. Finding business critical servers offline or overloaded is like a red rag to a bull for Steve. He was not impressed.

I haven’t managed to find out if he’s secured any tickets yet though.

As for me, well I always enjoyed the spectacle of a Michael Jackson concert.

If o2 keeps on bringing superstar acts to the Dome and continues to create priority offerings, I can see some Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange customers beginning to weaken…

If you’d like to snag some tickets — make sure you’re on o2 — or go and get an o2 sim this morning — you can do so at http://www.o2blueroom.co.uk/
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I do like the sound of an ‘o2 Angel’, by the way:

O2 angels

Look out for our angels. They’ll give you instant upgrades and tell you about the perks you can get if you’re on O2. They’ll even take your picture for our blueroom gallery.

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A first look at O2’s new Joggler home appliance

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

O2 UK has unveiled it’s new family oriented Joggler device, a 7″ touchscreen photo frame based on Openpeak’s OpenFrame platform and I jogged along to take a first look.

The screen on the Joggler is incredibly bright and crisp and the device itself feels very solid and well-made with a fixed sturdy stand on the back. Also on the back of the unit is a power socket (No batteries here, this is a wired device), an ethernet port and an audio out jack. On the side is a USB socket and on top is an LED but I didn’t see any applications taking advantage of this. Inside the device is powered by an Intel Atom processor, has WiFi connectivity and runs an O2 branded version of the OpenFrame software (which appears to be based on Ubuntu linux with hacking opportunities aplenty!).

Overall I found the Joggler to be a bit of a disappointment. I’m familiar with the OpenFrame platform this is based on and was expecting to find the same Flickr, YouTube and RSS content included. Unfortunately the only place the Joggler can show photos from is the built-in 1GB of storage or a USB stick. O2 are definitely downplaying the photo frame aspect of the Joggler and concentrating on the O2 Calendar integration which itself has a few disappointing aspects such as not having any sync capabilities. I think it’s safe to assume that any family that’s tech-savvy enough to buy one of these on launch has someone in it that already uses an online calendar such as that provided by Exchange or Google and it would make sense to sync with that calendar. The kids might not need to know that Daddy is in a meeting with his boss but at least some availability information would be useful. The biggest disappointment of all is that I know the OpenFrame platform has a Dominos Pizza button and the Joggler does not!

I think the Joggler is a good start to what is essentially a new market for MNOs but I can’t help but think that an untouched OpenFrame device would be more appealing to a wider audience. I certainly know of some other MNOs that are working on similar device offerings so this should be a very interesting market to watch over the next 12 months.

Alongside the Joggler, O2 announced the O2 Calendar, a free family oriented web-based service that is available to anyone in the UK regardless of them being an O2 customer or not. For those users who are O2 customers the service provides free SMS reminders of appointments and integrates with the Joggler device. O2 also announced a family bolt-on for existing customers allowing one person to pay a monthly fee to add a number of other O2 customers to their family group. Once part of the group every family member can make calls or send SMS or MMS to other members of the group completely free of charge.

The O2 Joggler will be available in April from O2 stores and their website priced £149.99 or free if taken instead of a handset when upgrading or signing a new 18 or 24 month contract. Pricing for the O2 family bolt-on has yet to be announced.

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Posted in Feature, Mobile, News, Opinion, o2 | Comments

O2 Launches £5m ‘Surprises’ Campaign with Buongiorno

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

O2 Top-Up SurprisesIn a bid to retain UK customers in the pre-pay market - something notoriously difficult to do - O2 have launched their ‘Surprises’ campaign this week.  Customers topping up are given a code which guarantees a prize when entered at the campaign’s online ‘hook a duck’ fairground-game themed site - prizes range from free texts messages to TVs, laptops and even race day and spa experiences.

Backed by a £5.5m promotional spend on television, print and online media, O2 are hoping to make their 11.8m pre-pay subscribers feel special… and it wouldn’t hurt if customers of other networks noticed they weren’t getting prizes for topping up either.

5986.jpg…and whilst I’m looking forward to seeing the water-filled bus-stop panels with real rubber ducks, intended to ‘quack’ as people pass (we make our own fun ’round here), one of the most interesting aspects of this campaign is that it’s being powered by Italian-firm Buongiorno’s web system - a company we made contact with recently after our trip to Rome (preview here, watch out for the full videos soon). We’ve fired them some questions over and will be publishing an introduction to this Italian power-house behind mobile entertainment projects in 53 countries and 100 network operators.

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Posted in Ben Smith, Mobile Marketing, o2 | Comments

O2 dips hand in the cookie jar

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

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LG has released details of their Cookie handset coming to the O2 network, exclusively in the exclusive favourite of O2’s whitest of whites stock coloured brand.

We’re now led to believe by LG this will be the UK’s most affordable phone, in the category of touch screen handsets. Obtaining a mobile by means of theft would surely then make a mobile ‘the’ most affordable phone in the UK, although this might open up an entirely new category all by itself. Not that we’re condoning theft in anyway shape or form, from WIFI to even music - just in case any Daily Mail readers were thinking of starting up a grass roots campaign against us.

This latest colour to appear matches other so-called exclusive colour ranges of the Cookie, with the likes of pink and silver versions of LG’s mobile solely appearing on the Orange network last month. Absent from their range strangely enough is the colour Orange, which is as much associated with that network as their staple colour as white is with O2. Virgin Mobile also carries the LG handset in black, which is more suited to the phone than all the others in our most humble opinion.

Lucky Goldstar’s Cookie, also known by the much less exciting name of the KP500 or KP501 is a 3-inch fully touch screen based mobile with EDGE capabilities, just to refresh your memory.

LG does firmly believe touch screen mobiles will be the key choice of handsets this year, which could indicate there will be more on the way from them *cough*

From the end of March, the White version of the Cookie will be on O2 for the princely sum of £99.99 on pay as you go.

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O2 discovers laptops

Friday, February 13th, 2009

o2

O2 has just become the latest operator to bundle up laptops and mobile broadband together, joining the illustrious ranks of just really everyone else now.

They’ve gone with Samsung and why not, they’re just as good as anyone else and O2 have even chosen the choice models of the R510 and the NC10. The latter of which is more or a netbook, but who are we to be critical over mere product defining language.

O2 has loosely defined their threefold reasoning for this selection of ‘puters as being; Style, Substance and Staying Power. In reverse order, they believe both have specifications ideal for years to come, substance to produce great performance whilst being stylish all at the same time.

They went on to quote some common stats to back up this bold move for them. From a report entitled ‘Changing Face of the IT Market’ by Gfk, it predicts 9-10 million sales of laptops are expected this year. Although the report was dated September last year and way before the financial world really began to crumble.

Apparently, they’ve introduced three deals to accompany the announcement but no details were on offer as to what actually made up these new plans.

At the end of the month, this new venture for them will be available online and at 490 of their stores nationwide.

We’ll bring you more details on what’s what, when we find out more ourselves.

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O2 launches bovine mobile broadband stick

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

dongle_white

In what may very well be the oddest looking mobile broadband stick we’ve ever seen, O2 has announced a designer USB dongle with the colourings of a cow. Whilst at the same time milking designer labels, for all they’re worth.

This is apparently this seasons must have accessory; a Henry Holland designed under his House of Holland label polka dotted dongle. Although to us, it does look distinctly Friesian or Jersey in nature rather than anything else.

It was only an amount of time before mobile broadband USB dongles gained designer status. Mobiles have been painted with that very same brush for some time now, with the likes of Prada, Armani, Dolce and Gabbana all getting in on the act.

What’s next to gain the fashionable tag in phone apparel?

Are we likely to see Dior microSD cards or Chanel SIM cards?

When will this madness stop!

*sigh*

This USB mobile broadest of the band sticks with a designer skin will be on pay as you go, with a marginal price tag of £29.35. It’s accompanied by deals ranging from the likes of £2 a day for 500MB, £7.50 each week for 1GB or £15 a month for 3GB depending on their needs, all with unlimited access to Wi-Fi.

Expect to see this in a field near you soon at the end of February for a time limited period, or when the cows come home.

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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic for £15

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Carphone Warehouse latest deal brings music to our ears, by tuning into Nokia’s latest music phone on just a £15 contract.

The 5800 XpressMusic arrives gratis on one of the most affordable tariffs around, on O2 with unlimited texts and 100 minutes allowance per month to any network and at anytime. Hurrah!

As compared with other offers around, it doesn’t appear to be for a time limited period only on a fixed number of months, although the contract duration is for 24 months. Then again, what do you really expect for a free handset that normally costs £249 - they have to make their money back somehow.

How other network tariffs measure up against each other for the 5800 is of distinct interest, which we found both to our delight and amusement. Starting from the highest cost; Orange’s own offering will be on a £35 contract we’ve been informed, O2 comes in at £30, T-Mobile also £30 (£20, for the first three months), Vodafone and Phones4U are at both £25.

How the others fair in their call allowance per months is also a tad interesting. With T-Mobile coming in with 700 minutes, Vodafone has 200minutes. The other networks are either not entirely upfront with their details, or even lack the complete acknowledgment the phone’s existence on their website.

The 5800, just in case you hadn’t already read the plethora of copy already on MIR has a reasonable 8GB internal memory for around 6000 tracks with instant access to Nokia’s music store. Coupled with a 3.3megapixal camera and Sat-Nav abilities, it’s a formidable beast.

More can be seen here, on the 5800 Carphone Warehouse deal.

We brought you news of the 5800 coming to Orange, way before anyone else on the planet in December last year. The handset was spotted at their partner camp in Florida by us, in which we wrote up the exclusive here.

Initially, Nokia had screamed foul at us for pre-empting such a thing arriving as the phone was only brought along to show case new mobiles. Seeing as it was ‘deliberately’ placed on the table of all the phones Orange sold, we rightly and ever so correctly, assumed it would be on their network soon.

Isn’t it great when we can predict the future.

UPDATE: It now appears, possibly in a gut reaction to the CPW announcement, Phones4U also now has a £15 deal for the Nokia 5800 on a T-Mobile contract. The plot thickens!

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HTC Cruises along with a new phone

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

The high tech computing corporation has just updated its Cruise handset, for the likes of O2 to adopt in its Xda range *cough*

A few weeks back we brought you news of the online reseller Expansys leaking details of a new HTC mobile, by opening up its pre-ordering. This was even before the HTC had confirmed its very existence, let alone made public the phone themselves.

At the time we even noted the name of the product aired looked very much like an internal code name rather than an actual product branding, the HTC Iolite was just that.

We can now bring you the joyous and bountiful news, their HTC Cruise from 2007 has had a makeover and comes along with the very same product name as before.

The original Cruise mobile hit our shores early 2008, where it was commonly found in the disguise of the O2 Xda Orbit 2. Although we were told by an HTC spokey type person it also may have made an ever so brief appearance on the Orange network as itself.

Cruise 1.0, as we’re now calling it, came with a Qualcomm 7200 400Mhz chipset. A 2.8-inch QVGA screen, with a WIFI and was capable of the wonders of GSM, EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA.

How it stood out at the time was the bundling of TomTom’s mapping software, driven off the back of its built in GPS. They’ve enriched the latest model with a similar feature set, we’ve been informed. Although no details were available as to whom they’ve gone with now or even if they have included something of this nature again.

This time around HTC has stepped up a gear with adding their new Footprints technology, where an image is taken from its 3.2MB camera which not only uses geotagging functionality but also other multimedia material. This comes along with the likes of an audio file being including, turning a mundane picture into much more of a rich media experience than just something for the eyes to be bestowed upon.

There’s also a new processor onboard, seen in the Qualcomm MSM7225 528MHz monster running on the Windows 6.1 platform. It still has WIFI and all the same network options that will invariably differ from USA to Europe.

In the last ticking seconds of 2008, Germany’s O2 division pushed out details of a new Xda called the Guide. No information has been forthcoming in the UK yet on this model, but we’re almost positive the handset is the latest Cruise. As the spokey type person from HTC confirmed this phone will be with them, exclusively sometime soon.

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