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Orange and T-Mobile will merge and create the biggest UK Operator, holding 37% of the market with over 28 million customers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8243226.stm

O2 and Vodafone have always managed to secure deals to offer the best handsets on attractive deals in the UK with Orange and T-Mobile struggling to compete. I hope Im wrong but this decision / ability not to secure Vodafone’s purchase of T-Mobile could have more serious ramifications for Vodafone than the failure to get exclusivity on the Iphone. 

The switch in market power may alter any ongoing discussions between Apple and UK operators on distribution rights for the next generation of the Iphone, rumoured to be a Nano type device released in time for Christmas this year.

The future of the newly formed entity will be interesting to see. Will they continue to focus on the bottom, value end of the market or given their increased bargaining power will they make a play for more lucrative customers? They will have more options, more choice and more power but will they know how to use it?

I own a 4th Generation Ipod Nano which was a Christmas present so is only 9 months old. The other day it started playing up, the buttons stopped working and then the screen went mental showing streaks and two large blobs with nothing of any use displayed.

I popped online and looked into what I could do about it. As the Ipod is only 9 months old I knew it was still under warranty and so wanted to send it to Apple to get it fixed. The process for doing so was very straight forward and I received a UPS back and protective packaging and arranged for UPS to pick up the device. Apple informed me they had received it and would get their engineers to look at it. A good experience so far but then it went downhill when I received the following email from Apple.

“Dear Christopher,

Thank you for choosing AppleCare Service.

Your IPOD NANO (4TH GENERATION) has been inspected by Apple technicians, who have determined that it has been subjected to accidental damage or misuse, which is not covered by the warranty or an Apple service contract. Therefore your product is being returned to you unrepaired. You should expect to receive it within two business days along with a letter that gives details of this assessment. ”

Before I continue I must state that I have not knowingly misused the Ipod and I am  not aware of anytime when the Ipod has been damaged by accident other than once months ago which had no impact on the ipod functioning. Given this, I took serious offense at being told that I am either lying and have knowingly broken the Ipod and want to get Apple to fix it for free

I understand that alot of people probably try to get their Ipods fixed when they have knowingly damaged it but I havent and feel Apple should have a friendlier more customer focused approach to product repairs. If they’d have said that it would cost me a reduced fee of say £30 to fix the item I would probably have paid it but instead I get an ipod back that doesnt work. What’s the point in that? It seems I have no options other than buying a new Ipod.

If they are sending me a letter documenting their findings then why cant they put this information in the email so I know why they are sending the Ipod back. The email strikes me as non negotiable which given my above statement about not knowing of any point recently where the Ipod has been misused or damaged, I feel shockingly treated.

Now Im now Apple evangelist but I do like their work, however this whole experience has made me question whether I will buy another of their products. Ipods arent cheap, in fact they are more expensive than other MP3 players out there. I expected my Nano to last me a good number of years. My pervious Mp3 player, a Sony NW-HD5 lasted years and still works. It was only replaced by my Nano because I wanted something smaller.

On Friday we saw Vodafone release its first quarter figures and as expected the UK arm of the company isn’t performing well with revenue has falling 4.7% year on year.  It seems that Vodafone cant make a statement nowadays without commenting on the Iphone quietly blaming it for the fact that O2 are out performing the once market leader.

Whose fault is it that Vodafone do not have the Iphone in the UK? Vodafone’s that’s who. The company was too complacent, and too wrapped up in its own hype that it decided not to meet the demands made by Apple instead settling for exclusivity in other OpCo’s.

Is Vodafone winning in the markets it has exclusivity on the Iphone? Not as well as O2 are in the UK.

So given those two points Vodafone needs to do more than just secure the Iphone to for its UK customers. Im sure the Iphone would help but unless it’s an exclusive deal then it’s unlikely to change the company’s position in the UK.

TechCrunch are reporting that come September, the 3G Iphone will be available from T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone but not the 3GS that will still be exclusive to Apple themselves, O2 and the Carphone Warehouse.

This is a great move by Apple as they get more sales channels for an outdated Iphone 3G handset.

It suits O2 as they get to keep the exclusivity for the 3GS.

Its a strange move by Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone. None of these three were happy to jump through the hoops well enough for Apple to give them the exclusive deal which O2 eventually won. But now, Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile are happy to but in return they get an albeit good, but seriously outdated handset.

Why would a customer purcahse a phone that has already been superceded, tieing themselves down for 18 to 24months in the process. Does anyone love their network that much? Nowadays thats not the case. People are more driven by handset rather than the network.

We will have to wait and see what actually happens.

Now before I get into this post let me make something clear, my maths is rubbish. I have on a few occasions put 2 and 2 together and got 5. Im hoping that this isnt one of those cases.

It has been widely reported that Orange and T-Mobile are set to get their hands on the older versions of the iphone this September. What strikes me as odd is that Vodafone’s name has not been mentioned anywhere. Can we read anything into this? Are Vodafone uninterested in the 3G Iphones because they have the next gen phone lined up already?

Big product launches are epxected later in the year around Vodafones Now+ / mobile internet offerings. Could the Iphone be one of them? Fingers crossed.

Google have announced that they are building an os that will seriously compete with windows. It is expected that Google Chrome as it is being dubbed will be a lighter faster more secure open source OS built around web capabilities.

It is possible beta code will be made available as soon as later this year will a full release early 2010.

Mobile operators face a number of significant challenges in launching their own application / content stores:

Late to the table

Apple are streaks ahead of anyone else, Rim and Nokia are struggling to catch up so Mobile Operators have a big task on their hands and if they leave it too late their offerings may be more of a token gesture than a the revenue stream they hope for.

Multi Platform

Apple app developers build apps for a single handset and only one OS, OSx, Nokia developers for build for multiple handsets but all have the same operating system, Rim app developers build for multiple handsets but all with the same locked down OS. Spot the theme? Operators however sell a whole range of phones with many different operating systems. Some claim to have come up with a way around the challenge but it will be very difficult to provide a stable, locked down environment that developers have confidence in that enables them to develop them to build apps for all platforms.

Manufacturer Vs Operator

When Apple were in negotiations with mobile operators regarding who will sell their flagship handset the fruity company were rumoured to have made a significant number of demands including what could and couldnt be put on the phone in terms of branding. Im sure if a mobile operator said it wanted to put its own application store client on the handset Apple and most likely other manufacturers would put their foot down. Three key manufacturers have their own app stores, Nokia, Rim (Blackberry) and of course Apple which could heavily restrict what phones mobile operators could install their app stores on. Why would manufacturers open the door for the operators? It’s just not going to happen.

If the operators over come the challenges mentioned above, they have some key advantages over the manufacturers such as customer numbers, a billing relationship with customers amongst others.

Given the cost of rolling out fast (2mbps) broadband to all including those in rural areas the Digital Britain Report (DBR) recommends that there should be a monthly levy on everyone with a landline, of 50p to go some way towards paying for it. Ok so that’s only £6 a year but I dont see the Government offering assistance to mobile networks to ensure the country has total 3G coverage instead they raised £20bn from the sale of licenses and the regulators are constantly looking for ways to take money off the mobile operators. Anyone would think BT is still nationalised.

Its been widely reported that due to an internal uprising of unhappy employees the Vodafone UK board have reversed their decision not to give staff a bonus this year. What a load of bollocks!!. Such a statement implies that the board of one of the biggest companies in the UK is so weak that it can be forced to change its mind on something by its staff.

The reports also seriously patronise staff. Although none of us were happy with the fact we werent getting bonuses we understood why. The company hadnt performed. There has been no hint of fury or uprising so I would like the sensationalist journalists to put a little bit of work into their next pieces on Vodafone rather than writing lazy articles.

In truth, the board realised all the hard work that UK employees put in which unfortunately wasnt mirrored by the financial results. Acknowledging the amount of change required and that much has been done to turn this oil tanker round the board made the decision to reward staff. I can tell you that it came out of the blue and went down very well indeed. Shame the papers got hold of the internal communications but still I for one believe in the board we have.

Here is the link to the Vodafone site explaining how to upgrade your Blackberry Storm Firmware to version v4.7.0.141.

Vodafone Website – Upgrade your Firmware

 This latest software update delivers a number of improvements to the multimedia performance, messaging and the touch screen display, Bluetooth and browser.