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Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Ee-ee-ee, says Everything Everywhere

Mark Bridge writes:

Mobile networks have changed, haven’t they?

Once they were all about delivering service. Coverage. Quality. Price.

Now it’s much more about branding.

Everything Everywhere has announced it’s to become EE, an obvious abbreviation that’s been used in mobile industry briefings pretty much since the company was created two years ago. It joins the likes of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hennes & Mauritz, British Home Stores, Independent Television and Marks & Spencer, although all of these took decades to transition into businesses that were just described by their initials.

EE logo (September 2012)

What’s the point?  Everything Everywhere was, as CEO Olaf Swantee admitted today, a bit of a mouthful. (I hope he mentioned this when he first joined the board). It did, however, mean something. EE sounds more like a conversation between mice in a fairy story. It’s an abbreviation with no heritage.

In its brand factsheet the company asks “Why EE?” and replies “People still find that too many of the things they want to do take too long, cost too much, or are just too difficult. With EE we’re planning to do something about it. We’ll focus on the things that matter, that make a difference, that make life easier. We want to show everyone in the UK how the magic of technology can make the everyday better.”

But that doesn’t really answer my question.

So let’s take a look at the big-name competition. There’s O2, a chemical element. There’s 3, a single digit. And there’s Vodafone, which hasn’t changed its brand name since Ernie Wise made the UK’s first ‘official’ mobile phone call in 1985. Insiders may write ‘VF’ on their notes but that’s a private thing.

The word even has a meaning. Vo for Voice. Da for Data. Fone for… er… phone.

That can’t be right.

Come on Vodafone. Get with the program. It’s time to change your name. Based on the choices of your competitors, I’d suggest something short. Something unusual. Something unique.

Perhaps a single punctuation mark. A cough. Or a fragrance.

After all, if you’re a mobile network it seems perfectly acceptable to look a bit dumb. Just as long as you don’t look a bit like a dumb pipe.

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James Rosewell

9/14/2012 9:41 AM

What was wrong with Orange? EE is a case of big organisations spending a lot of money and time coming up with something worse. Shareholders should be unimpressed.

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