Vodafone goes crazy; Wants to stop iPhone sales in Germany?

You may like or not, but Apple’s iPhone is THE more disruptive device like ever. Now, we have Vodafone — the same company that fights iPhone defection by taking customer service offline — obtaining a Court order that required rival T-Mobile Germany to sell iPhone without a service plan. And while we do agree that’s a good news for German consumers who like the Apple’s handset, somehow if that’s the way Jobs&Co wants to go - you can’t blame them. Apple was never really open about its platforms, but always managed to get its place under the Sun. Kudos to them for that. Also, it’s important to note that this could lead to complete halt of iPhone sales in Germany…

Back to Vodafone. Don’t you guys have F700 and N95 8GB? I find those two devices to be quite appealing. Why oh why do you want to take this kind of (stupid) action? According to the Big Red it’s the fear that other handset makers may follow Apple’s example and begin tying their handsets to specific providers (like the Samsung F700, which is exclusive to Vodafone?), further shredding the German wireless market. Yeah, it’s the benefit of the German mobile phone users you care about, not shareholders. C’mon folks, it makes me sick. You could have an iPhone deal, but you decided to go the other route. What’s the problem now?

Anyway, T-Mobile’s parent company — Deutsche Telekom — has confirmed the ruling, and is working to overturn it in an appeals processes.

Vodafone obtains restraining order on T-Mobile’s Apple iPhone sales in Germany

"The German unit of Vodafone Group PLC has obtained a restraining order against Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile unit prohibiting the German telecommunications giant from selling Apple Inc.'s iPhone in Germany," Stefan Mechnig reports for Dow Jones Newswires.

"Vodafone is questioning Deutsche Telekom's iPhone sales practices [regarding to] the iPhone's exclusive use in T-Mobile's network and the use of the device being limited to certain fees within T- Mobile's subscription offerings," Mechnig reports.

Vodafone isn't generally opposed to T-Mobile's exclusivity contract with Apple, but wants to have these new sales practices examined... The restraining order doesn't aim at a total sales stop," Mechnig reports.

Vodafone posts profit of £3.29 billion

LONDON: Vodafone Group, the biggest provider of mobile phone services in the world, raised its sales and profit forecasts Tuesday on accelerating growth in India and Turkey, as well as higher revenue from wireless Internet access in Europe.

The forecast revision came as the company said net income in the six months to Sept. 30 was £3.29 billion, or $6.82 billion, after a year-earlier loss of £5.1 billion. Profit exceeded the median estimate of £3.03 billion in a survey of analysts by Bloomberg News.

Vodafone UK shares rose the most since March 2006. The company, based in Newbury, England, bought the Indian company Hutchison Essar in May to gain access to the world's fastest-growing major wireless market.

Under its chief executive, Arun Sarin, Vodafone also is cutting costs and getting more revenue from Web use by customers in Europe, where most people already have a mobile phone.

Source:http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/13/bloomberg/bxvoda.php

Nokia and Vodafone team up on handsets and services

Vodafone and Nokia have announced an agreement to launch integrated Vodafone services on Nokia handsets.

The integrated suite of Vodafone services will combine with Nokia's "Ovi" services on a range of Nokia handsets.

Nokia says these services will offer customers a greater choice of communications, internet services, content and browsing through a range of premium handsets (some of which to be exclusive to Vodafone) on 3G and 3G broadband networks.

All of Vodafone's internet and entertainment services as well as all of Ovi from Nokia, including the new Music Store, and presumably the N-gage gaming services when launched, will be available.
Source: http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk

Drop in Vodafone mobile customers

Vodafone shed 13,000 mobile customers in New Zealand during the three months to September 30, according to parent Vodafone Group's half-year results.

The British company also said yesterday that Vodafone New Zealand's average revenue from pre-paid and contract mobile customers fell during the past year.

Its customer numbers dropped from 2.268 million to 2.255 million for the quarter.

In the same period, Telecom said it added a net 48,000 mobile customers, taking its total to more than two million.

In the previous quarter Vodafone customer numbers rose by 24,000.

It said some fall in mobile customer numbers was expected in a market reaching 105 per cent saturation, particularly in cost-sensitive, entry-level customers.

Source:http://www.stuff.co.nz/4273251a13.html

Emerging markets' growth helps Vodafone ring up record figures

Vodafone raised its full-year sales and profits forecasts yesterday after it posted record-beating half-year figures following strong growth in emerging mar-kets.

Shares in the mobile phone giant leapt 7.4 per cent to top the blue-chip climbers' board as Vodafone revealed it was increasing its revenue forecasts by about £1bn to between £34.5bn and £35.1bn. Expectations for adjusted operating profit were increased to within the range of £9.5bn to £9.9bn, ahead of the £9.3bn to £9.8bn previously forecast.

Its chief executive Arun Sarin said the group would continue to face tough competition in the UK and Europe, as pricing was still under pressure amid a saturated mobile phone market. But tough conditions in Europe were offset by the performance of emerging markets, which saw sales growth of 40 per cent to £4.3bn. The steepest growth was in Egypt, where revenues grew by 33 per cent.

However, Vodafone said yesterday that the hype around the phone was good for the industry and had brought more consumers into its stores. Sales were 10 per cent up in Vodafone's UK stores after the iPhone went on sale as it has reignited interest in phones in general, the company said.

Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article3157814.ece