Vodafone goes ‘Blue’ to ride Facebook wave
September 6, 2011 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Offers handsets with free access to social network
Vodafone Essar launched its handset developed in collaboration with social networking site Facebook in India on Tuesday. ‘Vodafone Blue’ will be priced at Rs 4,950, and offer free Facebook access for a year, without a lock-in period.
Mr Kumar Ramanathan, Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone Essar, said, “Web usage is driven by e-mail, search, social media and more, but we find that the usage is extremely polarised. The biggest trend that we see is the affinity for social media. The idea behind the launch is that if people are sticking to certain functionalities, can we make the experience better, and at affordable price points?”
Vodafone Blue will be sold across 75 to 80 cities and towns in India that account for 85 to 90 per cent of smart phone sales, explained Mr Ramanathan. During the launch phase, 30 cities will be targeted.
“Besides the Vodafone outlets, we have national partners in place for the distribution. We are closing deals with large-format outlets,” he added, clarifying that Vodafone would not seek to be a device manufacturer in the Indian context.
The Blue handset is being manufactured by Alcatel for Vodafone.
While there is a revenue arrangement in place with Facebook, details were not disclosed.
The handset launch will be backed by an integrated campaign led by a 130-second film, and understandably, social media marketing will play a role too. Vodafone is attempting a repeat of its successful ‘Blackberry Boys’ campaign, also created by Ogilvy.
Targeted at the youth, Blue will offer a better Facebook experience, claims Vodafone, as the handset has been built with Facebook at its core — in collaboration with the social networking major that claims 750 million users worldwide and over 30 million in India.
However, there are analysts who differ. Mr Anshul Gupta, Principal Analyst, Mobile Devices, Gartner India, said, “There is no denying that Facebook has huge traction. But with a large number of feature phones that allow Facebook access already available in the market, at lower price points, and similar data plans, I don’t think this will be a deal changer. Also, this is a 2.5G handset and there are 3G handsets available.”
The analyst also does not see Vodafone Blue becoming the second phone of the youth, for ‘Facebooking’.
Vodafone though, is looking to expand its base of 25 to 30 million data users (of a total of 140 million), and the ‘Facebook mobile’ is a step in that direction.
Mr Ramanathan believes India‘s data growth will come from 2G and 2.5G-enabled handsets.
He said, “In India, volumes in data will come from smaller transactions, millions of transactions. For both data and voice, we will have to provide ‘snack’ options from day one.”
