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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: foundation who wrote (30524)	12/29/2002 5:29:15 PM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197229

New phones fail to win (European) consumers 29 December 2002 This Is London DAVID Beckham has been recruited to sing their praises. So has Michael Schumacher. And their launch has been backed by huge advertising campaigns. But picture messaging mobile phone handsets have yet to win over sceptical shoppers. Sales of the phones have had a sluggish start, according to early indications from the High Street. Retailers say that shoppers are cautious because digital images cannot be sent between different mobile networks. For example, an Orange customer cannot send a picture to a friend who uses Vodafone. The slow take-up will disappoint both High Street retailers and the battered mobile phone industry. Vodafone, the major mobile company, recently launched a £25 million advertising campaign - its biggest ever - featuring celebrities such as Beckham and Schumacher. They promote Vodafone live! - a multi- media package that brings together colour, sound, picture messaging and mobile internet games for the first time. And Orange ran a £5.5 million advertising campaign to promote its new picture service. But shares in electrical retailer Dixons slumped by up to 4% on Friday amid concerns that Christmas sales of picture messaging phones were disappointing, though no new figures are available yet. 'Sales have been slow,' Dixons admitted, 'but this is what you'd expect at the beginning of the cycle. It is only the start.' Text messaging also took time to take off and didn't become popular until there was compatibility between different networks. Orange promised the cross-network problem would be fixed in three months but added that pictures can now be sent by email to any make of phone. In an effort to kick-start sales, mobile phone operators are offering free picture messaging until the end of January. The price of handsets is also being slashed. A Nokia 7650 was £249.99 for Orange customers but now sells for £9.99 to new subscribers, while the cost of a Sony Ericsson T68i has now tumbled from £149.99 to £29.99. Vodafone claimed that sales were 'in line with our expectation' while Orange, which had 64,000 new users last month, said it hoped that Christmas sales would give a huge boost to the number of subscribers. But analysts are dubious about how much income will be generated by picture messaging. Strand Consultants estimate that the market in Europe will be worth just over £50 million this year and will eventually peak at about £5 billion a year - still far short of the £8 billion revenue that is produced by ordinary text messaging. thisislondon.com ========== "Vodafone claimed that sales were 'in line with our expectation' while Orange, which had 64,000 new users last month, said it hoped that Christmas sales would give a huge boost to the number of subscribers." VOD is selling sleek Japanese bi-valves with integral cameras like hot cakes: Message 18369636 Can Orange give clunky 7650s away at £9.99? LOL!