Wireless Carriers Must Effectively Target Customer Segments

A new report from Diamond Management & Technology Consultants finds that wireless carriers in mature markets typically
are not marketing targeted pricing plans to specific customer segments
as effectively as they should. Diamond’s
paper, entitled “Targeted Pricing,”
explains that targeting can be performed on the basis of wireless
subscribers’ usage patterns or demographics,
but notes that pricing is just one element of a targeted value
proposition.

“Carriers looking to add new customers at
their competitors’ expense have little choice
but to develop differentiated offers—which
are often based on price,” said Hamilton
Sekino, a Partner in Diamond’s Telecom
practice and author of the paper. “The rise
of family plans has locked a larger portion of subscribers into group
contracts, which increases the barriers for many subscribers to change
carriers.”

Discounts on new phones for existing subscribers and other incentives
have added to carriers’ difficulty in
converting competitors’ subscribers, known as “customer
churn.” According to Diamond’s
report, these factors have largely contributed to a drop in monthly
churn rates from 2.5 percent in 2000 to 1.7 percent today—and
only 1.3 percent for postpaid plan subscribers.

“Companies run the risk of losing money if
they do not undertake adequate preparation when launching new pricing
plans,” said Sekino. “Wireless
carriers cannot afford to approach pricing plans blindly, and must
validate their targeted plans.”

For instance, carriers need to weigh the value of mass-market
advertising campaigns against the value of marketing specific pricing
plans through media outlets that cater to particular demographic
segments. While some companies have developed innovative pricing
structures, most wireless carriers adopt the mass-market approach for
pricing plan introductions—often not the most
cost-effective approach.

T-Mobile USA Launches BlackBerry 8820

T-Mobile USA announced the availability of the BlackBerry^® 8820 smartphone, featuring built-in GPS and support for T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service for Wi-Fi calling. Available in a sophisticated midnight blue finish, the BlackBerry 8820 is RIM's thinnest BlackBerry smartphone.

With the T-Mobile HotSpot @Home mobile add-on plan, customers can enjoy the freedom of unlimited, nationwide calling over any Wi-Fi network at home, across accessible corporate Wi-Fi networks or at T-Mobile HotSpot locations nationwide. When connected through Wi-Fi, access to information continues to include all of the BlackBerry platform's security features. Customers can also enjoy faster Web browsing at Wi-Fi speeds.


Using the BlackBerry 8820 smartphone's built-in GPS and location-based applications, such as BlackBerry Maps, customers can navigate between meetings and locate the closest restaurant or use other advanced services such as TeleNav GPS Navigator <sup>to receive audible turn-by-turn directions to reach their next destination.

The quad-band phone also supports international roaming and is enabled for T-Mobile's popular myFaves service experience for quick, one-click access to five people byinstant messaging, e-mailing, texting or calling from the Home Screen.


"Customers want and need to stay connected to the important people in their lives," said Leslie Grandy, Vice President of Product Development, T-Mobile USA. "With unlimited nationwide calling using T-Mobile's popular HotSpot @Home mobile service, access to personal or business e-mail, and reliable GPS navigation services, the BlackBerry 8820 from T-Mobile provides unparalleled value for our customers at home, at the office and everywhere in between."

"The BlackBerry 8820 smartphone blends powerful communications, connectivity and navigation capabilities with exceptional ease-of-use and executive class styling." said Mark Guibert, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, RIM. "Together with the innovative T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, the BlackBerry 8820 offers incredible flexibility and convenience for both professional and personal needs."</sup>

Samsung Electronics Signs Multi-Year Global Agreement with Nuance Mobile

Nuance Communications, Inc., a provider of
speech and imaging solutions, announced that Samsung Electronics
recently signed a multi-year agreement, renewing and expanding its
commitment to the full range of Nuance Mobile applications. With Nuance speech solutions for mobile devices,
Samsung will simplify and enhance the way its customers use mobile
phones, applications and services.


The global license agreement includes Nuance's VSuite,
Vocalizer, and VoiceMode speech-based services and interfaces,
which have collectively shipped on more than 160 Samsung models for the
last several years. The Nuance products are also shipping on Samsung's
top-selling devices, such as the SCH-U340 and SPH-M300 available from
Verizon and Sprint. Text-to-speech solutions, enabling capabilities
such as text message read-out, are also included in the new Samsung
contract.


VSuite is Nuance's ubiquitous voice control solution that enables
hands-free, one-step access to mobile device features from a simple
push of a button and a voice command. Nuance's speech-to-text solution,
VoiceMode, offers users a faster and easier way to input text on mobile
devices. Users can enter text in any application by simply pressing a
button and dictating words and sentences naturally and continuously.


"Samsung is at the leading edge of innovation and design for
mobile devices," said Steve Chambers, president of the mobile and
consumer services division at Nuance. "Nuance and Samsung share a
commitment to continually enhance the overall mobile user experience,
offering consumers a simple, safe and convenient way to interact with
mobile phones. By expanding its use of Nuance VSuite, Samsung can make
it easier than ever for users to control mobile devices and access
advanced mobile applications and content."

LG KF510 Global Launch

LG announced the global launch of the KF510 boasting an extremely-slim body with dynamic functional design.
The eye-catching color gradations of LG-KF510 are the first ever to be used on a mobile phone, with choices of Stardust Dark Gray and Sunset Red on the full metal exterior.
The gleaming LED lights of the touchpad brighten with a gentle touch of a fingertip, allowing one to scroll and navigate the animated multifunction menu using the new ‘Interactive Touch Lighting’ system.
Besides the stylish design, the LG-KF510 is outfitted with quality features. LG KF510 allows the user to enjoy 3MP camera with a power flash and a one-second response time. With the advanced MP3 player the user can automatically sort music into play lists or categories. These features are supported by a long lasting battery that saves power capacity through Auto Luminance Control which self-adjusts to the brightness of the LED screen.
“2008 is the year for a new paradigm in mobile phone design and LG is setting the benchmark,” says Dr. Skott Ahn, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “We have established ourselves as a leader in this field and the LG-KF510 is a unique addition in our mobile portfolio. With its sleek aesthetic and superior technology, it will appeal to many discerning consumers that value both style and substance."
LG-KF510 will be available at most major mobile retailers in regions including Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, from April.

Pringo and Mozes Team to Bring Mobile Marketing to Online Communities

Pringo, the provider of white-label online community platforms, today announced a partnership with Mozes,
Inc, a mobile marketing company that lets anyone make their campaign,
promotion or event more interactive using the mobile phone and web. As a
result, Mozes will integrate its technology into Pringo's solutions,
allowing Pringo customers to better engage users of their community using
text and voice messaging, as well as the Web, and delivering a trusted
mobile marketing solution to social networks.

The agreement provides an innovative way for marketers to reach their core
audiences by incorporating social networking with mobile marketing. With
Mozes' on-demand mobile marketing platform, Pringo customers can create
text message and voice programs, including text polls, trivia games and
mobile offers. Administrators can also deliver mobile content, such as
ringtones and wallpapers, or alert users of the latest news straight to
their cell phone. Consumers can then participate in these campaigns through
the online community.

A common application of the technology is in text-to-win. Examples include
sports teams using this combination for last minute ticket sales, or ticket
give-aways to drive users to a Web site or portal to see if they are
winners. This is a perfect environment for mainstream brands looking for
new ways to reach large audiences through advertising.

"Mobile is the most effective and personal way to reach large audiences
quickly and easily," said Dorrian Porter, CEO of Mozes. "Pringo's
social-networking client base brings our platform to communities that want
to engage their members with rich, real-time relationships on the mobile
phone."

"By integrating Mozes' best-in-class mobile platform, we're providing our
customers with every touch point they need to successfully create a
thriving and loyal user base for any online portal," said Majid Abai, CEO
of Pringo. "Pringo's strategy is to offer our customers the best tools to
build online communities that will attract, retain and grow a user base
quickly and at low cost."

Virgin Mobile USA Launch New Plans Without Annual Contracts

Virgin Mobile USA
has unveiled a host of new Monthly and Pay As You Go Plans Without
Annual Contracts that offer consumers even better value and more
flexibility. With no annual contracts, Virgin Mobile USA allows its more
than 5 million customers to change plans at any time without hassle or
extra charges.Virgin Mobile USA's recurring monthly plans now feature discounted
Messaging Packs, which cover email, IM, text and picture messaging. For
just $10 per month, customers on these plans also get access to
Unlimited Text & Messaging. Other wireless offers, for example,
require up to twice that amount and don't include all types of
messaging.

"There is no reason for consumers to lock themselves into the
restrictive terms of a postpaid contract plan to get real value," said
Dan Schulman, chief executive officer, Virgin Mobile USA, "especially
at a time when many people need greater control over their spending and
use of credit. We're closing the gap between those features
traditionally offered by postpaid carriers and the value available from
our plans without annual contracts."

New Google Mobile Search Experience

Google has set out to improve the mobile-search experience on handsets. Google LCB (LCB? - Local Category Browse?) is a new search service which seems to be focusing on searching for businesses with as little text input as possible. It’s
easy to set up, input your Postal (Zip) Code, and location, and you are
ready to browse a list of business categories. There's still a search-box for traditional search-string entry, but the emphasis seems to be on browsing through the categories for a list of options.

India to Overtake U.S. as World's Second-Largest Mobile Market

• Subscribers base to cross 300 million in April 2008.
  
• Wireless subscribers base reaches 250 million mark. India to become second largest wireless network in the world by April 2008.
  
• Wireless Subscribers addition is 8.53 million in February 2008.
  
• Broadband continues to grow in the country.
  
• Tele-density cross 25% mark.

Total 8.49 million telephone connections have been added during February 2008 as compared to 8.74 million connections added in January 2008. The total number of telephone connections reaches 290.11 million at the end of February 2008 as compared to 281.62 million in January 2008. The overall tele-density is 25.31% at the end of February 2008 as against 24.63% in January 2008. In the wireless segment, 8.53 million subscribers have been added in the month of February 2008 as against 8.77 million subscribers added in the month of January 2008. The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL(F)) base stood at 250.93 million at the end of February 2008. It may also be noted that India is likely to become second largest wireless network in the world after China in the first half of April 2008. US is adding about 2-3 million subscribers in a month where as China is adding around 6-7 million subscribers in a month. India's monthly wireless subscriber addition is highest in the range of 8-9 million a month. Thus India's wireless subscriber base during the first half of April 2008 will surpass that of USA and will become second largest wireless network in the world.