Carphone Warehouse battle PC World over laptop ad
PC World has riled
Carphone Warehouse by running a provocative advert in The Sun over the weekend comparing its laptop deal with Carphone’s laptop deal.
Carphone is now readying itself for a battle with the computer retailer, and is even believed to be considering lodging a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority.
DSG, PC World's parent company, ran a direct comparison between Carphone’s mini laptop, the ‘
Webbook’ and PC World’s version, the Advent 4211. Carphone offers its free Webbook in a
mobile broadband deal with Orange, while PC World has a similar deal in place with
Vodafone.
The advert made various comparisons between the two laptops inclusing memory and operating system and the fact that PC World customers pay £20 per month, and customers signing up to the Webbook pay £25 per month. However, there are numerous aspects to consider such as the contract length and retail value of the PC when making a comparison of
laptop-inclusive mobile broadband deals such as these.
Carphone is also believed to be planning an advertising fightback in response to the PC World campaign, by trying to claim the territory as the first place consumers think of when buying a laptop or broadband deal.
Labels: Carphone Warehouse, industry insight, laptop, mobile broadband
iPhone pre-pay available from September 16th
O2 has announced the 3G iPhone will be available on prepay from September 16.
The 8GB model will be priced at £349.99 and the 16GB at £399.99. The price includes unlimited web browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months. The prepay 3G iPhone will be available from
O2 stores and
The Carphone Warehouse stores.
At the end of the 12 months customers can continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for £10 per month.
Prepay customers will be able to use their 3G iPhone on all of O2's prepay tariffs, but new SIMs will be set up to the Favourite Place tariff as a default.
Existing O2 prepay customers who want to purchase the device may be eligible to receive 10 per cent of the value of their top ups over the past 18 months (up to £200) credited to use on their new iPhone.
Labels: Carphone Warehouse, o2, offers
Orange home broadband subscribers fall
Orange has reported a loss of 44,000 broadband subscribers in the last six months, leaving the company with just over a million ADSL customers.
The declines follows a loss of 4,000 customers during the last three months of 2007, with Orange blaming a saturated market. The company's financial statement says; "The business environment is marked by the drop in narrowband internet and portals and, more recently, by the levelling off of the ADSL broadband customer base" the company's financial report reads.
This raises speculation that the company, as with
Carphone Warehouse, could also be begining to feel the effects of increased mobile broadband use, as well as the higher number of mobile phone users with access to unlimited data plans.
Comparison site Top 10 Broadband claimed earlier this year that if the trends towards mobile broadband uptake continued at its current rate, then the service could overtake home broadband as early as 2010. If prices continue to fall, data speeds continue to rise and incentives such as
inclusive laptops become more commonplace then, this seemingly oulandish claim may prove accurate.
Labels: Carphone Warehouse, industry insight, mobile broadband, Orange
Carphone Warehouse hints at impact of Mobile Broadband
Carphone Warehouse has revealed a slow growth in the broadband market after they halved its target for new broadband customers this year.
The group forecast in April that it would get 400,000 new customers by next March. However, they have cut this number to between 200,000 and 250,000. They have said the consumer slowdown and less people moving house are to blame.
What was interesting though was that CEO Charles Dunstone highlighted the popularity of mobile broadband 'dongles', as another factor which is putting pressure customer additions.
This is the first indication that mobile broadband is having a real impact on 'traditional' fixed-line broadband sales. Could this be a peek into the future?
Visit
www.carphonewarehouse.com for more information on the company.
Labels: Carphone Warehouse, industry insight, mobile broadband
