UK: what are the Operators punting today? Part 1.
By Ben Robinson on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 4:11 PM PST In UK News, UK Retail
So the first of my two posts on what the UK operators are currently promo-ing on their websites (as of 25/1/09), begins with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) and Orange….
Vodafone
… are very strongly pushing Mobile Broadband, the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Storm, and their 2009 offers – fairplay really, you’ve got to play to your strengths, and the Storm is something they’ve invested heavily in promoting in the UK.
Is it a sign of the times that there is a ’sale’ of sorts (offers…) going on? Probably. But nice to see that Vodafone have a clean and easily-viewable site design going on now. I’m not a big fan of overpopulation of the homescreen!
Orange
Orange has a very different attitude to layout – on the leftmost side of the screen is one of the longest vertical nav. bars that I have seen in ages! Overall, the page seems to be a lot more cosmopolitan, with much in the way of lifestyle, search, and even weather on the page. If you want to know about mobile stuff per se (i.e. what they are punting), then you really need to click off to the “shop” link… is that a good move?
Both the Vodafone and Orange pages work in different ways, and I think including a screenshot (valid only for the time I captured them at about 11pm on 25/1/09) in thumbnail actually helps draw out the differences. The striking use of corp colouring is evident, but also note Orange’s very text-laden approach.
Let’s check out O2 (NYSE: TEF), 3, and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT), in a post coming to you soon!
[Note: 'punting' is slang for 'selling' in the UK, and I'd imagine, lots of other places 
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