Disqus
On my ongoing travels around the local shopping centre, I also managed to catch up with the shop frontage for Vodafone and T-Mobile (to see what Orange and O2 have in their shop windows, check out Pt. 1 here).
Vodafone
Vodafone had an interesting mix in their shop window on the day that I walked past – first of all, their was the Vodafone H1 – their new social-networking-centric device (made by Samsung), with a stack of neat, innovative features – such as having your contacts floating on screen in a 3D visual – nice. There was also the obligatory (it seems) deal on offer too, with a couple of their promo handsets. Methinks the frontage will change significantly once the iPhone 3G(S) goes live in (probably) January!
T-Mobile
The T-Mobile shop was extremely … er … pink! As you can see from the slightly under-exposed picture, there were two posters in the windows, and you’ll have to believe me when I say they were offering deals – although one of them was focused on the Nokia 5800 Chrome edition – which is, unsurprisingly, a Nokia 5800 with a Chrome edging around it. Hmmm, nice.
Overall then, across the 4 big carriers, It would seem that the general trend this year is to try and attract people in to deals that are cheap on a monthly basis, feature a half-decent handset, but I suspect, run for 24 months. What better way to sure up your incoming revenue stream in these tough financial times, than get people on 2-year contracts. I hope that doesn’t become the standard 
Check out my follow-up post where I check out two of the big independents, Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse.
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
