OXFORD, United Kingdom-In an effort to break the stranglehold of the likes of Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson, Vodafone is preparing to launch a huge marketing campaign that will prominently feature handsets labelled with the company’s brand name, and not those of handset manufacturers.
The company, along with other European cell-phone operators, is thought to have become increasingly frustrated by the arrogant attitude demonstrated by traditional cell-phone manufacturers, and is said to have turned to Far Eastern developers, possibly including Panasonic and Sharp, for a new range of color terminals. Vodafone has also insisted that, along with only its brand appearing on the device, it would have control of the user interface-something that its established suppliers have been reluctant to offer.
The launch of this initiative, which will form part of the Vodafone Live campaign, is part of the company’s strategy to persuade users to buy Vodafone-branded handsets and other services to be offered on only Vodafone handsets.
If Vodafone is successful in this move, financial analysts claim that it could seriously damage the well-proven business models of the better-known handset makers and provide the impetus for other mobile operators to overthrow the constraints imposed upon them by their established suppliers.
