
Cornered! is a blog devoted, most of the time anyway, to telecommunications: local and global issues, technology, people and trends from the perspective of someone who's been reporting, analysing and commenting on the industry since the dark ages (BC - before competition). Sometimes serious, sometimes flippant, sometimes frivolous. Controversial, analytical, informative, amusing, but never boring; a vehicle for examinations of important issues and observations on my encounters and experiences in an industry where polarised views and hyperbole are the norm.
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BT freezes Fusion: next generation replacement rumoured
Cornered!
BT freezes Fusion: next generation replacement rumoured | BT freezes Fusion: next generation replacement rumoured |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Thursday, 07 February 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 The attraction for consumers is that calls made from in-home are cheaper - however price cuts in cellular services have eroded his advantage - and there is only one handset on which has all the contact numbers stored. The attraction for BT is that it retains ownership of the customer and keeps more revenue and traffic on its network rather than having to pay its wholesale supplier. The UK's Telegraph newspaper this week described Fusion as "a spectacular flop", claiming that just 45,000 people had signed up to the service. BT itself has been cagey on numbers. According to the BBC, "BT is not marketing Fusion to consumers at the moment, but is working on a new device that will give customers access to the Internet and emails... BT says its new product will be like the 'Blackberry' service, which is a handheld gadget with a full keyboard that can send and receive emails. The BT device is undergoing trials but the firm does not have a launch date." This is exactly what DataWind's Pocketsurfer2, recently launched in Australia, does. And it comes bundled with the GPRS access: you don't require a subscription with a cellular service provider. In Australia it comes with $20 hours per month access for the first year. After that, $50 per year will get you 20 hours access per month and $20 per month unlimited access. Getting taken up by BT would be a major coup for a small company like DataWind, but some reports suggest that BT is looking for a devices that will allow users to view the hugely popular Facebook and YouTube video sites You can't watch streaming videoon the PocketSurfer2. |
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