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Low-cost mobiles planned

Handsets to target emerging markets

By Paul Voosen
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 30th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
The Vodafone 225, the company's new low-cost alternative, will be hitting shelves this summer.
Vodafone plans to shake up the mobile phone industry this summer by introducing two low-cost handsets to developing markets, including the Czech Republic.
The phones are aimed at consumers who still cannot afford modern mobile phones, one of the ultimate symbols of middle-class affluence.
“We believe that even though our market is very saturated, there is still room for some people who have not acquired a phone at a convenient price,” said Jakub Hrabovský, spokesman for Vodafone national.
“Czech customers are price-sensitive,” he said.
Vodafone, the world’s largest mobile phone services provider by revenue, plans to roll out the handsets — called the Vodafone 125 and 225 — over the next few weeks in Egypt, Romania and South Africa.
Prices for the phones, which will often be sold unsubsidized for use with prepaid cards, will vary from $25 to $45 (526–946 Kč).
Vodafone expects to begin selling the higher-end 225 model here later this summer. The company has no plans to introduce the 125 handset, which has a black and white screen that makes it more suited to poorer economies.
Despite their low retail price and limited functionality — voice calls and text messages only — the phones possess a modern design that should win over consumers wary of being sold second-rate equipment.
“I’ve had the opportunity to see these phones, and they’re quite trim and trendy,” Hrabovský said. “Vodafone has supervised the manufacturing process and very strict quality demands are being made.”
This kind of oversight is necessary because Vodafone tapped a Chinese electronics manufacturer, ZTE, to make the phones, rather than traditional manufacturers such as Siemens, Nokia or Motorola. The only brand consumers will see on the phone will be Vodafone’s — a first for the company.
Cutting out the middleman to use a Chinese manufacturer likely went a long way to dropping costs, industry experts say.
While Vodafone has not yet set the retail price for the 225 in the Czech Republic, consumers can expect the phone to sell for hundreds of crowns less than the cheapest new handset from Motorola, for example.

Paul Voosen can be reached at pvoosen@praguepost.com


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