Staff Reporter

The launch enabled the music player handset to leapfrog previous favourites at the stores the Motorola V3 and Nokia 6230.

The company refused to give any indication of actual numbers sold or reveal the proportion of SIM-free handsets to contract phones sold over the first weekend of sale.

Dozens of customers queued to be the first to buy the handset. Because of the time difference between the UK and US consumers in London actually beat shoppers on the other side of the Atlantic to be the first worldwide to get hold of the device with Stephanie Radcliffe as the worlds first customer.

The ROKR is already the top-selling phone for subscription customers said Carphone Warehouse UK MD Andrew Harrison. But this launch is just the first step in a long journey that will fundamentally change our industry.

He added: The demand comes from people who want to listen to music on the move. Theres only so much pocket space.

Harrison said branding was key to take-up of multi-use handsets such as the ROKR and Sony Ericssons W800i Walkman-branded phone. Although handsets have had a music playing capability for more than 18 months he said consumers still had not embraced the concept.

Having well-recognised brands is quite important he said. We have to try to talk to people about how they actually get music on to their phones. With iTunes Apple is providing an easy solution for them as well as product branding. The challenge for other manufacturers is how they react to this.

The exclusive agreement to sell the ROKR ends on September 26 after which the market will be opened up to other retailers.

See Our Shout page 16

Olamide Kayode Sunmola 23 of Tyrwhitt Road Brockley south-east London pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain an E1000 mobile phone from the store on December 19 by deception.

He was granted unconditional bail and is due to be sentenced on September 19.

But it was the surprising presence of so many top T-Mobile bosses that attested to the carriers efforts to reassure its channel.

Managing director Brian McBride sales director Simon Ainslie head of consumer sales Mark Duncan head of channel marketing Claire Winstanley marketing director Phil Chapman and head of field sales Glyn Horsfield were all present.

Chen Kotecha of Leicestershire-based ScanCom.com said: It was very reassuring to see such a strong high-ranking management turnout.

Vodafone confirmed last week that it would close its Brindleyplace call centre in Birmingham which accounts for 650 Vodafone staff in February. It also said that its Woodlands customer service centre in Newbury would probably shut in March putting 180 jobs in doubt.

Connect senior organiser Steve Thomas said: Vodafone could have been more open with staff at Brindleyplace. The site had been run down for some time but staff had never been informed of the long-term plans for the site. For a communications company it is surprising that it didnt communicate its intentions sooner.

Thomas conceded that Woodlands staff were given advance warning of the closure but questioned whether the notice period would help minimise the impact.

A Vodafone spokesman responded: It was a difficult decision and only arrived at recently. Staff were informed when we were in a position to inform them of the decision.

Vodafone said last week that 500 of the jobs at Brindleyplace will move to other sites 30 of the Woodlands jobs would remain at Newbury and 110 would go to other sites.

Orange head of independent sales Chris Hough told Mobile News that since the network brought together its direct and indirect sales units under Mike Newnham six months ago the situation had improved.

There are always going to be direct salespeople there who get paid on what they sell said Hough. So if they can get a deal thats what theyll try and do. Its certainly not something we want to promote and we certainly dont want it to happen.

Under Mike Newnham it has become a lot easier for us to control the two channels. Previously we had people for both [indirect and direct] sides. We expect these incidents to occur less and less. Its not something we want to happen and we have numerous discussions internally about how to stop it.

Hough also defended Oranges recent dealer commission cuts.

Weve taken stick for reducing the commissions. But there are a number of reasons why we did that.

We over-achieved on contract for the first five months of the year. In the face of the aggression from 3 and the money it was throwing around that has been quite an achievement.

We have budgets for both acquisitions and retentions. Its a case of working to our budget and using that money in the best way possible to sign new customers or upgrade existing ones. We just over-achieved and therefore for the first half of the year we had to cut back the commissions.

He added that small business and pre-pay would be the focus for the network for the remainder of the year.

Full interview page 22

Samsung will double its UK spending over the next quarter as it launches in Ireland on Vodafone and O2 this month.

In an interview with Mobile News Samsung Mobile UK director Mark Mitchinson said:

Weve put as much money into Ireland over the next quarter as we have into the UK. Im looking for 10 per cent market share out of Ireland by the end of this year.

He added: There is a poor quality of service offered in Ireland. 3 will shake things up but its been a duopoly for a long time with Vodafone and O2. Its almost as if it has been left alone. No one has really wanted to go in.

I want our market share next year to be 25 per cent across the UK and Id like to get at least 20 per cent of the Irish market.

See interview page 18

The year 2009 should be a bonanza for the mobile industry writes Sherelle Folkes.

City analyst Gartner predicts thats when a whopping one billion phones will be sold each year.

The worlds appetite for mobile phones has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations said Ben Wood research vice-president for mobile terminals at Gartner. Mobile phones could go on to be the most common consumer electronics devices on the planet.

Gartner estimates that by the end of this year mobile phone sales will have risen to 779 million units a year a 16 per cent increase on 2004. Further predictions are that more than 100 million 3G phones will be sold in 2006 with sales of smartphones expected to exceed the 200 million mark in 2008.

The sales volume cannot be attributed to one region in particular. Its a truly global phenomenon said Carolina Milanesi principal analyst at Gartner for mobile terminals.

In mature markets like Europe and North America subscribers are still buying replacement phones. In emerging markets like Brazil and India new customers are signing up for mobile services at an even faster rate.

The Asia/Pacific region accounts for most sales with one in every four mobile phones purchased there this year. In 2009 this will increase to one in three. North Americans are still buying the latest models but the bigger story is in Latin America where sales doubled in 2004.

Deeper analysis of the forecast shows that smartphones are the fastest-growing category of device. Smartphone sales broke all records in the first quarter of 2005 and we expect them to double year on year to 2006 said Roberta Cozza principal analyst at Gartner.

But Wood warns that despite spectacular growth on all fronts not everything is rosy. Sales numbers are impressive but the big names in this industry will have to deliver value as well as volume he cautioned.

WorldRoam based in Colchester in Essex was set up in 1992 and specialises in short-term rental of mobile phone and data products to customers based within the UK and the US.

It partners with major car rental companies Hertz National Europcar and Alamo as well as United Airlines and American Express.

Vodafone declined to give any further details of the deal.

In an emotive letter to its members entitled The great O2 robbery the CWU will today (July 15) request members support to ballot for industrial action against O2. The CWU letter which was sent to around 5000 O2 employees this morning reads:

When it comes to the flagrant pursuit of corporate greed and double standards the O2 board sure take some beating.

Not many companies would feel comfortable announcing record profits and a boardroom bonanza of bonuses and pay bungs at the same time as launching an unprecedented attack on the remuneration of their workforce. The appetite of the O2 board for hypocrisy and self-enrichment is impressive. But why should they skimp on the fine things in life when they can claw back more than the cost of their feeding frenzy from those unimportant people who keep the company going?

CWU deputy general secretary Jeannie Drake said:

O2s current divisive and derisory offer is a real kick in the teeth. Half the workforce is being told that they will not receive a consolidated salary increase for around seven years – and the other half that their automatic rights to progress to the maximum level in any salary band through yearly incremental rises are to be taken away and replaced with an unacceptable formula.

O2 says staff salaries would increase 6.2 per cent for 2005/6 which is above the inflation rate of three per cent. O2 reckons that seven years without a pay rise is improbable and that staff pay could be in line with the industry as soon as next year. Performance-related payments would boost an annual salary.

An O2 spokesman said: We are committed to performance-based pay with our best performers receiving the best pay and rewards and market-based pay where pay bands for each role are benchmarked to the wider market.

Twelve dealers and their partners will get to visit Grand Duke Vladimirs Palace go tank driving and play a spy game where the 10 winners will get to fly in a fighter jet plane Top Gun-style.

The incentive will run throughout July August and September.