Orange earmarks 4m for new millennium project

It will make Orange one of the largest corporate sponsors of the arts in the UK.

At-Bristol is a 97 million project bringing science nature and art to life in three major new visitor attractions in Bristols historic Harbourside. The organisers say it is set to become one of Europes leading leisure education and entertainment destinations and is expected to attract over 500000 visitors a year.

The Orange sponsorship deal includes of an Imaginarium consisting of an educational entertainment auditorium seating up to 110 people and an exhibition space featuring the latest services and products from Orange. The Orange Wirefree Village will showcase Orange s Wirefree plans.

We sponsor Mobilexpo seminars

What do Mobile Users Really Want (Zaiba Nanji Partner Energy and Communication Services J.D Power) Wire Free Working (Bob Fuller chief operating officer Orange) Future Technology (speaker from Motorola to be announced) Integrating pos to supply and distribution (Darren Duesbury managing director Talking Point and chairman of FCS m-commerce group) Increase the impact of your displays (Janice Fairfield marketing director Fairfield Displays and Lighting) E-mail on the move – what will it become? (Kieran Malloy corporate business manager Psion) Mobile Commerce – Whats next? (David Sharp senior consultant Charteris Ltd and membership chairman Global Mobile Commerce Forum) Dealer software solution for control and growth (Andrew Vasili sales director of Ace Contact Retail Chain) Multimedia World (John Drinkwater Head of Mobile Multimedia Siemens) Evolution to 3G (Steve Walker marketing manager Ericsson) Fraud awareness and prevention training for point of sales staff (Ann Sibley industry liason manager Crime Prevention Inspectorate FCS) The MP3 Phone. Music to your ears Quality in a Competitive Market (Philip Davies senior product manager samsung) Accessories Housing and Accessories (Salman Bhatii regional sales Fonerack Cellular ) Whats new in Antennas? (John Thompson product development manager Panorama) Mobile Phone Housing and Accessories (Daniel Laddin marketing director DB Cellular) Security Marking an additional revenue stream (Terence Burton managing director Total Logic) WAP roll out: the impact on operators (Delia MacMillan senior consultant Consult Hyperion) Breakthrough Performance in Mobile Phone Testing (Paul Ashtiani wireless consultant Aspen) New profit opportunities with personal communicators (Paul Robertsonbusiness development manager Pama).

1m Air Miles offer from Vodafone

This is enough Air Miles to fly around the world 40 times or travel twice to the moon and back. After registration the customer waits to see if they have won.

In addition to this main prize there are also over 50000 other chances for Vodafone Pay As You Talk original customers to win prizes from 500 to 100000 air miles.

Carphone Warehouse expands in Israel and Spain

At the same time The Carphone Warehouse has spent 15 million buying 46 of the Viva Voce outlets in Spain giving the company a total of 82 stores in Spain and a leading market position. The stores in Israel will be branded as The Phone House the name under which The Carphone Warehouse operates its outlets across Europe. Initially opening three or four stores plans are in place to increase this number to 30 over the next 12 months. Including its 235 stores in the UK The Carphone Warehouse today operates over 750 stores across 15 European countries and employs in excess of 4000 people. The Phone House stores are in Ireland France Sweden and The Netherlands. In addition the company operates in Belgium Poland The Czech Republic Portugal Switzerland Italy and Hungary.

We are able to adapt to each markets individual dynamics while maintaining a competitive edge said Carphone Warehouse chief operating officer David Ross.

BTCellnet and Visa link for WAP ATM venture

This follows an agreement betweenVisa International and BTCellnet. Users type their current postcode into the phone. Visas Global ATM locator guide (http://www.visa.com/atms/) will provide the location and details of the three nearest ATM machines.

Later this year customers of the BTCellnet WAP phone will also be able to find the exact location of Visas 531000 cash machines located in 120 countries worldwide.

Not knowing where to access cash can cause problems. No more asking the nearest shopkeeper for directions Visa and BTCellnet can point the way said Sandra Alzetta senior vice president electronic commerce Visa EU.

This will be particularly useful for travellers not keen on carrying large amounts of cash but who need easy access to local currency as and when required.

When in an unfamiliar location wireless access to the ATM Locator ensures quick safe and convenient access to funds.

Visa is one of the 13 companies providing on-line applications to BTCellnets new internet phone which will access information from BTCellnets Genie portal.

In the future Visas mobile ATM Locator may incorporate Global Positioning System technology whereby the users location is known automatically and the nearest ATMs are found accordingly.

3 is Crazy for Gnarls

3 claimed one in five downloads has been made over a 3 mobile phone.
Crazy was the first single to reach the number one UK singles spot through digital download sales alone. It is the fastest selling audio track ever on 3.
3 marketing director Graeme Oxby said: "Our customers´ choices now have as much impact on the charts as a traditional music store."
3 claimed it sells more than 200000 tracks a month over-the-air. 3´s audio service has made up over 53 per cent of mobile audio track downloads since the start of 2006 according to the Official Charts Company (OCC). It added that 3´s audio sales account for 3.7 per cent of the combined singles chart and 7.5 per cent of the download chart this year.

Intek set to open eight new stores

Hussain this month opened a flagship Intek store in Exeter and will oversee the opening of new stores in Bridgwater and London in the next few weeks. That will take Inteks total retail footprint to 30 stores.
"We always said that we wanted to expand to 40 stores" he said. "We have great faith in the marketplace and provided the market allows us to we will open another half-dozen stores this year too."
Hussain said that he expects Intek to become a member of Oranges new Specialist Partner Programme before the end of the year after which Oranges current Business Specialists will have their status revoked.
"Orange is a big part of our plans going forward as an independent dealer" said Hussain.
"We fully expect to be a part of the new programme whether that is in the next quarter or by the end of the year."

Vario demand leaves T-Mobile high and dry

Retailers blamed both T-Mobile for underestimating its popularity and HTC the Taiwanese manufacturer of T-Mobiles MDA range for failing to meet demand.
T-Mobile said that sales had exceeded forecasts and that more handsets had been ordered and delivered. "The problem should now be resolved" said a spokesperson.
HTC was unavailable for comment.
One independent dealer said: "T-Mobile still hasnt sorted it out. There was a mix up with HTC and it delivered much too few. All T-Mobiles smartphones have been difficult to get hold of."
High street multiples and T-Mobile direct retailers both on the high street and online are also out of stock.
A staff member at T-Mobiles Lewisham branch said: "There is a worldwide shortage at the moment. We are waiting for HTC to deliver them. We have got a waiting list of 10 to 12 people at the moment."
Luke at T-Mobile in Macclesfield said: "We had 10 two days ago we have only got one left now and there is no sign of new stock. The whole of T-Mobile is awaiting delivery from the manufacturer."
A salesman at the T-Mobile store near Blackfriars in London said: "No one in the supply channel has stock of that device. No T-Mobile stores have got it anywhere. Either HTC hasnt made enough to meet demand or T-Mobile hasnt ordered enough. We have only received two in the past two weeks despite putting orders in."
A flurry of activity around T-Mobiles Flext tariffs has caused all sorts of stock issues since March. Dealers have complained of shortages of Nokia 6111 sliders Sony Ericsson W810is and T-Mobile SIMs.

Virgin Mobile prepares for management changes

The deal announced last week involves a combined cash and shares offer valuing Virgin Mobile at £950 million. The new company will offer fixed and mobile telephony pay-TV services and Internet connectivity something NTL CEO Steve Birch has labelled a "four-play" offering.
Both Virgin and NTL executives claim that consumers will warm to the prospect of one bill for all four services and that churn can be reduced. NTL chairman Jim Mooney predicted churn would be reduced by one percentage point for each additional service on the bill.
Virgin Mobile will see managerial changes once the deal has been finalised although no details have been revealed.
A Virgin Group executive will sit on the board of the new company unofficially dubbed Virgin TV.
"A change in roles is in the melting pot" said Alexander. "There are going to be lots of changes in the next phase of the business."
Alexander also expects expansion in the new company´s channel to market although he declined to go into any details. Nor could he confirm that independent dealers would see the same benefits as Virgin Mobile´s multiple partners.
"We´ll be expanding the number of our points of sale" said Alexander. "We´ve been expanding in waves. As we start to sell more convergent services we will be looking at expanding them to our existing channels." However he conceded that not all services would be available through all channels.
"Our channels are still not as wide as we´d like and we are still looking towards independent dealers" he added. "We´ve talked about the possibility of an SME offering maybe a converged product which offers fixed and mobile telephony together."
NTL will rebrand once the two companies have merged and will pay Virgin Group £9 million a year for the next 30 years for the rights to use the Virgin brand.