UKs first public mobile phone charging kiosks debut in London next month

Called Charge-Me it is said to be the UKs first self-standing kiosk to allow mobile phone and PDA users to re-charge batteries in public locations. Users can talk on their phone while they are charging them.

Charge Me will next month run a pilot service at public locations in the Greater London area at venues such as Victoria and Waterloo stations. The Charge Me kiosk includes 12 charging bays to accommodate different models mobile phones and PDAs. Up to 12 people can charge their mobiles and PDAs at the same time.

The kiosk has been developed and manufactured in the UK. The re-charge points have been designed to stand in an open area thanks to their circular design.

The launch kiosks are compatible with Nokia Ericsson Motorola Siemens Sony Samsung and Palm devices.

Charge Me will initially provide two kiosk types coin-operated and corporate model.

Fast charging times usually range from five to 10 minutes. So five minutes costs 50p and 10 minutes costs 1. There are plans for the kiosks to take Euros in the rest of Europe.

The corporate kiosk provides charging free and are for hotels shops and restaurants who want to provide a service to customers.

Charge Me offers commercial opportunities for mobile operators service providers and retailers says Dr Janko Mrsic-Flogel Charge Me director of business development.

Electronic reward vouchers can be sent via SMS

Mobile Voucher will appear as a simple text message on the customers mobile as soon as the purchase of any product or service has been completed.

Each Mobile Voucher carries a unique serial number for verification that reduces fraud stops the chances of copying vouchers for multiple use and provides a highly effective evaluation mechanism.

To receive something like a Free Weekend Break or Free Nightclubbing offer all the customer has to do is present the Mobile Voucher at the hotel or venue where it is verified by a unique number.

The Mobile Voucher Scheme has enabled TLC clients such as Carlsberg BAA Airports Asda Ryvita Royal Bank of Scotland Guinness Orange and Tiscali to deliver vouchers to customers via SMS or WAP.

Mobile marketing is a new industry that many brands are failing to take advantage of says TLC Promotions and Incentives managing director Nick True.

It is a mass medium with no mobile-specific rewards solution. Sending reward vouchers to your phone is the brand saying thank you/ to their customers.

The scheme was developed with Beenz.com founder Charles Cohen.

Beenz was an internet electronic currency system that ceased operation in August.

Users charged for surplus service says Orange

Not surprsingly this fits in with Oranges latest Your Plan tariff package.

The startling survey revealed that despite UK annual spending reaching the 15.8 billion mark the average customer has an apathetic view of their mobile phone plan and never reviews his/her plans.

Other key findings include one in five consumers believe they are on the wrong service plan while one in three consumers believe all phone plans are the same.

The survey also found that only one in four respondents bothered to research their contract plan with the most people relying on the advice or recommendations of friends family or colleagues before purchasing.

In addition 43 per cent of respondents admitted to never considering which service plan would be most suitable for them.

Respondents said they would be more likely to check their plans if they were tailored specifically to their individual needs and if calls to other networks were priced the same as those to the same network.

The mobile phone market has moved into the same category as the financial services sector much the same as mortgages credit cards or bank accounts consumers are buying mobile services and never changing them – no matter what says Orange UK commercial director David Taylor.

Investor PR man joins Warehouse

He is is ex-Morgan Stanley executive Peregrine Riviere who reports to chief financial officer Roger Taylor.

Riviere will be responsible for institutional and retail investor relations as well as management of key reporting periods and industry analysis for The Carphone Warehouse Group.

Philips ships 10 million Bluetooth chips

Philips says the Bluetooth chipset market is expected to reach shipments of 35 million this year and should surpass 500 million in 2006.

Bluetooth wireless technology grew dramatically last year said Joyce Putscher of industry analysis firm In-Stat/MDR.

The market is seeing major volume traction this year.

Kondor lands big 3 accessory exclusive

The Dorset-based accessory distributor which was appointed as sole accessory supplier to Dixons and Woolworths earlier this year expects to begin supplying mobile phone accessories to 3s retail outlets in December. This will be followed by deliveries to 3s appointed retail partners.

We will be distributing accessories to 3s retail outlets towards the end of the year Kondor sales director Stephan Ziegler told Mobile News. There is no official start date as yet. We are very happy to have received the appointment he added.

Meanwhile Kondor is celebrating winning a Dixons supplier excellence award 2002 for best supplier in the sub- 10 million sales category.

Kondor chief executive Malcolm Benson picked up the award from Dixons chief executive John Clare at a glitzy awards ceremony hosted by the consumer electronics group at the London Hilton on Park Lane last month (the venue of the Mobile News Awards on March 27 next year see story right).