CPW staff under fire over targets

The pressurised selling environment is thought to be the result of the appointment of Anthony Catterson as MD of retail in April.
Catterson who is now responsible for the 669 Carphone Warehouse stores was previously managing director at Phones 4U and IT distributor Micro-P where he made significant job cuts.
A Carphone Warehouse store manager commented: "There are rumours going round the industry that he is here to axe jobs. He got rid of a load of people when he was at Phones 4U and then left. Were worried hes here to do the same thing."
Carphone Warehouse refused to comment but another Carphone store manager revealed: "In stores the pressure is certainly on. There is a focus on selling new subscriptions. Customers often come in to shops wanting just TalkTalk broadband but weve got to try to sell them a new phone at the same time."
One source close to the retailer revealed that new sales strategies to pressure teams into action were being put into place at area manager level. According to the source staff have to ensure 20 per cent of customers who take broadband also take a phone or face disciplinary action.
One store manager revealed: "There was an area managers meeting about a month ago where Catterson said: Im looking forward to working with most of you in the future. According to my area manager he kept repeating this phrase basically implying they wouldnt all have jobs in the future. They have to perform or they face the sack."
The source revealed: "Catterson has made it very clear what he wants. He wants top sales performance. There are no congratulations if you get it 90 per cent right. It has to be 100 per cent or youre out."
The comments come as Carphone Warehouses full-year revenues have grown by 30 per cent to £3 billion with pre-tax profits at £136 million.
CEO Charles Dunstone said he would pump £50 million into broadband adding that he intended to open a further 80 stores primarily in retail parks and small towns.

Entertainment show fuels mobile content debate

Peter Cowley director of Interactive Media at Endemol the company behind Big Brother said his firm has been offering profitable Big Brother updates on mobiles for the past couple of years. He claimed the figures are "staggering" with mobile users downloading 10 million Big Brother streams in just 18 months.
"It´s good money but not everything we do with mobile brings in the money" he said.
MTV vice-president of strategy Angel Gambino suggested the only way companies like MTV can make money from the service is to own rights to the content.
She said users who download MTV streams on their mobiles do so for short periods but regularly three times a day on average.
One surprise from research firm M:Metrics was the finding that mobile users generate around three times more content than they consume. "Users are uploading personal snaps and videos to the Internet as well as sharing the files with their friends and colleagues" said senior analyst Paul Goode.
Where they do consume paid-for content said Ovum principal analyst John Delaney it is clear mobile entertainment being viewed is quite different from armchair TV viewing.
"It´s all about snacking" he said. "Mobile users snack on mobile entertainment for just five or 10 minutes at a time. Is there a business model for mobile entertainment services that generate just €10 (£7) a month in revenue? I´m sceptical" he added.
Bango sales director Martin Harris argued that there is a business model for low-cost mobile entertainment but he referred more to static content a lot of which is adult´. Bango is handling O2´s new adult range of Active services which Harris admitted O2 doesn´t want to handle itself.
Apart from pornography there´s also mobile gambling.
Matti Zinder CEO and founder of Spin3 the company that developed the technology behind a growing number of mobile Internet sites claimed that mobile gambling is now reaching critical mass with users more than willing to download a Java applet to have a flutter on their handset.
Spin3´s latest claim to fame is Tomb Raider a five reel 15 payline mobile slot machine package that offers users many more ways to lose their money.
But the mobile slots as they´re called are a step or two better than the ones in the pubs or clubs as witnessed by the company´s other major offering Major Millions a progressive jackpot game than can pay out up to a hefty £250000.
Zinder´s company which has more than 130 staff worldwide doesn´t make its money from offering mobile gambling services to users. It designs the technology that makes it all work which includes age verification banking interfaces and the gambling software itself.
It was ironic that Spin3´s announcement of its latest mobile gambling achievements were overshadowed by the previous night´s lead story on the BBC Nine O´Clock News about Internet gambling becoming a major problem in society.
But what about non-adult mobile content? Is there enough revenue for a viable business? Harris pointed to the Manchester United site which lets fans download a customised mobile phone logo with their team´s latest result on it.
"At £3 a throw Manchester United fans have been flocking to the service and they keep coming back as no one wants an out of date logo on their mobile" he said.

Traders gear up for class action against Customs

The European Court of Justice ruling on the Bond House case undermined Customs´ argument that all transactions which form part of a carousel fraud are not "economic activities" and should be penalised by withholding VAT due to honest traders in the supply chain. The decision implies that Customs´ treatment of innocent traders was contrary to EU law.
As Customs has no jurisdiction to award damages which would be expected under EU law it will be necessary to bring an action in the High Court.
As we anticipate a large number of claims an application for a Group Litigation Order (GLO) was made in the High Court on May 4. London law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary UK LLP were appointed lead solicitors by the High Court in what will become known as the "Missing Trader Intra Community Damages Group Litigation".
The litigation will essentially become a class action pursued by a test claimant on behalf of the rest of the group. All claimants who issue relevant claims will be included within the GLO and will share in its costs.
The decisive issue is whether Customs manifestly and gravely disregarded the limits on its discretion.
All the indications are that the interpretation was adopted by Customs in order to deal with a problem faced by the UK Treasury. No one doubts the seriousness of that problem. There is however real doubt as to whether a deliberate attempt to pass that problem on to wholly innocent traders can be justified.
A key factor is likely to be the extent to which Customs was entitled to rely on the original decisions of VAT Tribunals in enforcing its "non-economic activity" approach.
There was already significant doubt as to the correctness of that decision particularly after the release of the opinion of EU advocate general Miguel Poiares Maduro in February 2005. It was also known that this approach was causing significant damage to the industry.
Against this Customs will argue that it acted in reliance on a judicial decision and that there was a significant loss to the UK Exchequer caused by missing trader fraud.
It may also argue that its position is supported by the fact that the High Court which made the reference to the European Court did not regard the matter as acte claire´ or so obvious as to be without dispute.
But the mere fact that the national authority wrongly persuades the national court to accept its interpretation does not justify it.
Customs will also point to an apparent qualification contained in the European judgment that says the right to deduct input tax is not affected by the existence of a fraud unless the claimant knew or had "any means of knowing" about the fraud. As a result less-than-perfect due diligence by a trade may be used to justify an adverse assessment.
It is a rare thing for a national court to award damages against a revenue-collecting authority for losses arising as a result of tax administration. However the legal basis of the action Customs took against innocent traders was widely criticised at the time and was very likely to cause commercial losses.
The GLO is likely to incorporate a provision requiring claims to be made within a certain time likely to be six months from finalisation of the relevant issues to be included so proceedings need be issued as soon as possible.

April texts up by a quarter

The Mobile Data Association (MDA) said last week that a total of 3.13 billion text messages were sent in April the highest ever monthly total for April and an increase of 24 per cent on the same period last year.
Ahead of the World Cup the MDA also revealed that footballing events in May saw huge spikes in usage. Over 120 million text messages were sent on FA Cup Final day on May 13 and 124 million were sent on Champions League Final Day on May 17.

Nokia wins damages in fakes case

Suplimet Corporation together with founder Hermann Lozano and sales director Xavier Lozano were found in contempt of an existing injunction against trafficking in counterfeit Nokia products. The defendants pleaded guilty and received six-year sentences.
Nokia director of brand protection Lucy Nichols said:
"Nokia will vigorously pursue counterfeiters. We welcome this prosecution and conviction as it highlights the damage it does to both manufacturers and consumers."

3 launches free footie coverage

3 customers can tune in to a preview programme prior to each day´s matches and a review programme of the action after the games have finished.
Berlin or Bust presenter Sam Delaney will be joined by celebrities including rock band the Kaiser Chiefs and actor Ray Winstone as well as former England footballer Ray Wilkins.
The Berlin or Bust preview show includes a "biased and abusive" assessment of the day´s England news a profile of the two players in action most likely to clash and a round-up of user-generated World Cup content.
The review show features a gallery of England manager Sven Goran Eriksson´s various facial expressions during the tournament and pub-style tactical analysis.
3 UK marketing director Graeme Oxby said: "This is the first World Cup since the launch of 3G and we expect to see a massive difference in the way fans keep up with the action when compared to 2002."
Berlin or Bust will be available free to all 3 customers throughout the tournament. It airs from June 9.
3´s World Cup coverage also includes match highlights made available following every game five minutes after the final whistle. Minute-by-minute text commentary and in-match stats from every game will also be available.

T-Mobile cuts roaming rates for World Cup fans

The rate is the same for both contract and prepay customers who text the word GERMANY´ to 49017 to activate the rate. The rate is available as a bundle of 40 minutes worth of calls for £10.
Jim Hyde managing director of T-Mobile UK said: "More than 200000 British fans are expected to be away in Germany over the next six weeks. We want to bring them as close to the action as possible and make it as affordable as possible."
This follows its earlier offer to cut roaming rates in Europe the US and Canada to 55p a minute.
T-Mobile is also offering an exclusive edition of the Samsung E370 the official World Cup mobile of the England team. It comes preloaded with England animations wallpapers and video clips.

EasyMobile to sell handsets through Internet cafe chain

The sites in Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road have been confirmed as participating members of the trial which will involve offering Nokia 1100 handsets free when bought with £30 airtime confirmed easyMobile sales and marketing director Mike Lewis.
"Weve had great success with our retail partnerships so far and easyInternet Cafes are all on prime retail positions so we thought we should try to sell through them."
EasyMobile announced a partnership with The Link in March to distribute pre-pay Nokia 1600 3220 and 5140 handsets plus the Motorola RAZR V3 through the retailers 295 stores. The decision to trial a presence in easyInternet Cafes is in line with the MVNOs strategy to widen its distribution to other high street brands.
A number of easyInternet Cafes including the ones involved in the trial already include staffed concessions devoted to selling products from all the other easyGroup businesses. It will be there that easyMobile products will be offered. Staff will register customers in-store.

Recycling firm pays 250000

Envirofone.com chief executive Pete Petrondas said: "We recognised that we needed to encourage the general public to recycle so we decided to offer them either cash or credit from Argos."
Punters also have the opportunity to nominate a charity of their choice to receive a donation £35000 worth of charitable donations have been made since January.
The firm reconditions handsets and then send them overseas to be used in countries where the cost of new hardware is prohibitive.

Mike Caldwell 1953-2006

He was most recently a director of Vodafone´s charity arm the Vodafone Foundation. Caldwell a qualified solicitor joined Vodafone in 1991 from a similar position at Boots. He led Vodafone´s three-year battle to gain planning permission for its Newbury HQ and was also a key figure in the Vodafone takeover of Mannesmann.
A Vodafone colleague said: "In an age where hard-nosed expedience is considered a normal and desirable aspect of corporate culture Mike Caldwell combined an excellent and highly successful PR operation with real care for the people under his management. He was a gentleman in the truest sense and inspired great loyalty."
Mobile News editorial director Ian White said: "I knew Mike for 15 years and was privileged to earn his friendship. It was a measure of his popularity that his funeral was attended by people as diverse as Vodafone chairman Lord MacLaurin and Mike´s musical hero blues guitarist Bernie Marsden."
See White Lines page 60