Texts to Woo - and SMS Turn-Offs for Valentines

Forget the traditional Valentine’s Day card – millions of lovelorn Brits will be texting their heartfelt emotions this Thursday, February 14.

A stunning 120 million Valentine’s text messages were sent last year, compared to just 12 million Valentine’s cards* – and mobile network 3 predicts the nation will be expressing its love and hidden desires via texting in equal numbers yet again this year.

So to help, 3 customers have identified the best AND worst Valentine text chat-up lines:

Top 5 Best Valentine’s Texts:

1. I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I sure can make your bed rock
2. If you were a burger at McDonald’s, you’d be a McGorgeous
3. You’re like a parking ticket, you’ve got fine written all over you
4. You might not be Miss Right, but how about being Miss Right Now?
5. What’s a nice girl like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?

Top 5 Valentine’s Text Turn Offs:

1. Words alone aren’t enough to describe how amazing you are
2. If I could rearrange the alphabet I’d put U and I together
3. Did it hurt when you fell down from heaven?
4. Is that a ladder in your tights or a stairway to heaven?
5. Is your name Gillette because you’re the best a man can get?

John Penberthy-Smith, 3’s Marketing Director, said: ‘There’s a whole nation of romantics desperate to hit the right note when texting their loved ones – and it’s vital you get your Valentine’s text right, rather than sending a love turn-off.  ‘Although for the TRUE romantics among us, nothing can compete with a simple I Love You.’

This year, anyone on the 3 network can also send a digital Valentine’s Card straight from their mobile using the FunText service: simply visit Planet 3 on your handset, then choose Services, Communicate and Messaging – and FunText provides the option to personalise a number of colourful images, from traditional Valentine’s messages to cheeky love images.

Source: 3UK press release

T-Mobile and 3 create Britain’s largest 3G network

3 UK and T-Mobile (UK) have signed an agreement to combine their 3G access networks in a ground-breaking collaboration that will lead to almost complete population coverage for 3G services across Britain by the end of 2008 with significant fill in and improvement to dense urban in-building coverage in 2009. As the world’s largest known active 3G network sharing agreement, this will significantly increase both operators’ 3G network quality and coverage, accelerate the provision of new high-speed mobile broadband services and deliver substantial cost savings as well as environmental benefits.

• Agreement makes UK network sharing a reality
• Paves the way for national coverage for 3G services in 2009
• Creates cost-effective platform for high-speed mobile broadband and internet services
• Estimated joint cost saving of �2 billion over 10 years
• Reduction of 5,000 masts will benefit the environment
• 50:50 joint venture company to manage shared access network

 

[Read more]

UK’s fastest growing retailer 3 opens 250th store

31 store openings in one month

Mobile operator 3 has added 150 new locations to its portfolio this year, bringing its distinct brand of mobile phone and broadband retailing to 250 high streets and shopping centres across the UK. The recent rollout, 31 stores in one month, is the fastest in the history of UK telecoms - reinforcing 3 as the market’s challenger brand on the high street. 3’s 250th store opens today at Royal Victoria Place in Tunbridge Wells.

Marc Allera, sales director at 3, said: ‘Reaching 250 standalone stores is an exciting step in the growth and development of the company. Our retail team has managed a lightning rollout across the UK, making 3 a major player on the high street for the first time. We wanted to ensure our stores offered both our customers and retail landlords a reason to choose 3. Our latest design stores add something new to the retail mix and our compelling mobile broadband and 3 Skypephone offers mean 3Stores offer consumers something fresh.’

 

[Read more]

Skype and 3 launch mobile phone

EBay division Skype and mobile phone group 3 have launched a mobile handset that allows Skype users to make free Internet calls to each other while on the move.

The companies said on Monday the new 3 Skypephone could also send free Skype instant messages, and that they hoped to sell “several hundred thousand” units worldwide in the fourth quarter of this year.

“We are optimistic that if you look at one or two years, (we will sell) millions rather than hundreds of thousands, but in the fourth quarter (2007) we are looking at several hundred thousand worldwide,” Frank Sixt, finance director of 3-owner Hutchison Whampoa, told reporters.

The phone is being launched in nine markets including Britain, Australia and Italy, with a roll-out into other countries under consideration.

[Read more]

3 Group to offer exclusive Purple K770 Cyber-shot phone

As part of their global agreement, 3 Group and Sony Ericsson today announced a striking purple version of the K770 Cyber-Shot phone. Exclusively available across the 3 Group from launch, this new phone combines the latest camera phone performance with the hottest colour to hit the high street.

The new Sony Ericsson K770 Cyber-Shot phone is a digital camera, a photo album and an elegant phone in-one, as well as the ideal gateway to 3’s suite of mobile media services. For Sony Ericsson and 3, enabling customers to take and immediately share photos with such a stylish phone is an exciting progression.

Features:

• 3.2 megapixel camera with Photo Fix
• Pocket-sized at less than 15mm thin
• Easy printing of photos to A4 size
• Vibrant purple colour - exclusive to the 3 Group

The K770 Cyber-shot phone has a sophisticated 3.2 megapixel camera with Auto focus and a range of advanced features which allow customers to take advantage of 3’s strong mobile media services. Yet despite the advanced features, the K770 is all about keeping things simple. To take a photo, just slide open the lens cover, point and shoot. If you take a snapshot and the light conditions are poor, simply select Photo Fix for PC-free photo editing.

The K770 is a 3G phone that will be available from autumn 2007. The purple colour variant is available exclusively with the 3 Group within selected markets.

For full specifications see Sony Ericsson K770

Source:3 Group press release

Where does a Dalek buy a mobile phone?

As Part of a publicity stunt to promote the Dr Who Exhibition in Manchester Museums, A Dalek was unleashed upon the high street… As I’d left my Sonic Screwdriver at home I took a few snaps with my Vario II

Now Seeing as Daleks are pure evil, with a pathological hatred for humanity… where would they shop for a mobile phone (as the Cybermen already have Bluetooth headsets)?

3 really aren’t evil at all, well not by intergalactic standards anyway…

Vodafone are certainly bigger players… but they are probably more misunderstood than evil…

 

Nope.. if you’re looking for someone to really exterminate… it has to be Phones4U…..

New N95 finally on Three UK

As I may have mentioned before, there does seem to have been a long delay in the Nokia N95 being available on 3 UK… despite the fact that it seems a handset/network partnership that’s made for each other.

Well now the wait is over… and you can get it online now, or real life on Monday. Apparently its a new hardware revision that could have better battery life than the current version… or it may just have a better brand of cross headed screw inside….

Anyway it can be yours for only fifty quid if you are on a �28 per month.. (with 750 mins and 150 texts) or free if you spend more… and of course it’s compatible with their X-Series internet/IM/Skype/blogging/video streaming/placeshifting service

Three and the Missing N95 Mystery

There is something puzzling about the 3 Network in the UK. 3 where the first UK network to offer flat rate data on their network, They were the first to encourage you to use Skype on their X-Series package. Video streaming via They seem to be actively pushing mobile functions on their network, especially via their X-Series blog and all of their premium Handsets are the Symbian Handsets from Nokia.

So, as they are 3G only, and hence not an iPhone candidate, you’d expect their flagship handset to be the Nokia N95.. especially since they’ve been talking it up since before it was even launched… But it’s been nowhere to be found. Which is 3 times as odd, as they’ve released the handset in other countries.

 

But… As I was walking past my local 3 store, I noticed a sign in the window saying they are taking pre-orders for the N95.. which means it could finally be arriving in the next couple of weeks.

3 UK set to slash prices for European phone calls to 25p and 10p

Calls to cost up to 47% less than new EU regulations from 30th August

3 customers are set to make serious savings on international roaming rates as the network announces its new EU rates. Following the recent EU announcement capping mobile roaming prices in Europe from 30th August, 3 is slashing prices below what the new EU law requires. From 30th August, 3 customers travelling to EU countries will pay just 25p per min to make a call to any standard UK landline or mobile and just 10p per min to receive a call wherever they are in the EU. This compares with the capped EU Eurotariff of 38p per min to make a call and 19p per min to receive a call*.

3’s new pricing structure, which is 34% cheaper to make calls and 47% cheaper than the EU Eurotariff to receive them, will apply to all customers, whether they’re on Pre-Pay or Contract deals. Charges for SMS messages will be fixed at 25p per text.

Kevin Russell, chief exec 3 UK said: “We’re excited. This is a great opportunity to remove another barrier between consumers’ expectations and the reality of mobile pricing. We’ve always believed there’s room to bring prices down and the EU has given us a level playing field to achieve it.

European consumers deserve a dramatically improved roaming experience without the fear of inflated bills when they return home. Mobile phone users in the UK and across the EU have been subjected to unreasonably high charges for too long.

The announcement comes six months after the successful introduction of 3Like Home, the revolutionary new tariff that abolished roaming charges for 3 customers when visiting countries with a 3 sister network. The tariff, which applies to calls made to the UK from Ireland, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden and Denmark, enables 3 customers to use their existing minutes, text and data bundles without accruing any additional charges. It also ensures customers aren’t charged for receiving calls when abroad in a 3 sister country. Following 3’s Europe-wide price cuts, the 3Like Home tariff will continue to automatically apply for all 3 customers when they roam onto the 3 network in a 3 sister country.

Source: 3 UK

3 UK challenges industry to implement proposed changes within 12 months

3 UK welcomed today the publication of Ofcom’s proposals and further consultation on mobile number portability (MNP), the process by which a customer can keep their mobile number when they move from one mobile operator to another.

Currently

• UK mobile customers have to wait at least five working days to move their number to another network, whereas it takes less than 20 minutes in Ireland.
• UK consumers also have to request permission from the network they are leaving. The number porting process is managed by the network that is losing, rather than gaining, the customer, which naturally slows down the process and increases costs. The UK is now the only EU market where this is still the case.
• Once a customer has moved their number to a different network in the UK their calls are still routed through their old network in perpetuity. This system is highly inefficient and adds both costs and risks to the consumer.

About 3: 3 UK is a mobile media company delivering a convergence of communications, entertainment and information to customers on the move.

The three areas which form the core of its business are:

• Communications - including all forms of personal communications, voice and video calling; text, picture and video messaging; and mobile blogging
• Entertainment - including television, music audio and video, computer games, and media publishing
• Information services - including wireless web, access to the best of the internet and a range of news services

3 UK is a member of the HWL group of 3G companies, which include 3G operations in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Sweden and soon Norway.

For more information on 3 UK, visit here

Source: 3 UK press release