DISQUS

Mobile Industry Review: Mr Operator: How do I get my handset into an operator?

  • tim · 1 year ago
    Rather than selling via a tier 1 operator, the distributors and large retailers will take a chance if there is something unique in either style or price.

    Pink did CPW a big favour a few years ago and caught the operators off guard. Yet the Cath Kidston Nokia handsets were, comparatively, a bit of a disaster hanging around the shop floor for far too long.

    Qtek & iMate were very successful niche brands that was usurped by their supplier HTC.

    Philips, Trium, Sendo were to varying degrees successful in getting in to the operators at the low end prepay side of the business; but the cut throat nature of this sector, with minimal margins, invariably made their positions unsustainable.

    Maxon, dBtel, Haier set up bases in the UK and after a year or so decided that it was not worth the trouble. Quality is such an important factor and none of these products could reach the exacting (or minimal) standards of the networks.

    Niche manufacturers still have a chance though. Palm is still game for the challenge as are Sagem & Alcatel (via Virgin).

    So rather than trying to sell into an operator, try the MVNO's; or a retailer CPW, Expansys; or a distributor Phones International (Data Select), 2020, Avenir, Fone Logistics, Frequency Telecom etc.