The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged orange uk
Orange bring BlackBerry Curve 8900 to the UK
May 29th
Orange have announced the launch of the BlackBerry Curve 8900 in the UK – available exclusively to pay as you go customers with six months free email and web browsing for £249.99.
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone delivers expanded functionality and reliability and its refined design makes it easy for one or two-handed use. It is the thinnest and lightest full-QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone and features a striking 480×360 pixel display that offers up crisp and vivid content. Fully equipped with GPS, Wi-Fi , a 3.2 megapixel camera that can also record video, and an expandable memory slot supporting up to 16GB, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone allows users to balance work, life and everything in between.
Pippa Dunn, Director of Pay As You Go, Orange UK said, “We were the first to launch the BlackBerry Pearl on pay as you go in the UK and we’re delighted to extend our range to include the BlackBerry Curve 8900 – the first BlackBerry with a full QWERTY keyboard on pay as you go. With free email and web browsing for six months and at a great price of £249.99, we’re offering customers even better value.”
Desmond The Bull Returns for Orange Glastonbury Promotion
May 26th
Orange have announced the return of their interactive Spot the Bull competition, which enables music lovers to compete for one of 22 pairs of tickets to Glastonbury Festival simply by guessing where in the field Desmond the bull will be.
This year it couldn’t be easier to be in with a chance of winning tickets to the sold out festival – simply go to www.orange.co.uk/spotthebull, and pick which part of the field you think Desmond will be in at 3pm. Each day, for three weeks, one lucky winner will be selected from all correct entries to win a pair of tickets.
This year for the very first time Spot the Bull has gone mobile, to play by text, send ‘MOO’ followed by the grid reference of the square you think Desmond will be in at 3pm, to 64446 (for example, MOO E7). You can also access the mobile site by visiting www.orange.co.uk/spotthebull
A team of bull-watchers will be monitoring Desmond’s movements throughout the day and reporting his grid location in the field at exactly 3pm. A live bull-cam will also be capturing his position and feeding it to the site www.orange.co.uk/spotthebull every 20 seconds giving players the opportunity to take a more educated guess and enhance their chances of winning. On choosing a location, players will be given specific information about the percentage of time Desmond has spent in that area as well as the percentage of people who have chosen that part of the field.
This year Orange have introduced a Spot the Bull widget, available to download for personal social networking profile pages and blogs, this features a countdown to the next ticket giveaway, the Spot The Bull twitter feed and images direct from Desmond’s field.
Spencer McHugh, Brand Director, Orange UK, said: “Now in its third year Spot the Bull is firmly established as a competition to look out for each summer. It returns bigger and better than ever with enhanced player interactivity and improved functionality. Finding Desmond is the most fun way to win tickets to the sold out Glastonbury festival.”
To keep updated with news from the field, avid bull watchers can sign up to Desmond’s twitter feed at www.twitter.com/spotthebull
Spot the Bull has been designed and developed by digital creative agency Poke. The competition launches on the 26 May and runs until 12 June.
Orange brings Nokia’s ‘Comes With Music’ to the UK
May 13th
As rumoured yesterday, Orange and Nokia today confirmed they will launch Nokia’s ‘Comes With Music’ service – with over six million tracks – exclusively for Orange customers on the Nokia 5800.
Along with unlimited music downloads, Orange’s packages will come with the Nokia 5800 in black or silver, and a number of inclusive calls and texts – on a 24-month contract, starting at £25 per month.
Speaking on the announcement, Francois Mahieu, Director of Devices for Orange UK, said: “We’re extremely excited about being the exclusive UK operator to offer Comes With Music on the Nokia 5800. We are always looking for ways to remove the barriers that stand between our customers and the things they love and believe that by offering this service, we are able to do just that.”
Mark Loughran, Managing Director, Nokia UK, said: “Mobile music is key to both Orange and Nokia, so we’re delighted to have them as our exclusive operator for Comes With Music on our best-seller – the Nokia 5800. The ability to download all the music you love, free and legally from the Nokia Music Store on a great choice of Orange price plans will change music forever”.
The packages – all on a 24 month contract and available from 29th May 2009 at Orange Stores, Phones 4U and via the Orange website and telesales – include an entry level ‘Comes With Music 25′ offer (£24.47 per month) with 200 minutes and 300 texts, through to the highest tariff (‘Comes With Music 45′) bundling 1200 minutes and 500 texts per month for £44.04 per month.
Orange helps make the mobile workforce a reality for large businesses
May 12th
More flexible and agile working practices remain high on the agenda for UK business and the majority of IT decision makers in large organisations want to give their workforce access to vital business applications and systems outside the office, according to first-hand research from Orange. However, putting the plan into practice can be complicated if they don’t know how to start or who to ask for assistance.
Orange Mobile Workforce Management has been developed by Orange along with specialist partner Cognito, to address this issue. Mobile Workforce Management tools will make it possible for IT departments to free up their workforce by mobilising and integrating a wide range of applications and processes for remote workers to use in their natural, on-the-move environment. This more effective use of systems and information will help businesses to enhance and get the most out of their IT investments.
Enabling access to a single application or even a full-scale “mobile office” while workers are out and about means customers can achieve better and more efficient services, reduced costs and increased productivity and profitability. Mobile Workforce Management tools are particularly relevant for those businesses who are dealing with increasingly demanding customers and more complex service-level management agreements.
Mobile Workforce Management is an ideal solution for service- and task-led organisations as it ensures their field workers respond effectively to time-critical requests and can update back-office systems in real time. Also, because it is a fully managed solution, whether straight off the shelf or tailor-made to suit individual needs, it is ideal for companies that don’t have the resources to devote to mobile workforce management themselves.
“Regardless of where we are on the economic rollercoaster, businesses must be able to get the most out of their IT investments. By mobilising existing applications and processes, businesses can become more competitive and their mobile workforce more efficient, more flexible and more productive,” said Robert Ainger, Director of Corporate Marketing, Orange UK.
There are many benefits of a well-managed mobile workforce, including:
- A quick return on investment: Orange business experts estimate that the right mobile workforce management solution can lead to a payback timescale that is often as fast as six months
- Tangible cost savings: Improved travel management of a vehicle fleet reduces fuel, maintenance and time costs
- Real-time data management: Assurance that all the information on the internal system is correct, up-to-the-minute and can be acted on straight away for stellar customer relationship management
“IT departments often struggle to implement a mobile strategy to support field workers such as engineers or delivery drivers. This is because there is a high degree of complexity involved in adapting business critical applications and a range of mobile technologies to the very unique business processes of a field service operation. As a result, integration between mobile devices and back-end IT systems is a highly specialised field,” said Steve Alderson, Managing Director at Cognito. “Orange has recognised that its customers come from a range of diverse working cultures and need a bespoke approach to mobile workforce management. This is why we are extremely pleased to be partnering with Orange and combining our expertise to provide customers with the best solution for seamless mobile integration.”
Who is Cognito? Cognito is an Orange specialist partner that provides fully integrated, mobile workforce management solutions. The company provides tracking, real-time data, scheduling, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and planned and unplanned job management, through consultancy, design, delivery and support over the Orange mobile network. As part of the partnership with Cognito, Orange experts work closely with customers to design and manage a continually evolving mobile business tool that makes the most of a company’s existing IT investments.
For further information on Orange Mobile Workforce Management consultancy, services and products, or to see how it’s making a difference to Orange and Cognito customers, please visit: http://www.orange.co.uk/business/mwm
Orange announce charity partnerships
May 11th
Orange have announced partnerships with eight UK charities, as part of their ‘Orange Community’ investment programme.
The eight charities - Alzheimer’s Society, Barnardo’s, Crisis, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Groundwork, Leonard Cheshire, NSPCC and Samaritans – are supported by the operator on a two charities per region basis, with the final list decided by over 5,000 votes from Orange employees.
As part of this scheme, all Orange employees will be encouraged to get involved through fundraising projects and volunteering schemes. In addition, all employees interested in volunteering will for the first time be given an annual, paid, flexible day-off so they have the opportunity to support their chosen charity. Volunteers will be able to help by gardening, decorating or teaching, or simply offer companionship to people in need.
According to Sue Hammet, Community Investment Manager at Orange UK: “We are delighted that so many of our employees have got behind ‘Orange Community,’ our charity scheme which supports our key corporate responsibility themes of “Include, Protect and Environment.” Our employees already have an impressive track record of supporting Orange’s charity partners – having raised £470,000 over the last two and a half years. We are looking forward to continuing this success with our new charity partners over the coming months.”
Martin Field, UK Director of Fundraising at children’s charity Barnado’s added: “We are extremely pleased to be one of the chosen charities for the partnership and it is a real accolade to have been selected by Orange employees. We know that their staff will ‘go the extra mile’ to fundraise and volunteer for us and that their efforts will help Barnardo’s support some of the UK’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable children.”
Orange unveil new 3G Business Broadband pricing and devices
May 11th
Orange UK has unveiled new pricing for its ‘Business Everywhere’ mobile broadband packages – offering ‘unlimited’* downloads from £7.50 a month.
Until June 31st existing SME voice customers can sign up for Business Everywhere for £7.50 per month, with new customers getting a slightly less attractive deal at £10/month. Once the offer ends, the price goes up to £15 a month on a 24 month contract, or £35/month if you want 25MB of roaming thrown in.
Customers can choose from a range of 3G dongles and devices, including the ZTE MF636 dongle, Huawei E870 PC Express Card and the Option GX301 PCMCIA card.
According to Orange UK’s Vice President of Business, Paul Tollet, “Mobile broadband has really taken off across all industries and business sizes. In fact, our own research shows that a key driver for customers adopting mobile broadband has been the growing desire to stay in control and stay on top of business opportunities, while on the move if necessary. Not only have our price plans been restructured to help make mobile broadband even more affordable, but a fresh range of three new devices offer a more secure, accessible and hassle-free way of working on the move”.
(* as usual, ‘unlimited’ is limited – but all Orange will say is it’s subject to a fair use policy. Even in the T&Cs and on the product website it doesn’t mention what the limit is. Answers on a postcard please..)
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