Vodafone chief tells mobile users he knows where they live

Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin believes that wireless users will happily opt-in to mobile advertising. And he plans to reward them by reducing their monthly bill. Either that or he's found a diplomatic way of saying that users won't opt-in unless they get their money up front. We can't quite tell. "In a few years, mobile advertising …

[Anonymous Coward]

(expletive deleted) You, Arun Sarin

"But on a mobile phone, we know who you are. We know what your age is. We know where you live. We know a lot of things about you."

Which is EXACTLY why I paid CASH for a TracFone and pay CASH to buy my minute cards as I need 'em.

This Sad SOB just doesn't get it.

I can live without him and his damn phone network - he can't live without guppies signing up and turning over $1k + per year to keep him in kibble and hot/cold running secretaries - and THIS guppy is off the hook and long gone.

Hopefully, this whole stupid idea will face-plant and Sarin will get planted with it and the next mobile phone CEO that gets the idea that people buy mobile phones just to be bombarded with crap advertising will drop it like a hot rock.

(yeah, I know, optimism....)

[amanfromMars]

Expense buggers up Potential and keeps it Exclusive and unScaleable

"The mobile internet won't reach its potential, he said, unless phones deliver "world-class user experience." And this won't happen with "dozens" of mobile operating systems competing for phones."

What a load of cobblers ..... excuse my French.

Just like ITs Big Brother Internet, leadership and the realisation of potential has got nothing at all to do with the platform of delivery but everything to do with the Content/Intellectual Property delivered and if the likes of a Google and/or a Virgin team up with or as a White Knight Champion of Potential Leading Content which eclipses any other made available, then Market Share will accrue to the Intellectual Property they push/pimp/share rather than to any hardware Device which may share it ........ unless of course, they put some sort of lock on the code/content transfer with a view to steering customers to their Champion Services.

This of course is not unreasonable in the Dog eat Dog world of Business as obviously the Champions need to be paid in order that they keep providing Premium Prime Content, even should IT be Generating a Pile of Flash Cash.

Of course, there would be nothing to stop such a Generator going IT alone and making ITs Content Universally available and thus having all Operating Systems capable of Servering Premium Prime Content...... but to Share the Spoils with Friends is so much more Civilised in a Dog eat Dog Bitchin' World, is it not?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man from Mars.....

Have you taken something, I read your entry and only in passing did I see your name. WOW a totally coherent message. Well done, Keep taking the tablets.

[druck]

Live! is dead

I don't normally use Vodafone 'Live!', but just got a new handset so thought I'd just see if it had changed since last time. On going to check my bill I noticed a privacy option, which had settings for very targeted ads based on what you looked at on Live! and your personal details from Vodafone, mildly targeted ads based on just what you looked at, or just junk ads, I selected the latter and promptly hung up never intending to use it again.

Its nothing but trash attempting you to spend money anyway, being WAP its abysmally slow and clunky. Using Opera mobile to access the real internet is far quicker and uses less of your data tariff in to the bargain. But then what guarantee do we have that either Opera or Vodafone isn't going to be sniffing this too?

[Anonymous Coward]

Vodafone copying Virgin?

Why don't they get it? - a mobile is a PHONE.

There are enough reviews already which list all the add-on features and how well they work, if only the phone worked too. If they do everything they can to supply a multi-functional non-phone device which invades our privacy then they are going to kill the market before they even start.

It sounds like Vodafone has the same management team as BT, TT and Virgin. One of the companies TalkTalk bought out a few years ago was one of the major Vodafone business distributors in the UK.

Comms is a very small world. Everyone shares info, buys free capacity cheaply from each others' networks and then tries to convince the consumer that they have the best package.

I guess that this is what the Vodafone home page will be looking like soon:

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/stuff/sugarmama.do

and the privacy page at

http://web.virginmobileusa.com/about/privacy

They make a point of knowing your age, sex and zip code and then go on to say:

"How Do We Use Your Information?

Unless you specifically decline, we may use personally identifiable information to contact you and deliver information to you via your home phone, address, email, voice or text messages on your mobile phone if you are a Virgin Mobile customer. We may also share personally identifiable information with certain third parties so that these third parties can share information with you about new products, services and promotions that we believe will interest you. By accepting this Privacy Policy or by purchasing or using our products or our jointly-branded products, you expressly agree to such usage and sharing of information. In addition, Virgin Mobile may use non-personally identifiable information in aggregate form for demographic marketing purposes, and may disclose this information to third parties, including advertisers."

I guess that just about says it all.

If anyone sees anything juicy on any of the profiler websites, make a screen dump. I have just been looking to see who it was that was boasting about supplying Virgin with their 'Sugar Mama' portal and now I can't find it any more. Websites are being rewritten and soon they are going to look squeaky clean.

[Anonymous Coward]

here is an idea

Why do Vodafone not route all of our call through Phorm ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sarin?

Is it just me, or did I just realize that man's named after a toxic nerve gas commonly used in chemical weapons used by terrorists?

Probably explains that man's antics.

[Fluffykins]

Could be a useful resource: Don't knock it completely

Just make a list of those companies who think so little about pi$$ing one off that they are prepared to advertise with this service, make a note and avoid them like the plague they are.

What's the marketingspeak term?

Oh yes: Brand Suicide.

[Kent Martin]

What a load of bollocks

"The mobile internet won't reach its potential, he said, unless phones deliver "world-class user experience." And this won't happen with "dozens" of mobile operating systems competing for phones."

A good part of the reason that the current internet is so successful is that it isn't boxed in by vendors/platforms/os's. On what planet would one think that it'd be likely for customers to flock from an unrestricted environment to a more restricted on? Where have we seen customer ever flock to a more restricted model (all other factors being equal)?

[John]

@AC re the martian

AC, is it YOU who has taken something? If you find theBoreFromMars' blabbering lunacy coherent for once, perhaps you've been slipped something seriously psychotropic with your elevenses.

For god's sake don't encourage him. Just smile sweetly as you pass him on the street shouting at people who aren't there.

[b shubin]

This may work

humans are very, very bribe-able, and cheap! candy works, money works quicker and better. the man is smart.

if the operators bribe the users, the herds will come running. mark my words, this will likely work better than anything else they've done so far, but ONLY if they multiply the bandwidth, FIRST; no one will pay for a slower link clogged with ads, discount or no.

i don't like it, and will pay full-price to avoid it, but most people will jump at it.

[DR]

am I the only one.

who really wouldn't care about deleting a message for a few quid off.

as it is O2 are constantly sending me adverts anyway,

that started sometime last year, then they called me to check what adverts i'd like to recieve, I said none but they kept coming, I find it less trouble to delete the messages than to call them up for a rant.

so if they want to start paying me (by reducing the bill) to delete their messages, then I welcome it.