Almost No One Buying The Big, Ugly, And Confusing 3G Phones In Austria
More evidence that carriers were a bit too hasty about rushing out their 3G plans around Europe. After 3's dismal initial launch, Mobilkom, in Austria, is finding that things weren't so smooth there, either. They launched in April, but apparently... they've only sold a total of 1,500 3G phones. 1,500?!? They admit that expectations were for a bit more - which is something of an understatement. Part of the problem is that someone forgot that people buy based on the device - and not the service. The phones for the service are apparently "big, ugly and confusing" which aren't exactly the top three selling points you want to highlight. As a bonus, the service also doesn't work very well. It sounds like Vodafone's strategy of focusing on data only 3G offerings first probably makes a lot more sense.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: 3g
