T-Mobile Boss Hamid Akhavan: “Life Would Be Simpler” Without Nokia’s Web Services Foray
If there is one analogy that keeps being trotted out these days in the mobile content business, it’s whether or not the content cake—also referred to as the pie/ cheese/ or lunch—can be grown, so that while players may get a smaller piece, they’re actually getting more because, well, the cake’s bigger. That’s the explanation Vodafone chief Arun Sarin likes to dole out whenever he is asked what he makes of all these companies—including Nokia—making a run for mobile web services. But other operator bosses have a harder time being so sanguine—or is it resigned?
“Everybody is coming to our turf,” moaned Frank Esser, CEO of number two French network SFR at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Paris on Thursday, Reuters reported. Still, he conceded, “We have to innovate. To ask Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and others to stay out is not reasonable.”
Also on hand was T-Mobile CEO Hamid Akhavan. In the past, Akhavan has said he would not tolerate Nokia’s move into internet services, though earlier this month, his network ended up signing an agreement that will see the Ovi portal placed on certain Nokia handsets that will be offered through T-Mobile. We guessed at the time T-Mobile was dragged kicking and screaming into the deal—which Akhavan confirmed. Nokia apparently hammered away for six months in what the T-Mob boss called “a significant negotiation process,” with him finally relenting that Ovi might “actually help…drive data subscriptions.” Still, he couldn’t help grousing, “My life would be simpler if they would have not come to my space. It is still not the happiest thing to have someone try and take your cheese away.”
Related StoriesPosted In: Entertainment, Companies, Nokia, T-Mobile, Vodafone, hamid akhavan
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Comments (2)
May 26, 2008 5:28 AM
What cheese ? t-mobile is THE underperformer in all matters of digital entertainment. If, in the past, there was something to be screwed up, you could be sure they did it.
If you look at their download figures on mobile content items, they are the absolute laughing stock of the industry in Europe, espacially compared to their huge subcriber numbers.
So what is Mr. Akhavan complaining about ? His company has convincingly proven its incompetence more than once in the past years. It’s time someone wrings a tool from their hands that they know not how to make use of it. If Nokia wants to do worse than t-mobile, it’ll take quite some achievement !
Just two examples from the real world, to prevent the risk of having this seen just as a “flaming comment”:
(1) web’n walk search
No optimization to prioritize content from their very portal. Instead, just a simple Google search, showing the standard web results (...and don’t even think that sites optimized for mobile would get any priority). The simple truth of mobile content: anywhere where mobile content was relegated from the start page to a “lesser tab”, with a Google search box filling the place instead, downloads dropped 30-40%. How good is that to drive a small eco-system ? Do they really want to earn money with content on their portal ?
(2) Purchasing process
Talking about t-mobile being the laughing stock of the industry: for years, it is know that >30% of all clicks on the “buy now” button on their t-zones portal end in disaster. Due to some obscure combination of legal and technical problems (...that, btw, no other operator in Europe seems to have), the enduser who just showed his determination to spend money is being send of with the remark “that he refuses to transmit his MSISDN”. Insulting the enduser for one own faults strangely reminds me of Microsoft (“You did not shut off properly your system…” anyone ?). The problem was adressed internally several times and for years - with absolutely no result.
Coming to think of it: Nokia, please come in fast and help !
May 26, 2008 6:28 AM
Small typo, it’s SFR and not SRF.