Vodafone Wants More Vodafone Live! Branded Phones

In August, I said that large carriers with data platforms would become very attracted to white-label phones that they could brand as their own. Sure enough, Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin said recently that he wants to sell more Vodafone-branded phones. Makes sense because the carriers want to offer a consistent service across all their markets, and because carriers want to capture the brand recognition that they have been giving away to the likes of Nokia when they promote and sell those phones. But when Sarin says that the white-label handsets, "could be produced by anyone. Sharp, Sanyo, Ericsson and Nokia..." he doesn't voice the end of his sentence (that he's actually thinking), which is "...so long as they aren't a dime more expensive than the cheapest no-name maker with the same quality."

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