Archive of thenextweb.com
Twitter and Orange have struck a groundbreaking deal that will allow customers of
the network to not only receive tweet updates via SMS but also send photos via MMS in a one of a kind agreement in the UK.
Both services come at no extra charge, normal messaging rates apply and provides a great platform for new or current Twitter users who don’t have a smartphone to engage with the popular social network.
Orange follow Vodafone and O2 in allowing Twitter users to receive updates via SMS and with social networking a key selling point for mobile networks, I’m sure it won’t be long before others follow suit.
Twitter tested the service earlier this morning for a brief moment before taking it down. Many UK Orange users who had registered their device previously with Twitter may have received a barrage of texts this morning. It would be worth checking with Orange these updates were not charged to your account.
Orange have created a micro site to go hand in hand with the launch of this new service, called Snapshot, which acts as a TwitPic like service, where all the photos sent by MMS are showcased too.
For any Orange UK customer wanting to try out the service, simply follow the below instructions:
- Take a photo on your Orange mobile phone
- Select ‘Send via MMS’ or ‘Send multimedia message’
- Send it to 86444
With the emerging world of apps taking centre stage, it’s fantastic to see one of the older methods of communication reinvigorate itself once more as a great and accessible technological bridge, for one of the newest.
O2 is to allow its iPhone customers in the UK to unlock their handset from tomorrow.
10 November is the day that sees O2’s two-year exclusivity deal with Apple come to an end. Rival network Orange is starting to sell iPhones from tomorrow and O2 obviously sees no reason to force customers to use their handset only on its own network any more.
On a dedicated Unlock My iPhone page O2 explains that pay monthly customers can unlock their handset at any point in their contract. They will, of course, have to honour the rest of the contract commitment. This can either be by paying it off monthly or by paying the entire remaining sum in one go.
Pay-as-you-go customers need to have had their phone for at least one year and will have to pay a £15 charge. The process will be free for Pay Monthly customers. Either way, there will be a delay of up to 14 days for the network to unlock the handset. (more…)
Orange and Google have announced an official partnership that will see Orange become the first operator to give customers one-click access in Europe to Google Mobile Apps including Google Maps, Google News, Google Search and Mail.
According to the release, the agreement is a long term multi-year strategic partnership that will bring out the best in content and search innovation from both partners and access to enhanced search features, Orange content, and other familiar Google products and services.
Orange plans to launch Google Mobile App across its footprint in a phased approach and will deliver it across a large range of Orange Signature phones, which are customised for a better user experience. Initially, Orange is giving customers instant access to Google Search™ from the homescreen on Signature Android handsets, alongside other services such as Orange TV. (more…)
Since its UK launch in November 2007, the iPhone has been exclusively sold on the O2 network. That’s finally set to change as Orange has just announced that it plans to sell the iPhone soon.
A news release this morning states:
Orange UK and Apple have reached an agreement to bring iPhone 3G and 3GS to Orange UK customers later this year. Orange globally now offers iPhone in 28 countries and territories.
Orange, which has the largest 3G network covering more people in the UK than any other operator, will sell iPhone in all Orange direct channels including Orange shops, the Orange webshop and Orange telesales channels, as well as selected high street partners.
This should be a good thing for iPhone customers as competition may mean lower prices. That said, the iPhone is still a premium product and networks (and Apple) are likely to want to cash in on that fact so don’t expect to be able to pick up a fre 32GB 3GS any time soon.
A pre-registration site for customers to register their interest has been launched at www.Orange.co.uk/iPhone. More information on pricing, tariffs and availability dates is set to be released “in due course”.
UPDATE:
Vodafone is getting the iPhone 3G and 3GS too. They’re due to arrive in the UK and Ireland in early 2010. Details here.
The Dow Jones and WSJ are reporting that Deutsche Telekom, T-mobile’s parent company, and France Telecom, Orange’s parent company, have agreed a deal that will see T-Mobile merge with Orange to create the UK’s largest telephone company.
The 50-50 venture will see Britain’s market leader O2 service lose its number one position, and the newly formed independent company taking 30 million subscribers and 38 percent of the U.K. market.
Earlier today, the Financial Times reported that Vodafone (more…)
The French competition regulator has ordered Apple to allow all French mobile phone carriers to sell the iPhone, as opposed to just Orange which is a subsidiary of France Telecom.
The competition regulator said Apple’s exclusive arrangement with Orange posed a “serious and immediate threat” to competition in the mobile telecommunications sector and increased costs for mobile phone users looking to change mobile phone carriers.
Bouygues Telecom SA, the third largest mobile operator in France, filed a complaint in September and today the Regulators have taken this action as a ‘protective measure’ while it continues its investigation.
Both SFR (the second-largest carrier in France) and Bouygues Telecom (the third largest) have (naturally) welcomed the decision and hope to begin selling the handsets soon.
via Business Week / photo credit
