Vodafone to offer customer services on your handset

Vodafone has announced that it will launch advanced customer services directly on the handset to give Vodafone customers customer care and billing information in real-time.

The company says the service will not only provide customers with a "self care" facility but also gives Vodafone an added opportunity to provide interactive promotions and tutorials, such as step-by-step guides on how to use the mobile internet to download music or how to send an MMS.

With software provided by SNAPin Software, Vodafone will begin a phased roll out of the on-device self care service from this year.

The service will be available on open OS handsets, including S60, UIQ and Microsoft Windows Mobile, to begin with, with the aim to extend to the majority of handsets on offer from Vodafone over time.

The SNAPin service lets customers navigate an on-screen visual menu of options which customers can use to answer questions or solve their problems right on the handset.

Customers also have the option to connect through to the call centre, or to get an automatic response directly on their contract mobile phone or pay as you go phone.

RIM And Vodafone Buddy Up On BlackBerry

Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone company by sales, said it will add the BlackBerry system to its lineup as one of its "preferred consumer operating platforms."

The deal builds on RIM's strategy of expanding into the broader retail consumer market, moving away from its traditional dependence on corporations and government agencies.

It has been seeking to woo general consumers with multimedia-heavy handsets such as the BlackBerry Pearl. More than a third of the Waterloo, Ontario-based company's subscribers are now classified as noncorporate or nongovernment. It had a total of 12 million users at the end of the quarter ended Dec. 1.

"This deepening of the strategic relationship between the two companies will see Vodafone and RIM concentrating on driving continued growth in business segments, and specifically, focusing on growing broader adoption in the consumer segment," the companies said in a statement.

Jens Schulte-Bockum, Vodafone's global director of terminals, said the partnership will allow the companies to deliver simple-to-use services and lower costs. He said he expects consumers to be attracted to the BlackBerry???s messaging and e-mail, Internet access and range of multimedia capabilities including music and imaging functionality.
Source:http://www.forbes.com/