Tag: o2
MWC 2009: O2 to pay customers to test apps on its app store
O2 announced this morning on the forum of its application store – Litmus – that it would soon be paying customers to test out applications, thanks to a partnership with a company called Mob4Hire.
O2 has 19 million customers, and the ones eligible for the Litmus project will be invited to participate in testing out applications. Customers who help to test an application will receive a free copy once it becomes commercially available, but they’ll also have the opportunity to earn hard cash.
It’s a bit of a complex system that involves bidding for applications. You put a figure on what you think your time is worth, and developers decide whether they think you’re worth it, and if both sides agree, then trialists get paid the pre-agreed amount.
Frequent and helpful testers will increase their “O2 Litmus tester reputation”, though it’s unclear if that’s going to be some sort of rating system, or just a more traditional, ethereal, reputation based on those things we used to have called “feelings”. Remember them?
O2 Litmus is available on the Motorola V3, Nokia N95, O2 Xda Orbit II, Samsung U600 and the Sony Ericsson W910, among others. Nearly 150 apps are available, and you can sign up at the O2 Litmus website.
Phone problems on New Year's night? Cut the networks some slack…
O2 announced today that a record number – 166,000,000 – of text messages were sent over its network during the 24-hour period ending at 7.30am on New Year’s Day. That’s 1,900 a second, but obviously in the hour or so around the New Year, that will have been considerably higher.
Extrapolating out a bit, given three and a half other major phone networks, that means that something like half a billion messages were sent in the UK in a 24-hour period. I’m an O2 customer, and had a perfectly fine phone conversation just after midnight with no connection problems whatsoever. If you’ve got a system that can cope with that, and survive unscathed, then I salute you.
O2 Media Centre (via @O2UKOfficial)
Related posts: Textecution – an extremely clever mobile app that stops you texting while you’re driving | Textually challenged start petition to disable iPhone auto-correction feature
O2 announces UK release for BlackBerry Curve 8900
O2 has announced that the curiously non-3G BlackBerry Curve 8900 (formerly known as the ‘Javelin’) will be released on January 5th 2009. It’s going to be available for pre-registration from tomorrow (Dec 10th), and for pre-order from Dec 22nd on the O2 website.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but is this phone eagerly awaited? I haven’t heard anyone getting excited about the release, but with all this pre-reg and pre-order shenanigans, it seems like people are dying to get their hands on the device.
O2 launches universal, enviromental phone charger
This is the ‘Universal Charger’, which O2 will be selling in its high street shops. It kills two birds with one stone – firstly the annoyance of trying to find the right charger on some dodgy market stall if you happen to lose yours, and secondly, the annoyance of not being able to charge your phone in someone else’s house.
O2’s also touting the energy-efficient nature of the device. It consumes 70 percent less power than a standard mobile phone charger, and meets the strict energy efficient guidelines of the US Energy Star rating system. If every single phone in use in the UK was charged with one of these, it would save the country nearly £31.4 million, and cut the carbon emissions of the equivalent of 36,000 cars.
Glasgow tube stations get O2 phone reception today
That nice gentleman up there has probably just fainted with delight, after discovering that today he’s able to use his O2 mobile on the tube in Glasgow. We’ve known about it for a while, but today, O2 has brought phone reception to the five busiest platforms on the Glasgow subway – Buchanan Street, St Enoch, Partick, Hillhead and Govan.
The move is just a trial, but if it goes well, then you can bet your bottom dollar, or pound, that it’ll show up in London, and any other subway systems around Britain. Get ready to ask loud people to shut up underground, as well as on buses and trains.
Are you in Glasgow and on O2? What’s the service like – perfect? Or a bit patchy? Let us know in the comments.
O2 Press release (via O2UKOfficial Twitter)
Related posts: O2 brings mobile reception to the UK underground | The other first mobile phone use in the UK underground?
O2 launches cheapest PAYG mobile broadband
O2 has just joined 3 and T-Mobile in offering a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband package. It’ll sell you a USB dongle for just £30, and then you can choose from £2 a day with a 500MB data allowance, £7.50 a week with a 1GB allowance or £15 a month with a 3GB allowance. You’ll also get free Wi-Fi at hotspots operated by The Cloud.
This seems to currently be the cheapest on the market. It’s closest rival is 3’s ugly Huawei e220 modem, for £40. 3 charges £10 for 1GB, £15 for 3GB and £25 for 7GB, offering more data if you need it, at a slightly higher price.
This is a positive step for mobile broadband. For just £30, there’s now a very low barrier to entry, and with prices as cheap as £2 for 500MB, I’m seriously considering picking on of these dongles up and keeping it in my bag for ‘just in case’ occasions, like the train, or an airport. I’ll wait till I get to try the INQ1‘s dongle capabilities first, though.
Press Release (via O2 Press Centre Twitter)
Related posts: iPhone 3G PAYG coming to O2: 16th September from £349.99 | O2 launches new Xda ‘Zest’ on PAYG
O2 launches new Xda 'Zest' on PAYG
O2 has just announced the launch of the Asus-built Xda ‘Zest’ – the first Xda model to be available on Pay as you Go. If you think that means it’s going to be a bit ‘budget’, then think again – it’s remarkably well featured.
At the core of the device is a 2.8″ touchscreen, and it runs Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s got Wi-Fi, HSDPA, a 3-megapixel camera and an FM radio. It’s even got GPS – a function that’s rather rare on PAYG handsets.
The Xda Zest will be available in O2 shops and online from the 17th November. It’ll cost £250 on the aforementioned PAYG, but there’s also 12 and 18 month contracts for those wanting to pay less up front.
O2 UK
Related posts: O2 unveils XDA Orbit 2 GPS smartphone | O2 launches 3G Xda Stellar with GPS, QWERTY, colour touchscreen
O2 Litmus to take on Apple and Google phones
O2 is working on a new project, dubbed “Litmus”, which looks set to act as an O2 version of the iPhone’s App Store or the Google G1’s Android Marketplace. Though very early in the production stage, Litmus was explained to mobile developers at the “Mobile 2.0” conference in San Francisco, and some interesting details have emerged….
O2 changes mobile broadband based on consumer survey
Consumer surveys are all very good for finding out what people like and don’t like, but so much the better when a commissioning company takes note of the results and changes its product accordingly.
So it is with O2, which carried out a survey of consumers to find out what they thought of mobile broadband.
Over one in ten responded by saying that they felt they’d been mis-sold a package, with a third saying that they were paying more than they believed the deal stated, while one-fifth cited poor coverage as a bugbear. Around one in six said that there was no returns guarantee if the service wasn’t right for them, while half wanted free use of Wi-Fi hotspots as standard…
