Mobile phone companies are failing to interest people in the latest generation of handsets and data services because they are not pushing innovative content and are marketing just the technology, mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse said yesterday.
Mr Stephen Mackarel, managing director of Carphone Warehouse Ireland, said just 10 per cent of new handsets being sold in Ireland were so called general packet radio service (GPRS) phones and very few people were interested in the latest generation of services.
"Very few people are interested in the service currently because they don't understand the service. Also the networks are marketing the technology not the benefits of GPRS," Mr Mackarel told The Irish Times.
"They should drop the term GPRS and brand some content. For example, Sky TV do not shout about their fantastic technology that allows them to deliver content to customers, they market Premiership Live on Sky Sports."
Mr Mackarel said revenue models available to suppliers of premium content were not encouraging the delivery of innovative content for GPRS. Likewise, network operator O2 expected retailers to sell its Blackberry device, which retails for more than $4,000 (€4,400) including software, for a margin of $36 - too low for retailers to train staff to sell the product and provide after-sales care.
But Mr Derek Handley, marketing director of O2, rejected suggestions the company had marketed GPRS as a technology. He said the firm had focused on introducing new applications.
