Vodafone 2008 Annual Report Download - page 29

Data services
The Group offers a number of products and services to enhance
customers’ access to data services. These include services
supporting access to the internet via laptops and PCs and access
to the internet, music, games and television services through the
Vodafone live! portal on customer handsets.
Vodafone live! – Internet on Your Mobile
During the 2008 financial year, Vodafone introduced “Internet
on Your Mobile”, which offers a combination of easy to use and
secure customer browsing, Google search, a tariff for unlimited
browsing and integrated services from leading internet brand
partners. Customers can now use their mobile to access and
update their profile on the social networks of their choice, view
or upload YouTube videos from their mobile, buy or sell items on
eBay and check locations on Google Maps™. To date, this service
has been fully launched in Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Greece,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland and France. Two million
customers were benefiting from this service at 31 March 2008.
The Group has been developing its presence in the converging
communications and PC space by signing instant messaging
partnerships with Yahoo! and MSN. Instant messaging enables
users to communicate to one or more friends through interactive
sessions using a dedicated and easy interface. These services
are primarily available in the more mature markets, such as
Germany Italy, Spain, the UK, the Netherlands, Portugal and
France. Vodafone also partnered with Microsoft to develop a
communications service for the PC, presented at the Cebit
exhibition in March 2008.
Vodafone live! – music, games, television services
Throughout the 2008 financial year, the Group continued to
improve the customer experience for music, games and television
offerings available through Vodafone live!.
The full track music downloads service was significantly
improved by the launch of a new mobile and PC music player.
The service allows Vodafone’s customers to search for music,
artists’ pages and previews from a catalogue of more than 750,000
songs, including some of the world’s greatest artists through
agreements with Universal Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment,
EMI, Warner Music and independent record labels. Additionally,
Vodafone has exclusively distributed and promoted Madonna’s
single “4 minutes” in a number of markets, including the UK,
Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Turkey, India and Australia.
The Group offers
a number of products
and services to
enhance customers’
access to data services,
including Vodafone
live! for consumers,
as well as a suite of
products for business
users consisting of
Vodafone Mobile
Connect data cards,
internet based email
solutions and
Vodafone Office.
£2,180m
Data revenue
(2007: £1,428m, 2006: £1,098m)
Vodafone strengthened its global games portfolio by offering
popular titles such as Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 from Konami.
The game was launched simultaneously across markets with
extensive marketing and advertising through different mediums,
including in-console game Vodafone brand advertising. The
user access and user experience continues to be improved by
embedding a selection of the latest games onto handsets.
Mobile TV is available in 21 controlled and jointly controlled
markets with an average of 20 channels offered. Video content
is sourced both locally and internationally in order to provide
value for money to customers and ensure that the offering
reflects the unique culture and attitudes of specific countries.
Vodafone has local agreements with broadcasters, such as the
BBC, ZDF, RAI, Pro-Sieben, Channel 4 and RTL. Internationally,
content is sourced from HBO, Fox, NBC Universal, Warner
Brothers, UEFA Champions League, Vodafone McLaren
Mercedes and MTV. Vodafone now has a monthly average
of 850,000 customers subscribing to Mobile TV.
Data roaming
When travelling abroad, roaming allows Vodafone’s customers to
use the Group’s services on a mobile network in the country they
are visiting. Vodafone continued to improve the simplicity, price
predictability and value for money offered to customers for data
roaming services. For Vodafone Mobile Connect users, Vodafone
complemented the monthly roaming bundle launched in 2005
with a daily roaming tariff, appealing to both the regular and less
frequent international travellers alike. At 31 March 2008, the
monthly and daily tariff was available in nine of Vodafone’s
European markets. Vodafone will continue to support the growth of
data roaming services through simple, easy to understand pricing.
Mobile applications
There has been an increasing demand for handheld solutions
that allow real time access to email, calendar, address book and
other applications. Vodafone Email Plus, Windows Mobile®
Email from Vodafone and BlackBerry from Vodafone provide
business customers, ranging from small start up companies to
multinational corporates, with wireless access to their business
and internet based email solutions.
Vodafone Mobile Connect
The Vodafone Mobile Connect offering allows laptop and PC
users access to the internet and to business customers’ systems
such as email, corporate applications and company intranets via
Vodafone Mobile Connect data cards, or Vodafone Mobile Connect
USB modems. These are discussed in more detail on page 29.
Two million
“Internet on
Your Mobile”
customers
at 31 March 2008
Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2008 27
Vodafone live!
Offers a combination of browsing, Google search, full track
music downloads, games and television services.
Mobile applications
Vodafone Email Plus, Windows Mobile® Email from Vodafone
and BlackBerry® from Vodafone provide customers with
wireless access to business and internet based email solutions.
Vodafone Mobile Connect
Provides simple and secure access to existing business
systems such as email, corporate applications, company
intranets and the internet for customers on the move.
Data roaming
Provides access to the Group’s services in the country a
customer is visiting. The Group continued to improve the
simplicity and value for money offered to data customers.
Data