STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 21, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Vodafone (NYSE:VOD): Vodafone live! has been a great success on the Swedish mobile telephone market since its introduction in December last year. And it will become even hotter this spring when the Sharp GX10i and Nokia 3650 camera-phones are launched. By this summer, Vodafone Sweden also hopes to be able to offer the Sony Ericsson T610 as part of Vodafone live!
"Our high pre-launch expectations have been matched by Swedish sales of Vodafone live! That's why we're looking forward to an exciting spring. We will be improving and enhancing the concept even further, with both new camera-phones and new services," said Goran Mannerstrale, Director of Consumer Affairs at Vodafone Sweden.
Three new camera-phones
Two new camera-phones are ready to be introduced this spring, the Sharp GX10i and the Nokia 3650. Vodafone Sweden is also pursuing discussions with Sony Ericsson(Nasdaq:ERICY) about offering its T610 phone as part of Vodafone live! this summer.
"We are delighted to be able to offer the two camera-phones from Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Sharp and we look forward to bringing Sony Ericsson onboard as well. The Sharp handset has been an enormous success in the countries where we have introduced the concept, and it recently won first prize as the best mobile phone at the GSM World Congress in Cannes. The Nokia 3650 is a snazzy little phone that we also feel is ideally suited to our target group," said Goran Mannerstrale.
New services -- instant messaging and photo album The Panasonic GD87 and Nokia 7650 are already included in the concept. In addition to taking pictures, the Nokia 3650 also offers the possibility of recording video messages. Vodafone Sweden is therefore currently testing its networks to make it possible to send video MMS, which are messages with moving pictures.
"The interest in picture messages has been strong ever since they were introduced, and now it will be even stronger, since operators will be able to offer MMS between their networks, something that will become a reality in the very near future. Video MMS is something we really believe in, since the function further enhances both the pleasures and the benefits derived from communicating in pictures," said Mannerstrale.
Instant messaging is another new option Vodafone Sweden hopes to offer in the near future as part of Vodafone live! This service allows you to see when your friends are connected to the mobile network and start a chat session with them or send them other types of messages. The service is currently very popular on the Internet.
Another service to be offered is the photo album. Users can save their personal pictures in the album and show them to their friends. This services also lets you pre-select which friends will be allowed to see the pictures.
New content providers in the concept will also be coming out this spring with new services, such as stock market reports and Java games.
The concept
Use Vodafone live! to take pictures, send and receive colour images with sound and text, send games, send e-mail, download polyphonic signals, get the latest news, retrieve information and colour pictures about sports and weather, and find the best restaurants and the latest movies. And of course you can also take and make calls.
The concept is sold as a package that includes a camera-phone that is pre-programmed for all services and ready to use as soon as you leave the store. The services are then easily accessed from your mobile phone via Vodafone live!'s own user interface.
When you buy one of the mobile phones included in Vodafone live! and a new subscription or prepaid card from Vodafone Sweden, you automatically get access to all the services included in Vodafone live! The same applies if you already have a Vodafone prepaid card or subscription. All you need to do is supplement it with one of the camera-phones to be able to take advantage of all the services in Vodafone live!
Press shots of the upcoming Vodafone live! handsets, Sharp GX10i and Nokia 3650, can be retrieved from: http://www.vodafone.se/pressbilder
For more information, please contact: Goran Mannerstrale, Director of Consumer Affairs Telephone: +46 708 33 18 45 e-mail: goran.mannerstrale@vodafone.se Johan Holmgren, Director of Public Relations Telephone: +46 708 33 14 00 e-mail: johan.holmgren@vodafone.se
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