Away from the high level politics, Vodafone has made several strategic moves, affecting its handset, mobile email, search and instant messaging developments.
On search the operator has said it will integrate the Google icon and search capability into its Vodafone live! client and portal. The operator will include the icon in its homepage, bringing the biggest internet search brand to the mobile portal.
Both parties were quick to point out that the agreement so far is for search and search only. In other words, no Google Talk or messenger or mail facilities will be integrated.
The issue of mobile search is an important one for operators because essentially it relates directly to service exposure and increasing data and content service usage, both on and off-portal. Google will provide Vodafone’s customers with results from on and off-portal content, a sign than Vodafone is now confident in the quality and user experience of exposing off-portal content to its users.
The search will be device-aware, Vodafone confirmed, as it is incorporated into the portal’s own device aware platform. In other words, for example, if you search for a song, it won’t be offered in a non-compatible format .
There was also the news that Huawei will supply Vodafone-branded 3G handsets for Vodafone across 21 countries for at least 5 years.
The handsets will only carry the Vodafone name, the first time the company has offered devices branded in this way for the consumer market.
The agreement also marks Huawei’s first significant entry into the European handset market. Vodafone anticipates offering the first, Huawei-manufactured handset, a 3G model, in September 2006.
Vodafone and Nokia also announced that the operator would be making Series 60 the preferred software platform for devices on the network.
The move to “strengthen the S60 software platform’s role in Vodafone’s device portfolio” would “help Vodafone to offer new services more quickly to its customers by increasing the use of S60 as a standard software platform for mobile handsets worldwide,” a company statement said.
Nokia said the agreement would help it expand the licensee base for its S60 software.
“In addition, Nokia and Vodafone are working jointly to promote independently licensable reference designs from semiconductor vendors to enable shorter time to market for new S60 devices,” the vendor said.
The operator also announced it and Orange would be the first operators to link their IM communities, as part of the GSMA’s initiative