msmobiles.com - Cellular News - Pitfalls of operator branding of cell phones

Pitfalls of operator branding of cell phones
May 11, 2004;
Without operator branding there would be no Microsoft smartphones on the market (only lately manufacturer-branded MS Smartphones appeare) but operator branding for regular non-smartphone cell phones may be dangerous to end users...

Consumer organizations in EU warn that operator branding of cell phones brings many pitfalls. What is operator branding? It is putting name of the operator on the cell phone, rather than the name of the handset manufacturer. Apart from putting of the name the characteristic feature is also addition of special 'online' button to the operator branded cell phone - so that with just one button user goes online (to the Internet) and opens the mobile portal of the operator.

Consumer organizations warn that users press this "online" button unintentionally and thus additional costs emerge!

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