2009 was a big year for 3′s devices team. As a network offering great value mobile tariffs we’re keen to offer our customers a compelling range of handsets across all price points. One of our best selling handsets of 2009 was the Nokia E71 demonstrating that many customers are looking for a QWERTY keypad to ensure easy texting, emailing and keeping their social networking status up-to-date. Touchscreens also grew in popularity and it was really exciting to launch our first Google Android handset: the HTC Hero, particularly when partnered with an outstanding service like Spotify; the music sensation of 2009.
Data devices continue to be a big growth area for 3. During 2009 we capitalised on our market leading position in mobile broadband by launching our first MiFi device. The reception to the portable Wi-Fi hotspot has been phenomenal, and we’re looking to build on its success in 2010 – watch this space.
2010 is going to be an exciting year for devices, I’ve just returned from Mobile World Congress and there was a lot to see. We’ve already confirmed our plans to range the HTC Desire, and Google’s move into selling hardware is an interesting development – it certainly generated a lot of publicity for the Nexus One. Microsoft’s Windows Phone Series 7 platform also signals that the battleground for the internet experience has gone mobile. Microsoft is investing heavily to persuade consumers that its trusted PC operating system provides the best smartphone experience as well. This increase in competition will spur traditional handset manufacturers to redouble their efforts in order to win back market share through constant innovation. Expect a continuing wave of touchscreens with ever improving user interfaces and innovative form factors.
And then consider the furore over the iPad – we’re excited to see how this will develop as the boundaries between handsets and other portable devices continue to blur. 3G devices will get “smarter” and cheaper, as the market polarises between high end feature rich devices, and their value alternatives.
While we’re on the subject of Apple, we’re asked a lot about our position with regards to the iPhone. We don’t currently have a commercial relationship with Apple but are working to change this during 2010 and add Apple to our portfolio.
We have a great 3G network and we want to offer our customers a range of handsets with a great mobile internet experience to suit all budgets, and to that point, this year we’re likely to see lots of new entrants to the mobile market at all price-points. PC manufacturers like ASUS and Dell could join the fray, and we can expect more from Chinese technology companies like Huawei and ZTE as 3G becomes more widespread in their domestic market.
The priority for my team is to take advantage of these trends; offering smartphones and connected data devices to consumers across a range of price points. We’ll be improving the top end of our range, certainly, but also looking at what we can do from £15 a month upwards – giving customers a smartphone experience to fit their pocket. We’re investing so much in building the best 3G network in the UK, it’s only fitting that we sell devices that really make the most of it.
@MODERATOR. Well, thank you for a good customer service 3 has.
Unfortunately, I did not find it worth for 3 calling me. I did precisely said ‘ Not bad offer. As far as I pay the same price or less on a monthly basis, I I will opt for the ONE PLAN ‘..And I have been offered the One Plan @ £45 a month which is really expensive for a customer who has been almost 3 years with the network and has been spending a LOT outside his allowance.
THANK YOU
@Gareth – hmm, that doesn’t sound quite right. I’ll drop you a note to get a few details and we’ll give you a call.
Moderator, I have cancelled over the phone and was told that it will not be confirmed until I go to a link on the website and submit my PAC code, bafalling really as I have never had to do this with another mobile provider!
@Gareth – If you wish to cancel your contract with us, you’ll need to do this over the phone. Just give us a call on 333 for free from your Three phone.
Please provide the web link so that I can log my PAC code and complete my 3 contract cancellation ASAP.
Thanks
Thanks. I’m looking foward to hear from you. Hope that would not lead to an increase in my monthly tariff.
@unlucky customer – I’ll drop you an email to get a few details and we’ll give you a call.
@ MODERATOR.
Not bad offer. As far as I pay the same price or less on a monthly basis, I I will opt for the ONE PLAN. And I will be happy to get : – 2,000 any network minutes
– 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes
– 5,000 texts
-1GB internet
I HAD THE UPGRADE DONE ON THE 28TH OF JUNE 2010 AND I HAVE RECEIVED A SONY ERICSSON XPERIA 10.
MY PRICE PLAN IS 500 UNITS MIX/MATCH AND INTERNET 500MB @ £35 PER MONTH. LET ME KNOW WHAT SHALL BE DONE.
THANK YOU
@unlucky customer – our plans have changed since 1st July – take a look here for our blog post about The One plan. Can’t tell from your post whether you upgraded a few weeks ago or not, but either way we could look to move you onto The One, or upgrade you to it now if that’s what you’d prefer? Let me know how you’d like things to progress.
I have been a 3 customer since oct 2007 and my price plan was £20 a month including 500 mins and 100 texts. Few weeks ago I have asked for an upgrade and I fancied the xperia 10. First thing 3 told me was that I had to pay more to get this phone. They said £30 a month and that would be available by end of June; Otherwise that would be £45 pound. I waited for that day and I called 3 again. They said that would be £35 and I will have 500mins/text mix and match and UNLIMITED INTERNET ( WHICH IS NOT BUT 500 MB ONLY!!!!!!!!!). IS THIS WHAT 3 IS OFFERING FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS??????????????????????? AND I HAVE BEEN A CUSTOMER FOR ALMOST 3 YEARS. on 02 you have UNLIMITED INTERNET WHICH IS REALLY UNLIMTIED AND UNLIMITED TEXTS AND MINS ARE MUCH MUCH….MORE…
iPhone 4? Or are 3 going to be way behind their competition in adding this to their range as well? You’ve got a couple of weeks to get yourself sorted before my contract runs out and I go elsewhere.
I’m with Josh p. Will you be offering a data plan for ipad?
Do you have any plans to do a data package for the iPad?
I used to be on 3, but switched to O2 because of the iPhone, but O2’s international roaming charges are obscene (I recently paid £400 in data roaming charges for a couple of weeks email abroad). I really miss the much saner packages from 3 that didn’t charge a premium if I was using a 3 network in a different country. If 3 did a similar deal with an iPad data package I’d definitely choose it over the other carriers. Also, I’d switch back to 3 for my phone in a second if they had iPhone support (visual voicemail).
my friend is with 3, she went to upgrade & could’nt get the price she wanted, so tried to cancell her upgrade. they put her through another dept, they did;nt want to lose her custom & offered her on the same price plan an I-PHONE!!!!!! I did’nt believe her but was there the nxt day when the phone came. 16GB. Said it was for loyal customers only i’ve with 3 for 4 yrs and recommend5 people to them & will they offer me? like hell they will.
I had 3 contracts with3… Now only have one remaining……… Want iphone!!!!!!! Have cancelled 2 of my contracts for this reason. Will cancel the third when it reaches the end of the term if iphones not offered. Have been with 3 for years and would like to stay with them but despite different shops telling me that iphone will be available it does not appear that this is happening
can someone tell me if three are going to bother upgrading the firmware for the SE Satio. The R2AK006 firmware was released by SE 2 months ago but still no sign. Any news appreciated.
@Jemma – it’s something we’re aware of and we are working on a fix. Unfortunately one of the downsides of getting a generic Desire early is that not all of our services are primed and quite ready to go yet. It will definitely be fixed for our branded version of the phone, but we hope to have a generic workaround within the next couple of weeks.
hi asked about the apple phone when i was told 3 was going to get them,my local 3 store said they would ring me,they where due in .in march 2o1o.no phone call.asked again,still not in,asked on a reguluar basis by 3 up grades why i still had not taken a new contact.said i wanted the i phone even if was only 8gb.which the shop told me it would be,every other net work was gone to 16gb.now on 32gb.so still no joy.dicided to leave 3 .because i then asked if the could supply me with a sonim landrover phone.no.but a lot of the shops said the same. i like 3 and the net work as improved 10 fold,to what it was .but the phone choice is losing them customers.and as is no free gift offers.i e .free £200 + landrover phone.free 160gb ipod classic and £55 cash back,24mth contract and 900 mintues.any time.£30 a mth. 3 said the did not want to lose me,and offered me for loyal customers.a 16gb i phone,which is the latest but its not.and these where for loyal customers only on a £34 price plan.! or £180 of vochers to spend at currys and a rubbish phone. come on three,get your act together.and please could i have a pac code. mike.
Hey
I have recently upgraded to the HTC Desire and absolutely love it! However, it won’t play songs that I have downloaded from Planet 3. I get a loyalty £5 voucher towards downloads which I generally used on Music and I am disappointed that it seems this will not work with my new phone!!
Any tips on how I can get it to work?!!
Jemma
i was the same as Gary i was due a upgrade so i enquired about the HTC Desire. i did think about the Iphone but i believe the Desire is better. i was told i would have to wait till my contract was up before i could upgrade to that one. so i asked for my PAC code which i also received. before they backed down and agreed to let me upgrade. i got a better deal than i was originally looking for. thank god they refused at first i’ve saved loads over the term of my new contract.
Are you going to gte the iPhone????? I’m desperate to get one as i work for BT i could get one in my next upgrade, if you start selling them make sure to sell them online too ok?
-Erin x
If you want an iPhone – simply buy a pre-pay O2 iPhone. Then pay the £15 unlock fee. Once unlocked change the GPRS/MMS settings in the phone to 3 settings.
I have done this and 3 and iPhone are a match made in heaven!
The 3G works really fast (faster than on O2) – in fact hardly no difference between WiFi and 3G.
Amazing!
Happy Easter all!
My contract is up tomorrow, I’ve been with on contracts with Three for over 4 years now – phoned up to see if they had details of the HTC Desire and what upgrade options I might have as and when it’s released and they didn’t appear to have anything solid to tell me (boooooo).
What’s annoying is the fact that you’ve got to jump through soooo many hoops to get at something remotely close to a decent deal – the operator at the other end was trying to sell me new customer deals, telling me they were ‘incredible offers designed for long term customers’ – farce!
Opted for a short term switch to a SIM only plan until the Desire appears…hopefully they’ll have a decent deal buried there somewhere when it does!
Happy Easter everyone! The blog won’t be manned full time over the Easter Bank Holiday so don’t be alarmed if your comment doesn’t appear immediately. For any urgent customer enquiries please give us a call on one of these numbers
Hi there, I am currently on 3 payg… and am thinking of buying an unlocked HTC legend… any idea whether Skype and the other 3 features will work on it?… cheers!
HTC Desire on 3 will be nice, even better will be if you stock the Xperia X10 on 3 – you tend to do some great text/data plans and those combined with the X10 will be superb!
Hi Pete – sincere apologies, it looks like you’ve been given incorrect information. We’ll absolutely follow this up – this shouldn’t happen. You can find my latest handset update here. Once again, I’m sorry that you weren’t given the right info.
My wife and I are both 3 network customers and I particularly want to go down the Iphone route. I called 3 customer services last Monday to obtain my PAC code when I was told that today (27th March 2010) the Iphone was being officially launched by 3! I see no mention of this on the website and feel somewhat dissappointed that customer services sappear to say anything to discourage their customers from leaving and when the “Promise” does not materialise this then means Another phone call to go through the entire leaving process all over again.
I just want the facts please as up until now I have been pleased with the service from 3!
Hi Lee – we’re not ignoring you! You can find the latest update here. We promise that when there’s more to say, we’ll be saying it on the blog
Thanks for the response.
I was hoping there’d been a change that I’d missed.
Guess I’d better find some more money for when the Desires available.
I also find it frustrating that whenever anyone mentions the iPhone on this blog, questions and comments seem to be ignored!
Hi there Snowy. The HTC Legend is exclusively available on another network so we can’t get our mitts on it I’m afraid
well, as for the iPhone, i think as 3 seem to not be doing anything about getting it in the UK, when demand is definately there, that they will lose a lot of customers to one of the networks supplying this handset – its not as if the iPhone is a new concept even – its been around for a while yet once again, 3 are lagging behind
Hi Everyone – for those of you with questions about new phones (whether we’ll launch them and if so when) you might find the answer in my new post here
Is there any plans to get the Legend as well as the Desire?
I was fancying the Hero when i renew end of April start of May and the Legend seems like the successor to it. I don’t want to get into a 2 year contract on a phone that’s effectively been superceded.
Thanks.
Am I the only one who manages to get a great retention deal with 3??
I’ve been a customer for roughly 4 years, and now have the (old!) VTT 700 plus unlimited internet for £18 p/m on a 12 month deal. My discount on my bill showing at £22 p/m. Not too shabby, admittedly it needed a call requesting my pac code (actually receiving it) and then 3 customer service re-calling me 5 times before I got what I wanted, but hey…. they got there.
Very happy, but agree the lack of handset options could put people off.
I’m running an iphone 3g very well on 3 right now, but a switch to the desire looks likely. x10 mini pro would be a nice option too though!