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Profile: O2’s Peter Rampling on life after iPhone exclusivity
16 Nov 2009 | 16.40 Europe/London
Free home broadband and three months Sky Mobile TV are the baits O2 is to use this Christmas to defend against having to share the iPhone with Orange (and then Vodafone early next year).
The much-loved mobile handheld device has been exclusive to O2 for two years but now the mobile operator finds itself fighting two battles; reducing churn among its existing subscribers (who number more than one million) and encouraging new signs-up to pick it ahead of the new rival.
Peter Rampling, Head of Consumer Mobile at O2 claims that the operator has been ready for this inevitable point in the iPhone’s evolution. After enjoying a head start on rivals the network is now ready to to closely guard its early iPhone adopters, as well as attract newcomers. Prime among these moves is an offer of three months free Sky TV on the iPhone which Rampling believes will help its offering stand out against Orange’s.
“The best thing we can do to fight churn is to offer a good service,” he says.
“From what we can see Orange has come out with a very similar looking set of tariffs to what we already have and so, just as an exclusive little extra, we’re offering three months free Sky Mobile TV for the first 150,000 new or existing O2 iPhone customers. We’re also assuring people that we will text them when their three month trial is up so they can decide whether to continue with the service or cancel it.”
Free home broadband
Although this will appeal across the board, perhaps the more attractive offer for busy executives on the move is free home broadband for anybody signing up to the iPhone 3GB ‘Tethering’ option. This costs £9.79 extra per month and allows the iPhone to act as a modem or broadband dongle for a laptop. It means a customer need not have a separate data package for a laptop but can instead connect to the web via the handheld device.
“It’s something which really clever early adopters may have figured out how to do but now we’re making it really simple to use the iPhone as a dongle or modem,” Rampling says.
“We’re all about connecting people to the things which matter to them and so we see this as a natural extension of the iPhone, to get laptops connected. Again, as an extension of that we can make sure somebody has free home connectivity too.
“The home broadband market is nearing maturity and the housing market has been slow and so we have to accept it’s harder than before to get new people signing up. The run up to Christmas is normally quite slow for new home broadband but when January comes and people tend to look at bills and see if they can save elsewhere, we’ll have this offer as an extra incentive to come to O2 or stay with us.”
Palm Pre exclusive
Rampling claims to not be concerned about having to take such defensive measures to protect iPhone customers as he believes that just as all good things come to a contractual end, there are also new opportunities – notably O2’s exclusive on the Palm Pre.
“We’re going to get an advantage by being first with it, just like with iPhone,” he says.
“I’ve switched from an iPhone to a Palm Pre because I like the pull-out QWERTY keyboard and it’s really nice to have a removable battery so you can have a spare handy.”
He will not reveal how long the network’s exclusive on the Pre is for, but points out that it will mean the other networks will be playing ‘catch up’ when they are able to sell it and hence O2 will again be able to come up with offers to keep its existing Pre users loyal.
In the meantime, Rampling reveals customers can expect to see more activity from O2 to hold on to its iPhone base of, in his words, ‘somewhat north of a million customers’.
With Vodafone joining Orange in the New Year, selling the iPhone, Rampling reveals O2 is going to be ready to respond to promotions from its rivals, making the run up to Christmas and the New Year a very good time for a deal for those considering upgrading to an iPhone which, for the first time, will come with a choice of carrier.
The much-loved mobile handheld device has been exclusive to O2 for two years but now the mobile operator finds itself fighting two battles; reducing churn among its existing subscribers (who number more than one million) and encouraging new signs-up to pick it ahead of the new rival.
Peter Rampling, Head of Consumer Mobile at O2 claims that the operator has been ready for this inevitable point in the iPhone’s evolution. After enjoying a head start on rivals the network is now ready to to closely guard its early iPhone adopters, as well as attract newcomers. Prime among these moves is an offer of three months free Sky TV on the iPhone which Rampling believes will help its offering stand out against Orange’s.
“The best thing we can do to fight churn is to offer a good service,” he says.
“From what we can see Orange has come out with a very similar looking set of tariffs to what we already have and so, just as an exclusive little extra, we’re offering three months free Sky Mobile TV for the first 150,000 new or existing O2 iPhone customers. We’re also assuring people that we will text them when their three month trial is up so they can decide whether to continue with the service or cancel it.”
Free home broadband
Although this will appeal across the board, perhaps the more attractive offer for busy executives on the move is free home broadband for anybody signing up to the iPhone 3GB ‘Tethering’ option. This costs £9.79 extra per month and allows the iPhone to act as a modem or broadband dongle for a laptop. It means a customer need not have a separate data package for a laptop but can instead connect to the web via the handheld device.
“It’s something which really clever early adopters may have figured out how to do but now we’re making it really simple to use the iPhone as a dongle or modem,” Rampling says.
“We’re all about connecting people to the things which matter to them and so we see this as a natural extension of the iPhone, to get laptops connected. Again, as an extension of that we can make sure somebody has free home connectivity too.
“The home broadband market is nearing maturity and the housing market has been slow and so we have to accept it’s harder than before to get new people signing up. The run up to Christmas is normally quite slow for new home broadband but when January comes and people tend to look at bills and see if they can save elsewhere, we’ll have this offer as an extra incentive to come to O2 or stay with us.”
Palm Pre exclusive
Rampling claims to not be concerned about having to take such defensive measures to protect iPhone customers as he believes that just as all good things come to a contractual end, there are also new opportunities – notably O2’s exclusive on the Palm Pre.
“We’re going to get an advantage by being first with it, just like with iPhone,” he says.
“I’ve switched from an iPhone to a Palm Pre because I like the pull-out QWERTY keyboard and it’s really nice to have a removable battery so you can have a spare handy.”
He will not reveal how long the network’s exclusive on the Pre is for, but points out that it will mean the other networks will be playing ‘catch up’ when they are able to sell it and hence O2 will again be able to come up with offers to keep its existing Pre users loyal.
In the meantime, Rampling reveals customers can expect to see more activity from O2 to hold on to its iPhone base of, in his words, ‘somewhat north of a million customers’.
With Vodafone joining Orange in the New Year, selling the iPhone, Rampling reveals O2 is going to be ready to respond to promotions from its rivals, making the run up to Christmas and the New Year a very good time for a deal for those considering upgrading to an iPhone which, for the first time, will come with a choice of carrier.