Newbury vs Maidenhead, YOU DECIDE

By on September 10, 2007 in Operators

Exibit One:
Newbury Station platform sign – Headquarters of Vodafone

vodafone

Exibit Two:
Maidenhead Station platform sign – Headquarters of 3UK

not the home of 3UK

What’s missing?

Well, Vodafone seem to own the whole of Newbury Station — to the point that when you arrive at the station, you can’t help but register that it is the home of Vodafone. It is a little proprietary, but I do — secretly — like the brashness of the statement.

Which is why I was mildly disappointed to arrive at Maidenhead this morning to find no ‘home of 3UK’ signs at the station. You can even see the 3UK office from the station platform! Maybe they don’t need it. Maybe that’s a good thing. Vodafone’s HQ is miles from the Newbury station — so much so, you have to get in one of their courtesy buses. There is, perhaps, nothing so soul destroying than a courtesy bus.

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Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • Anthony

    is there going to be one at Euston for SMStextnews?

  • John

    That’s because 3′s home is actually in Hong Kong.

  • Ewan

    Aye but surely Maidenhead gets a look-in, John?

  • njar

    I’m just going to be out and out anti Vodafone, until they:

    a) Fix online itemisation for billing.

    b) Fix the mobile internet.

    Both are not looking like they’re going to get sorted, and such I’m a free very high ARPU user agent very shortly.

  • Ewan

    What network is likely to shortly benefit from your custom then, Njar?

  • njar

    Interesting question..

    Not Three
    Not T-Mobile
    Not an MVNO

    Possibly O2 – this will upset you I know but their 2g voice coverage is good. (3G rubbish though)
    Possibly Orange – Given I’m such a fan of branding, I’m truly disappointed by Orange. I think they’ve let themselves down over the past 5 years.

    Interestingly there was quite a good interview With Arun in the Sunday Times business section. He gave a decent account of himself. He was discussing the battle for pre pay users and the battle with O2 (amongst other things). I’ve written and often discussed the reasons for O2′s ascent to the very top of the pre pay pile, and I do believe that now is the right time for Vodafone to start catching up; O2′s branding is now several years old, and their offerings are all but replicated by the other carriers.

    I’m still wondering in my own head about ‘dumb pipe/intelligent pipe’ and it’s interesting to watch Arun’s different approach to this than Gent’s. I wouldn’t credit Arun with a new found innovative approach, it’s more about the time and the place. He ain’t silly enough to sell their stake in Verizon Wireless though.

    You should find/read the article… not least of all because i’ve gone off on a total tangent because of it.

    In short.. O2/Orange or Vodafone. Apathy will probably out.

    N

  • Ewan

    Stay with Vodafone Njar; you’ll be spitting blood when you get nailed by el Chumpo (o2)’s data rates…?

  • http://www.ukmobilereport.com Ken

    I know what you mean but are we going to end up with ‘Home of…’ wherever we go. We already have sponsored roundabouts in places like Milton Keynes. Even the floor is sponsored at Victoria station, and the back of tickets, and the ticket machines….and…hey how about sponsored ringtones? Let’s turn teenagers into walking audiobilboards. They could get paid extra if they agree to take a call every hour or so.

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