Vodafone, one of the world's largest mobile operators, launched its
Vodafone live mobile Internet service in six European
countries.
The service, which operates on Vodafone's GPRS networks, is
entertainment oriented with such features as chat, downloadable
ring tones and games, but also offers access to e-mail and
information services such as financial news, through content
partners, Vodafone said.
Three handsets supporting the service will be Sharp's GX 10,
Nokia's 7650 and the Panasonic GD 87 from Matsushita. All handsets
have colour screens and polyphonic ring tones. Only the Sharp and
the Nokia handsets support download of Java games.
Vodafone live, introduced in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland
and the Netherlands will also launch in Portugal, Sweden and Greece
before the end of the year, with Australia and New Zealand
following in early 2003.
Pricing for the mobile Internet service is per kilobyte of data
transferred, with no subscription cost. For example, in the
Netherlands, a megabyte of data transferred would come to €25
(£16), Vodafone said. Mobile service subscribers, but not prepay
customers, can also buy data bundles, starting at €5 (£3.15) for
250 kilobytes.
Handset pricing depends on what mobile subscription a user buys. In
the Netherlands, Vodafone will sell the Sharp GX 10 for €299 (£188)
when a customer buys 180 minutes of call time per month and a €10
data bundle, Vodafone said.
Vodafone live will rival the services based on I-mode, launched in
Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands earlier this year and coming
to France soon. I-mode was imported from Japan, where it has
attracted millions of users on the network of its inventor, NTT
DoCoMo.