U Watch - a look at the Philippines own 'Blyk'
Ü Watch
Ü is the first ad-funded network in Philippians, and is very similar to the UK MVNO Blyk. Ewan broke the news on SMS Text News last week and since then there has been lot of talk within the blogging community about the new service. This is where Ü Watch comes in, as you know I currently write the Blykwatch Column every two weeks and I will now also write about Ü Mobile as and when more information and news is released. Unlike Blykwatch it will not be regular, I will be posting when more information is made public.
Below are some of the facts about the network;
• Age limit is 15-35
• Invitation only
• Long survey required to be filled in, to join the network
• Mobile VOIP and Messaging with Fring(http://www.fring.com/)
• Ability to change and choose your number for 50 Pesos (£0.58)
• There are no fixed limit about the number of adverts you can receive
• Paid for each advert you receive and reply to
• 3G Network
U Mobile is obviously new, whilst in comparison here in the UK Blyk is much more established. Ewan hinted that they will have looked at what BLYK was doing here, I agree with him however there are some aspects that I believe they have actually (in paper) improved in comparison to BLYK.
The first of these is 3G, BLYK is only 2.5g and although their MVNO partner Orange is 3G they do not use any offer any 3G services at all. Big thumbs up to the people at U Mobile! The second thing is that they give you credit not x amount of texts and minutes, that is something that is great. I hate the restriction on Blyk that they choose what I get for free, I would much prefer the ability to choose what I want, whether that be data, SMS, or calls. On the subject of data not only is it potentially available as part of your allowance but for once a mobile network that is not scared of VOIP services like Fring, ( I know that is an entirely another debate/ discussion) However none the less it is a massive tick in the box. The other cool feature is the ability to change your number and there seem to be no restrictions on how many times you can do this, from my reading this is a new concept that currently none of the other Philippine Networks offer. I again thing this is wicked service; however some issue of safety that concern me (ie if you like to annoy/stalk people you can easily change your number), I am sure they have mechanisms in place to stop that from happening.
The drawbacks I hear you ask well there are a few of them as well, the first one is the age that U Mobile has at its upper band 35. Can I really see a 35 year old using this network to get some credit, in my opinion probably not however if this the case, simply people towards the upper limit will simply not join the network. The only real negative that I could see is that maybe advertisers may not be interested, as it not quite a specific target market like Blyk’s which is 16-24 olds. The second is the long survey that many of their customers have reported of having to fill in, this for me is a massive no. It’s not a good thing to put people off your service before they even join. A much better way (which is what BLYK does) is to profile its customers and learn what they like and dislike once they are a member.
Mike Abundo’s has done some financial comparison’s with BLYK here, basically for the deal to be a similar offering to BLYK customers should receive no more then 4 adverts today, however the model that U Mobile is offering is different to BLYK. On U Mobile you receive a small amount of money for each advert you receive (50 centavos) and they have a monthly cap of 350 Pesos more details here, in comparison BLYK offers a monthly allowance whether or not you respond or not and has a limit of 6 adverts a day. To reach the monthly cap Mike Abundo has calculated that you would need to receive 23 ad’s a day! That is a lot of adverts a day, hmm I am not sure anyone would want to receive that many.
We must look at the Philippine Market which is completely different to that of the UK and although at the top level it seems that U Mobile is not offering as such a good deal as BLYK, I still genuinely believe that there will be people who will see the benefits of advert funded networks and untimely reduce their mobile costs.
Good luck to the U Mobile team, and hopefully look forward to blogging about them in the future!
Ricky
