Vodafone Shop Guys: Don't do Vodafone 360; Wait for the iPhone

Yeah, sorry. I waited a few days before publishing this. I still can’t believe the reality that is Vodafone 360 and how… well… how badly it’s been delivered to market.

I popped into four different Vodafone stores over the weekend — I won’t say which ones — and I innocently enquired as to the Samsung H1.

I wanted to test the sales reaction to a customer enquiring about the H1 and the iPhone. The stores I visited, all in London, will obviously have had Samsung H1s in stock, so I wanted to see how the sales person would react. Would they aim to push the H1 more — since it was in stock and they could theoretically complete the sale immediately? Or would they have another opinion such as the soon-to-launch iPhone?

Here was my opening gambit to each of the Vodafone sales people I encountered:

“I was thinking about getting a Samsung H1 [the official 360 flagship device], or maybe an iPhone?”

Their responses were universal along these lines:

“Definitely not. Wait for the iPhone. In fact, you can pre-order one today?”

Fascinating.

You can find out more about Vodafone 360 right here: http://login.vodafone360.com/en/web/home/index.

I should point out that 360 isn’t dead to me. It’s not entirely rubbish either, especially given the fact that many of the features I’ve got severe problems with can be upgraded over-the-air. I hope the team get a handle on it soon.

Incidentally, a good colleague of mine wanted to point out that Vodafone are the only UK network that will offer you a VAG — a “Vodafone Access Gateway” — to help boost poor signals in your home (or, theoretically, your office). If you phone up citing signal problems (and you’re a contract customer), chances are Vodafone will offer you one of these free of charge. Otherwise they’re five quid a month. More information here.