imho..
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frengle, Nik, VF-JP" <nik.frengle@vodafone.com>
To: <keitai-l@appelsiini.net>
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 3:29 PM
Subject: (keitai-l) New Topic: Response to VF Bashing (was RE: Re: VFX (was
Re: Vappli))
>>What should (eventually) be attractive to our customers is that with
globalVodafone purchasing muscle, the range and variety of 3G handsets can
compete with DoCoMo's both onprice and variety/quality. The costs are not
low, and in typical Japanese fashion, au has piled on a number of additional
functions for their handset makers, meaning that, yes, they have very
full-featured handsets, but the cost of subsidising those handsets is quite
high. Ditto, DoCoMo, because all of their FOMA handsets are produced
specifically for them, and the cost is likely significantly higher than what
we pay.
** Economies of scale when ordering handsets in bulk makes sense, but I'm
not sure how this logic applies.?!? It seems pretty clear that AU's strategy
has been working quite well, those new customer aquistion costs must get
paid back fairly soon into a 2 year contract..??!
>>Subsidising handsets at the current levels will no longer be possible;
growth in revenues will require better supply chain managment and
purchasing; boutique phones, which almost all PDC models essentially are,
catered to a very limited production run for a very specific market, will no
longer be feasible, except as a base from which to develop global products.
** Perhaps.. but certain 'boutique phones' like maybe the infobar or premini
series turn out to be very popular, in the end it would like to think that
the customers will be the ones who (help) make such choices.
>>There is a definite cultural gap: As a NYSE-listed company, a lot of
importance is placed on how profitable we are, whereas in Japan and the
media the focus is overwhelmingly on market share. Neither are absolutely
correct views, since they are closely related to one another: Without market
share, no matter how lean we are, our profits will be below expecations;
without profits, we are not providing proper value to our shareholders.
** You summed it up in the first & last lines.. it reminds me of a quote
from DoCoMo's retired CEO Tachikawa "Our customers are our
shareholders"..!!! If Vodafone achieves this 'economies of scale' in the
production of handsets but then funnels that cash back into stock
dividends.. it should come as no surprise that customers will churn out to
the competition for a better phone or one of equal value for a better price.
Received on Fri Feb 18 02:41:35 2005