Hutchison will open 3G shops next month
October 15, 2002
British mobile operator Hutchison 3G will open three stores next
month, which will be the first in Europe to sell 3G phones. The
stores will be situated in High Street Kensington and Oxford Street
in London and in Birmingham.
The public will be able to trial 3G mobile handsets as well as
place orders for handsets. It is not yet known whether Hutchison
will sell phones on the first day of business because of limited
handsets.
The operator has ordered 100,000 handsets from NEC and Motorola
for UK and Italy, which will be delivered before Christmas 2002.
"Our stores will be as much an opportunity for consumers to learn
about 3G and play with the technology as they will be retail outlets,"
Hutchison said. "3G is so different to what has happened before
so you can't expect consumers to come off the street and buy the
phones without trying them first."
Price of 3G handsets is estimated at around £400 to £500. It is
expected that Hutchison will subsidise the handsets and will mean
cheaper handset prices of around £200 for the consumers.
The first batch of available handsets to be sold is expected to
include built-in cameras such as the Nokia 7650, while video conferencing
functions are expected after Christmas.
Simon Weeden, analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: "Competitors will
watch with interest to see if it is making any commitment on price
or whether it has come up with any hot new applications."
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3G Motorola A920
