MVNOs shirk smartphones?

[Hands0n]

Smartphones are becoming cheaper, especially with the likes of Android devices leading the way. Brand new SIM-free can be had for just a shade over £250 which is remarkable. Not too long ago this class of handset would be priced no less than £400 at initial availability. Even today, checking on the SIM-free sites the older smartphone still commands prices in the high £300s. And that is for an extremely dated handset by today's standards.

So should we expect the MVNO community to start offering smartphones? I'm talking about the likes of Asda, Tesco, Virgin and others. Surely it cannot be too much longer before one of these MVNO break the mould.

If there is anything that has put me off the MVNO it is that they typically only cater for voice and SMS - perhaps with a little MMS thrown in for good measure. But their data prices are prohibitively expensive, if data is available at all.

Now, with the main operators all producing inclusive data and add-ons it cannot be long before that filters down to the MVNO community who must be struggling in the face of competition from their host network operators. Or do the MVNO just cater for the person who wants simple [traditional] mobile function and cannot be bothered with all of this "computer in your pocket" stuff?

Our UK market is saturated, the pressure on pricing is ever downwards. So will the smartphone ever be seen from an MVNO?

[Ben]

That's a really interesting topic of discussion. It does, indeed, seem to be the primary function of the MVNO to provide cheap, no frills basics. I think Tesco only provide WAP access, so customers can't even use software that requires full Internet connectivity like FishText does... Madness.

I suppose this is largely because of the time and money involved in setting up an MVNO. They all want mass market appeal, and so they're all going in at the low end.

I think it was Three who are to be providing much cheaper, faster MVNO setups. This could result in a spurt of new, more varied MVNOs and, yes, we could finally see some targeting high-end users and providing them with things the big networks don't do so well.

[gorilla]

It can only be a matter of time. If you think about how the landline market has matured from just BT to everyone else, the MVNO market must evolve to cater for new demand. Whether joe bloggs wants data access now is irrelevant - in a couple of years (if not months away) logging on from your mobile will become second nature for most people. That is the way phones are starting to be sold now e.g. update your facebook profile etc.

There will come a time when a tariff is attractive, not for the amount of minutes and texts, but because of it's inclusive data.

If the latest tesco offer of all you can eat for £30 included data, would you move over? (subject to 3g coverage etc) I'd consider it.