Your blog: what next?

Hello everyone. Well we're a month or so away from our first birthday (yes, can you believe it was only in November last year we launched!).

Since then we've seen a pretty radical change in lots of the industry, especially around the cost of data access, the opening up of walled gardens and the proliferation of great mobile applications -- not to mention some excellent made for mobile .mobi sites.

Over the past few months we've launched 3next on both PC and mobile, we've appeared on Facebook, we're run a few beta tests and invited some of you to tell us what you think either via email, face to face or in more private focus groups.

So, with all that going on my question to you, dear reader, is what do you think the future of the X-Series blog should be? The balance to date has been to focus on lifestyle stories, new software or gadgets, and less on support or Q&As as we feel this is very much the realm of the 3 business in your country.

But now is the time for a simple question: if you were running this blog, what would you focus on?

Just post a comment on this post with your ideas! I look forward to it.

//de

Comments

[01101001 01100001 01101110]

Whats next?...well i am moving to o2 after being with 3 for years that's whats next. I have had the w950i for about a year now i had loads of problems at the start getting the phone and with customer services and now my phone seems to only work 60% of the time when i am trying to connect to rss feeds or look on the Internet.
The W960 could have made me stay but no one at 3 will tell me if its coming out. My contract ends in November the same time the iphone comes out (I know that phone is not perfect but what the hell)

[DaveB]

Focussing on new software, gadgets and how X-series is changing the way we do stuff is great, but... There does need to be a way to get proper technical questions answered. It has proven impossible to get first line support to answer (technically) simple questions such as "what TCP or UDP ports are blocked on X-series". To date, I have been unable to engage Three in such discussions outside of blogs such as this (and even here, the lack of staff officially dedicated to the purpose means I still have unresolved X-series problems).
So, more of the same kind of blog (perhaps with more input!) but also some route to getting geeky answers too.

[Tom]

I think what a lot of people would like to see is what is coming next! The very best technology websites are the ones where there are "first glimpses" or "exclusives" or even reviews of technology!

What I would like to see is for the xseries blog to try and get Three to show what mobiles they are looking into supporting in the future.Obviously this has a risk in that if the mobile is mentioned and then not supported there may be a customer backlash, but I would argue that it would be better to keep the current and future customer base about what is coming up and why certain phones are not being supported (i.e. software conflicts).

Come on three, we're mature adults, we can take the occasional let-down but we cant take being left in the dark and out on a limb!!

[Stephan]

How about talking a bit about warning your customers that you are blocking their Mobile Email accounts, and that the customer service is trying to sell another add on! Not a nice thing to do! After days of not working, all I get from CS is that oups... I was never meant to have email on the go. Although even the three website says unlimited email! Really frustrated! I loved three - but this experience left me very bitter!

[Alan Robertson]

Hi

I'd be really interested in hearing what's next for X-Series? I've been looking at the new mobile broadband add-ons 3 are offering (£10/mo for 1GB data, £15/mo for 3GB) and wondered how these compared to X-Series? Apart from the data cap do they allow all the same functionality as X-Series but with the added capability of permitting laptop modem use? (which I believe isn't the case on X-Series)

[Jonathan]

The future of X-Series should be opening some ports so we can actually use our phones. IMAP would be a nice start, but I would like to see all ports opened up. Quit crippling my phone.

[Christian]

When will the SE W880i come prepared for Skype as displayed in the latest catalogue. I know that it has been released in Sweden and Denmark and it should use the same software in UK, should it not?

[SKYPE PHONE?]

Anyone know anything about the new Skype phone (codenamed "white phone") set to launch on the 3 network?

[P M Doherty]

a little off topic, but might i (or someone on my behalf) suggest that three, via xseries, come up with handset software that would enable WiFi tethering for the iPod Touch?

This would seriously trump apple's deal with O2 as the touch would effectively become a 3G iPhone (bar actual telecommunication.)

[Lucian]

More the same would be great but definately agree with others about more tech help needed. My Orb has stopped working and trying to get help has been a nightmare.

[Apple iPhone on 3]

I heard that Apple are going to launch the 3g iPhone in the Australian market on 3 - can anyone confirm?

[Tom]

As far as I know the 3G iphone hasnt even been confirmed yet, yet alone a 3g phone being launched in Ausralia on 3! So far its a just speculation but the rumours are that a 3g phone will appear in 2008

[Steve]

I am glad to find a site on the web which I can access which allows me to be updated on 3 and the Xseries as trying to get on any other 3 website and my browser just plays up except for my 3 that is. Intresting that though you feel the need to defer away from technical questions when they are part and parcel of new gadgets, software and Xseries updates.

[Ant]

What next? The same enthusiasm you guys had this time last year! More updates about what's going on (that you can tell us about)

Oh and OT: P M Doherty, that's an excellent idea, I was thinking 3 should do this for Nintendo DS and PSP as well. There's not always a WiFi hotspot around when you need one!

BTW: I needed a low graphics site to test 2G connection with my sister's iPhone. Guess which one I chose? 3next.mobi (first one that came into my mind!)

[de]

Hi all, thanks for the comments and keep them coming. We've been busy thinking about how we can best work in the blog space and have something in mind which we hope to reveal in the next week or so.

Ant, how did 3next.mobi hold up on your 2G connection??? :-)

Cheers
de

[Ant]

It worked great, loaded immediately but was very small. A quick two-fingered salute zoomed it in nicely! ;o)

The irony being that none of those apps would obviously work and you wouldn't want them working on 2G and on rival networks tiny but expensive data plans!

iPhone: Nice screen, nice touch, shame about everything else!

[Steve]

Will someone please tell me what the attraction is with the iPhone the Nokia E90 is the better choice

[Ant]

I'm with you Steve, it was my sister that went and got herself an iPhone. The thing is my sister's great and everything but she is a bit of a fashionista (she's a buyer for a clothes chain) and to her a phone has to look the part and be well, fashionable. She uses a Blackberry aa well but not through choice. Trying to convince her to get a more suitable phone such as an N95 or an E90 or switch to a more generous network was next to impossible. Judging by our trials and tribulations last week (using the phone and talking to the folk in the O2 and Vodafone stores) I think she's on the verge of coming over to our way of thinking!

[Steve]

But with phone handsets its all about fashion nowadays isn't it. The iPhone looks great but does exactly the same as an N95 and the E90 does even more, the only thing at the moment which makes the iPhone attractive is that it is a new gadget on the block it was the same with the N95 for a while the only thing to let the iPhone down is its only available through O2. But hey we all like new gadgets though don't we.

[Micheal]

Hi

I would like to see some of the new technology such as mobile phones, usb modem,gedgets etc because it helps company as it can attract certain customers without even using promoting technique, it also helps customer to predecide the model and benefits.

I would also like to see new promotions, the one where 5 friends can communicate with each other with very low monthly payment. Shame 3 doesn't have this promotion, other compaines are promoting this price plan becuase they think its affordable so will attract more customer.

The main important feature I would like to see is more support towards mobile repair solutions, people do like to solve small problems themselves, so give them more guidence.

[woodsie]

I would like to see 3 invest in a proper customer care department. I'm currently with 3-Ireland and I've had nothing but trouble with 3's customer care when you ring 333. I'm going to move back to O2 when my contract ends simply because 3's customer service is so bad. When I was with O2 if you had a problem you could ring their customer care and have your problem sorted immediately, however with 3 it takes weeks sometimes. I know a number of people who have moved from 3 simply because of this reason. 3 don't seem to care about their customers once they have them signed up to a contract.
I also have a 3 datamodem and although it only costs €19.99 a month for a 10gb allowance there has been nothing but problems with the datamodem since it was released in Ireland so how about getting their network infrastructure up to speed and getting the problems sorted out.
3 should also have a wider range of phones in Ireland because at the minute it has does not have a good selection.
I do think 3 have some very good price plans and services however they dont seem to have properly tested their services before they roll them out so I would suggest better planning before rolling out new products and services.