The second largest mobile operator Vodafone today launched a Facebook-integrated phone 'Vodafone Blue', which allows its customers to access Facebook free of cost for a year.
The new phone, targeted at the youth and priced Rs 4,950, has a designated 'f' button that lets the customer to upload pictures, visit profiles, update status, and chat on the Facebook. The phone has a 2.4-inch screen, a QWERTY keypad and works on 2.5 G Edge network.
At present, only HTC's ChaCha and Salsa phones boast of a dedicated Facebook button to access the popular social networking site.
"Mobile Internet plays a central role in the daily lives of millions of our customers, many of whom are avid Facebook users. We have a fairly detailed plan to reach to the top 75-80 cities or 85-90 percent of this smart phone business," Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer Kumar Ramanathan told reporters here.
To increase penetration of this new device, Vodafone, which has over 143 million customers, is working on the language settings to cater to the diverse population in the country.
The telco also has an exclusivity pact with Facebook for the device.
"There is an exclusivity arrangement in place. I don't know the width of the exclusivity arrangement," Vodafone Essar Vice President for Brand Communication & Insights Anuradha Aggarwal told PTI.
"This phone has been designed with Facebook. We are co-creating everything," she added and pointed out this association will also help in future if Facebook decides to launch its own phone in this market.
"It will be a win-win situation if they come with their own phone. We believe there is great leverage through usage and association of the phone. Making Vodafone and Facebook synonymous will work for both of us," she said.
It has been reported by global media that Facebook is working to integrate deeply into the contacts list and other core functions of smartphones and that senior Facebook employees, Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos, who have operating system experience, are said to be working on this phone project.
However, Vodafone clarified that it is not a device manufacturer and it has no intention to be one in association with Facebook.
"We have merely teamed up with Facebook to create a hardware product along with TFT-Alcatel which manufactures the phone. The smartphone's operating system is a proprietary one, and its intellectual property rights are owned by Vodafone and TFT-Alcatel," Vodafone Group Services Director for Terminal Marketing Peter Becker-Pennrich said.
He refused to take specific questions if there are any clauses in the Facebook-Vodafone deal that would prevent the operating system from being sold to any other company.
"I cannot answer that question. We do not talk about specifics of our commercial deals," he said.
He also parried a query on the revenue side of the deal.
"Facebook wants to make every phone social and we have taken the integration of Facebook to the next level with the Vodafone Blue," Facebook Mobile Business Head Henri Moissinac said.
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