Comments on: Blyk’s Math Still Doesn’t Add Up

By: hasti

hasti — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:43:46 +0000

i have a question
im curently on vodafone family which means i get to call 3 of my close friends for free at anytime for up to 60min……
seein as blyk would b convering my old number does that mean my current sim card would stop working ? or would i still be able to use both sim cards at the same time with the same numbers????

pleaseeeee help

By: Sammy G

Sammy G — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:51:58 +0000

ive got a blyk sim card and now use it for my normal number, i dont recieve advertisements that regualy maybe 3 or 4 a week but to be honest the novalty has finally worn off and im going to get a new phone soon, and cant be bothered to pay 10 pound for the unlock so going to stay with the 02 network, but i think its a great idea and people shouldnt diss until they have tried it because it helps to benefit me ( a student) as i dont have to top up and think its a great bargain Sammy G x

By: freeformer

freeformer — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 09:22:42 +0000

This article was updated by Carlo here:

http://mobhappy.com/blog1/2007/11/28/an-update-on-blyk/

By: the mobile experience » Blog Archive » links for 2007-11-12

the mobile experience » Blog Archive » links for 2007-11-12 — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:20:41 +0000

[...] MobHappy » Blog Archive » Blyk’s Math Still Doesn’t Add Up [...]

By: Tim Deluca-Smith

Tim Deluca-Smith — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:56:35 +0000

I’m really interested to see if/when the Blyk model succeeds. Outside of the numbers game you talk about, there are a couple of points that still concern me:

1) The majority of target Blyk customers will want bring their own handsets with them (rather spend ~£200 on a SIM free device from the Blyk shop). The majority of these will be locked to the past carrier network. A quick search on Blyk’s support pages states:-

To unlock your phone please contact the operator you purchased it from. There may be a charge for unlocking the phone. If you have any trouble unlocking the phone, contact Ofcom at 0845 714 5000 or http://www.ofcom.org.uk.

Hmm, not good enough. That’s going to be a barrier to adoption and a call to Ofcom is unlikely to provide any help outside of them telling you your rights to demand an unlock from your carrier. A simple online unlock service / partner would have helped and provided some up-front revenue.

2) If you run out of free credit you can top-up your balance. However the tarrif is not overly competitive (15p/min for voicemail / £1 per mb data / 30p/minute to call support), so what’s to stop me using a cheaper PAYG tarrif from another carrier when my free minutes expire?

3) Blyk is only available to 16-24 year olds. I believe you can continue using the service once you reach your 25th birthday but does Blyk have a targeted service / plan for these customers as they get older? It would be a shame to lose years of brand loyalty.

4) You have to be invited to join by a member friend (or meet Blyk at a launch event). I assume this is to manage subscriber numbers but it’s hugely limiting. Other such ‘invite’ schemes usually burn out…there was a time when facebook was invite only!

5) Advertisers will want assurance that their messages are reaching users … but will they be optimized for the device. Blyk will need to be able to identify the target device and optimize content to ensure it is correctly rendered / scaled. Poorly rendered multimedia advertising will deliver a poor user experience and limit conversion / click through rates.