By MICHAEL FOREMAN
New Zealander's widespread use of mobile phones and the internet have prompted British-based Vodafone to pick the country as the launch pad for its Vizzavi global mobile information link.
Vizzavi, which goes live today, enables Vodafone users to use their PCs to choose from a range of messaging,
organiser and information services, which are then delivered to their mobile phones as text messages.
The president of Vodafone platform and internet services, Thomas Isaksson, said Vizzavi would be launched in Australia in two months and would eventually be available in all 25 countries that Vodafone operates in.
New Zealand had been chosen as the first country to get Vizzavi partly because of the popularity of Vodafone's initial mobile portal myvodafone.
It had attracted 65,000 users, or 10 per cent of Vodafone's 638,000 customers.
"It's a good take-up at this stage of the game," said Mr Isaksson. "It proves there is great interest in these kinds of services here. We see high mobile take-up and we see high internet use. New Zealand has come very far."
Mr Isaksson said the Vizzavi differed from the initial portal as it offered an extended range of services.
These included Close2u, the country's first location-based mobile information service. This establishes a user's location based on the mobile phone cell their phone is connected to, and lists addresses of nearby ATMs, taxi ranks, carparks, petrol stations, pharmacies, and liquor stores.
Links
Vizzavi
myvodafone
