If you have a contract mobile phone with one of the UK's major network operators, then the chances are you are fairly frequently assailed with offers of extra goodies they want to give you, for free, on top of your current tariff. Orange have "Swappables", T-Mobile have "Boosters" and O2 are currently touting their ludicrous "Insane Bolt Ons."
These additional services that are being provided free of charge are part of an attempt to add value to existing services. Orange in particular have been doing this for some time with their Film To Go service and the incredibly popular Orange Wednesdays.
The move towards rich content add-ons with things like music and video streaming services is an attempt to attract customers towards the more expensive data tariffs that are required to make the most of these services. The UK market has reached a significant level of maturity that there is little room for revenue growth from selling more phones. The UK's population of 70 already buys 30m phones a year meaning the UK market is at nigh-on saturation point. Thus, growth must come from elsewhere. The aim is to attract mid-range tariff users onto higher level plans with more scope for profitability for the networks.
There is also increased risk in a more mature market of people switching networks in order to find better deals as that is often the only difference between networks for many people. Add-ons ensure people stay with their existent network. Often because the services provided are exclusive. If Orange can encourage you to tie in a Deezer account or a Sky Sports subscription to your phone package it makes leaving the network a significantly less attractive proposition.
O2's Bolt Ons aim to attract new customers by more widespread social integration, rather than by providing high value added services. The "Insane Bolt Ons" they have recently been promoting through social media have been an attempt to raise brand awareness and distinguish themselves from the other more sober networks by appealing to a younger customer base than the other networks.
The networks have pursued different routes towards this but each, with their own unique methods, has been trying to poach consumers from their rivals and ensure that they land on their networks with high data tariffs. This is key to the development of the industry and it explains why the operators have been fighting so intensely over the 4G spectrum auction. Data is the future for the UK. I hope you're on a good enough data tariff to take advantage of it!
I write about tech, gadgets and the smartphone industry. I also do SEO for Store O2.
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