So far, Orange is the only UK carrier to treat its website as anything other than a storefront; on orange.co.uk, you can’t move for news, sport, competitions… that stuff people call “content”. Now Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) wants to follow suit, pledging to overhaul its Vodafone Live mobile portal, which does have such material, in a revamp that also aims to made a real content destination out of the desktop website, which currently serves only to sell phones.
Content director Ian Shepherd (via NMA): “We want the website to be a place that’s meaningful and useful so that customers bookmark it and come back to regularly. The current experience of Vodafone Live will pale into insignificance against what we have planned and we’ll replicate that online. We’re developing the mobile internet fast and online in parallel.” There will also be online tools like media management and contacts (perhaps this is where that Zyb acquisition comes in to play?).
Vodafone is seeking a new online business director, with Karen Thomson leaving due to ill health.