SFR: Mobile data and connected handsets for Christmas

With this series of announcements and products, SFR is trying to create emulation around mobile phone use. This is the occasion to give MID’s their chance as well as other connected devices by associating them with an adapted subscription.

But SFR has other ideas up their sleeve for the coming months. We have already seen the support of Vodaphone to obtain exclusive releases and privileged partnerships. This will be seen in the coming weeks with the launch of the Blackberry Storm, the first tactile smartphone from Research in Motion.

Vodafone also announced at the beginning of October the exclusivity of this product and, logically, SFR will benefit from it allowing them to put it on the market before Christmas. SFR will release more details on the hand set between now and the middle of November, but the announcement was pre-released during this press conference.

The Blackberry Storm is ready to be released by SFR

As for Google Android, Jean-Marc Tasseto, General Director of Marketing at SFR, has already indicated at the end of August that the handset will be available in 2009. While speculation has surrounded the G1 model which is currently available through T-Mobile USA, it appears that the American carrier has exclusivity to this device and that SFR (obviously through Vodafone) will be offering a different mobile phone.

Not much more information is available except that the launch window is planned for the first semester of 2009. We will therefore have to wait a while longer before knowing which maker SFR will choose for the arrival of Android in France.

Finally, just anecdotally, thousands of iPhone, including a lot of 3G models have been activated on the SFR network. With numerous launches of smartphones planned for the end of this year, and the success if the Illimythics subscriptions, the operator should be able to counter the success of the iPhone and their competitor Orange.