Vodafone Revamps Mobile Internet Portal

­Vodafone has announced the long-rumoured revamping of its Vodafone Live! mobile internet portal, to include a range of social networking tools under the banner of "Vodafone 360". At its heart Vodafone 360 has an address book that brings together all of the contacts from the mobile phone, social networks and other internet accounts. It works across a range of mobile phones, including the new, exclusive Vodafone 360 phones, and synchs automatically with the PC.

The service is automatically backed up and synchronised, regularly and wirelessly, between the mobile and PC or Mac. All contacts updates, emails, photos and conversation history or settings changes made either at home or when on the move are saved, keeping all the content up-to-date.

The company also announced two tailor-made Vodafone 360 mobile handsets, manufactured by Samsung, which include a unique 3D contacts display, driven by Vodafone's 'proximity algorithm', bringing the most frequently contacted people closer to the front.

The Vodafone 360 mobiles have been designed and developed by Vodafone using the Linux based LiMo operating system.

"Vodafone 360 is the first service of its kind to offer customers the benefits of a truly integrated mobile internet experience that gathers all their contacts and content, all around them, in one place," said Pieter Knook, Director of Internet Services at Vodafone Group.

At launch four Nokia Symbian smartphones will come pre-loaded with Vodafone 360 and part or all of the service will be downloadable to over one hundred popular phones. In the coming months Vodafone will be making the service available through as wide a selection of handsets and operating systems from multiple manufacturers as possible.

The 2009 launch in Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the UK will be followed by launches in a number of other countries in 2010, including India, Turkey, South Africa, New Zealand and Romania and in France through SFR. through MTS in Russia, and through Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

Posted to the site on 24th September 2009