When rumors were going around that umobile is rebranding and will now be named Red Mobile, I asked around from sources and confirmed the closure of what have the first ad-supported mobile service in Asia.
On April 28, 2008, PLDT disclosed to the SEC that it has bought CURE from Bobby Ongpin for a total amount of Php419.54 million and along with it, the allocation of 10 Mhz in the 2100 Mhz band.
Smart also disclosed it will be investing an additional Php210 Million which it says will operate independently, resulting to the new service called umobile. In essence, Smart got the 3G license and additional bandwidth while umobile will ride on Smart’s network.
According to a source close to someone inside umobile:
- umobile will cease to exist. Operations of umobile have been merged with Smart and several people were let go due to the resulting redundancies.
- Red Mobile will now be the new brand of the mobile service, much like how Addict Mobile was positioned by Smart for the niche crowd.
- The ad-supported model is still in question. It might continue; it might not. But based on the re-branding, my guess is that it won’t go as originally planned. Otherwise, they would have just stuck to the brand and just consolidated operations.
What might have happened? It could be one of many things.
- My source said, Smart was only interested in the 3G license. Maybe that’s why we’ve seen Smart 3G (Smart Bro) go up to 2Mbps recently.
- umobile didn’t get much traction and might have missed their milestone of 10,000 subscribers by year-end.
- There were also problems with interconnectivity with other telcos like Globe and Sun Cellular.
- Companies didn’t bite the ad-supported model. This one is a bit curious since they set-up was really targeted. It’s also possible that a userbase of under 10,000 is too little to run an SMS-based campaign.
Will update this once I get additional info. I never even used my umobile credits. Still, for some, it was good while it lasted.
Disclosure: Smart is an advertiser on this blog.
kung 50cnts/min at per txt..
sa sun nlng aq
unlimited pa..
sana mag offr din cla ng unlimited..
para mas click dba…
mag sun n lang kau guys. it’s better pag unlimited ka. kaya sun ka pa, sun tawag lang yan! hahahahahahaha
ntawagan n aq at idedeliver dw ung sim within this week., pero wla p rin dumadating., meron dw ksamang 200 pesos call card un., in ang sbi
What are the Prefix nos. (09** ) of Red Mobile? La lang just want to know.
how can i get an invite??
i wan to have red mobile sim too.. how can i get one??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3v9fil6A7k vids for RED Mobile
site nya.. http://www.redmobile.com
just viewed the red mobile website.. nothing beats the value sun subscribers get!
i pay 150/month for sun cellular’s text unlimited service. i get 30 days unlimited texts and 240 minutes of calls…
with red mobile all i get is 300 texts or if i split it, i’ll get 150 texts and 150 minutes. problema wala naman akong ka-text o ka-call sa red mobile… plus i need to get a 3G phone pa, eh marami sa kakilala ko wala pang 3G phone..
O no. it cannot be used on 2G phones
Mukhang eto rin ang dating Addict Mobile?
I prefer SUN pa rin. Iba pa rin talaga ang service ng SUN. SULIT KASI!
[...] according to other Tech Blogger in Philippines Red Mobile is the old Umobile in Philippines which is also related to [...]
Ngek .50cents/minute, ganun pa rin eh may bayad bawat tawag. Sa SUNCEL na lang tayo talagang unlimited ang offer no Cheating and Tricks. I loaded only 150pesos for a month with unlimited texts and with free 4 hours of talk time di ba sulit and halos mga kaibigan ko may Sun sim na kaya mas sulit talaga sa Sun.Sa Red Mobile kung konti networks mo wala rin. Kung 0.50cents/minute and call rate nila sa lahat ng Networks lipat tayo sa RedMobile.
hello, umobile informed me about their new sim (REDMBILE) will be delivered at my given address but its been a week na wala pa rin. to you guys, dumating na ba ang Red mobile nyo?
jigs, wala pa ding dumadating nagtanong tanong na rin ako sa mga friends ko kung may nareceived na sila kaya lang wala pa rin daw… kala ko mauuna tayong gumamit nun sa market. eh available na sya sa market wala pa sa atin ang sim
yes, i got the same call, too, about 2 weeks ago., they call me in my Smart number since i don’t use my umobile.. until now No sim had been delivered.. well, it’s not that i’m so into new sims, coz i’ll always have my eternal Smart number, a globe and a sun., its just that umobile got some of our personal info, and it just feels weird, or am i being paranoid..
san ako pwede mag inquire about red mobile, panu ba ito gamitin?
hay, sana continued pa rin un dati nilang service. like un rates. sobrang tipid pa naman dun..
visit my site:
http://silentfrequencies.blogspot.com/
hay, sana continued pa rin un dati nilang service. like un rates. sobrang tipid pa naman dun..
smartload retailer ako and they already updated my smartload menu with red mobile at the bottom of smartload menu.. i just don’t know if my smart load wallet can be used to reload red mobile or i need to load for it in different account.
visit my site:
http://silentfrequencies.blogspot.com/
I got the call from umobile last November 14. They committed that my Red Mobile sim which is preloaded with 200 pesos would arrive in between November 17-22, unfortunately, it did not arrive…
[...] the change from uMobile to Red Mobile? Here are possible reasons. [...]
hmmmm.. talagang matinding marketing strategy ang ginagawa ng smart ngayon ah.. hehe.. pero siguradong tatapatan din yan ng suncellular at globe.. hintayin nalang natin ang kanya kanyang gimik ng smart, globe at suncellular… parang gasolina lang yan.. pababa ng pababa ang presyo..
[...] iCNSQ Tech Blogs | An Information & Communication Technology blog of CNSQ Home | Links | Agents of Value Outsourcing Services | About The Blogger Posted on 26-11-2008 From uMobile to Red Mobile Filed Under (Telecoms, Technology, Events, News) by cesarnoel uMobile has officially ended last November 22, 2008 when CURE rebranded it to RED MOBILE. There are a lot of speculations to the cause of the re-branding. Here are some possible reasons according to Yuga. [...]
[...] Here are possible reasons: [...]
redmobile sucks, i miss umobile, umobile = elite, redmobile = jologs.