Skinny Launch - Is it the worst ever launch of a mobile company in NZ?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny Launch - Is it the worst ever launch of a mobile company in NZ?

tritex

189 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#95581 8-Jan-2012 19:41

Heres my reasoning:

Unlimited minutes Skinny to Skinny become 1000 min although fair use policy doesn't particularly state a maximum.

People on the Skinny Facebook page receive conflicting reports of how many combos you can purchase a week and how they work - also the website doesn't particularly give you that information. Also the same with regards to other add ons.

The websites useless.

No MMS operating.

They've missed the point that Kiwis want more Data and alot of Texts primarily (i think)

They cut the opening hours in the first day of their call centre to a lousy 9 - 5.30

Everything seems to be in testing stage.

Most stores don't yet have Skinny Handsets & Sim Cards in stock.

If they sort that all out they might be halfway there.

1 | 2 | 3

94 posts

Master Geek

#566219 8-Jan-2012 19:51

I just looked at its Facebook page and by the looks of things it's not "Skinny" on the confusion.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#566221 8-Jan-2012 19:59

tritex: They've missed the point that Kiwis want more Data and alot of Texts primarily (i think)

As you said "i think", meaning this is what YOU want... Perhaps they did some research and found out that current operators already offer data packages that meet a certain customer segmant demand, so they decided to pick their battle and go for a segment that actually wants cheap voice and SMS, not data.

wanghou168

453 posts

Ultimate Geek

#566223 8-Jan-2012 20:02

I believe the website is still in a beta stage?
And there will be another website??
They have not fully launched too, this is just a soft launch.

MOBILE: Huawei P30
OTHER: Thinkpad E14 + Asus Vivobook + Intel NUC5i3 + A family of Raspberry Pi x 9 + Amazon Echo

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#566231 8-Jan-2012 20:18

It's correct. The company have not "launched" yet.

Cloudmelon

186 posts

Master Geek

#566247 8-Jan-2012 20:55

tritex: Heres my reasoning:

Most stores don't yet have Skinny Handsets & Sim Cards in stock.

http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/offer/skinnymobile

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#566266 8-Jan-2012 21:32

Cloudmelon:
tritex: Heres my reasoning:

Most stores don't yet have Skinny Handsets & Sim Cards in stock.

http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/offer/skinnymobile

Thats an online store, not exactly a physical store.

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#566275 8-Jan-2012 21:48

And the phones are locked "to?get a discount on a good quality mobile". They may be "good quality" but they are very minimally cheaper (without an unlock, http://www.electronicmegastore.com/huawei-u8650-sonic-black/)?164.45 USD in NZD is $210 vs. $199 from Skinny (+$30 for unlocking) = $229 = $10 more on Skinny (of course I didn't factor in shipping, gst, etc.).

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#566277 8-Jan-2012 21:51

codyc1515: And the phones are locked "to?get a discount on a good quality mobile". They may be "good quality" but they are very minimally cheaper (without an unlock, http://www.electronicmegastore.com/huawei-u8650-sonic-black/)?164.45 USD in NZD is $210 vs. $199 from Skinny (+$30 for unlocking) = $229 = $10 more on Skinny (of course I didn't factor in shipping, gst, etc.).

This is a simplistic view. You are not adding shipping, currency conversion there. Also local retailer need to add GST, which you won't pay when importing a single handset.

Apples with apples, otherwise is just noise.

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#566284 8-Jan-2012 22:08

freitasm:
codyc1515: And the phones are locked "to?get a discount on a good quality mobile". They may be "good quality" but they are very minimally cheaper (without an unlock, http://www.electronicmegastore.com/huawei-u8650-sonic-black/)?164.45 USD in NZD is $210 vs. $199 from Skinny (+$30 for unlocking) = $229 = $10 more on Skinny (of course I didn't factor in shipping, gst, etc.).

This is a simplistic view. You are not adding shipping, currency conversion there. Also local retailer need to add GST, which you won't pay when importing a single handset.

Apples with apples, otherwise is just noise.

I did mention that at the end but still they would get some kind of bulk discount vs. me buying retail. My point is that the phones are not incredibly cheaper, though, with a $30 unlock fee they can't really afford for them to be that much cheaper.

nickb800

2715 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#566289 8-Jan-2012 22:22

The need for data is a red herring, Skinny seems to be an attempt by Telecom to wean the stubborn last few (million?) customers off CDMA, the ones that only txt or call, and thus havent been enticed by the faster data speeds of XT.

And I believe the key phrase here is 'soft launch'

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#566290 8-Jan-2012 22:24

Let me quote straight from the first paragraph of the homepage: "We're in beta".

LivingSkinny

513 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Skinny

#566301 8-Jan-2012 23:05

tritex: Heres my reasoning:

Unlimited minutes Skinny to Skinny become 1000 min although fair use policy doesn't particularly state a maximum.

People on the Skinny Facebook page receive conflicting reports of how many combos you can purchase a week and how they work - also the website doesn't particularly give you that information. Also the same with regards to other add ons.

The websites useless.

No MMS operating.

They've missed the point that Kiwis want more Data and alot of Texts primarily (i think)

They cut the opening hours in the first day of their call centre to a lousy 9 - 5.30

Everything seems to be in testing stage.

Most stores don't yet have Skinny Handsets & Sim Cards in stock.

If they sort that all out they might be halfway there.

Hi

Can you tell me where you get the 1000 mins from please? To deliver this promotion we have loaded customers that purchase a Combo plan with 10,000 free skinny to skinny minutes. You can check this on the Skinny Mobile Menu by calling *888*2*1# and checking your Free NZ Skinny Mins.

Based on feedback on Facebook we have today been re-writing content to explain how the combo plans work. It will go up on the website tomorrow.

We are in Beta and have soft launched with a core service. We are still finalising build on our website, MMS and Data Roaming but considered these very carefully and decided not to hold the soft launch up for them.

We spent a lot of time talking to our target market and think we have developed plans that appeal, and to date have had a lot of very positive feedback. However we will of course be listening to what people want. Because of feedback here on Geekzone we are already reviewing our data offering.

The website had the wrong customer support hours on it so we corrected them as soon as we found out. We are a small team and not perfect (unfortunately) which is a good reason to have the Beta launch. We're finding that the community of early adopters are very happy to help us to identify the issues and that is just great - keep them coming and we will work to fix them.

Not everything is in testing stage. We have spent a lot of time making sure the core service is robust and now we are working on the final areas I highlighted above.

It takes a while to merchandise stores. We did over 50 Warehouse Stationary stores this week and next week we start on Dick Smiths. Both of those stores have their online sites up though so there is an opportunity to purchase from around the country. To compensate we have also been sending out free SIMS to anyone who calls in just as fast as our envelope lickers can pack them.

I hope we can fill in all the gaps for you soon.

Cheers

Paul

AndrewTD

292 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#566306 8-Jan-2012 23:16

Nice answer LivingSkinny/Paul.

kind regards Andrew TD

codyc1515

1598 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#566307 8-Jan-2012 23:17

AndrewTD: Nice answer LivingSkinny/Paul.

Yes, I agree thanks LivingSkinny/Paul. The communication on here has been very good, haven't looked on Facebook, etc., to be honest.

JarrodM

969 posts

Ultimate Geek

#566309 8-Jan-2012 23:25

LivingSkinny/Paul you may want to inform the Warehouse Stationery people that nowhere in the product descriptions on the website does it say the phones are locked like it does on the Dick Smith site.

1 | 2 | 3