Oct/Nov 2006

You can now buy a Vodafone-branded 3G mobile phone for the first time. That is, a handset which itself is "made" by Vodafone, as well as being supplied by the company for use on its network. The 710 is a 3G model, and the company says it sees this move as helping to drive the take-up of 3G services.

The phone is in fact being manufactured for the company by Huawei Technologies of China under a strategic handset alliance signed in February 2006. It uses an industry-standard Qualcomm chipset.

Its features have plenty to appeal to both business and consumer customers, and include mobile TV, video telephony and Vodafone live! with 3G, plus MP3 music player, a 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth.

Vodafone says further branded phones will follow.