This being Canada, there’s not a ton of things that make Koodo different from its youth brand competitors Rogers/Fido and Bell/Virgin Mobile/Solo. Anyway, kudos to Telus for picking itself off up the mat after the $7.5-million it injected into Amp’d Mobile as part of a larger partnership. Koodo looks like it’ll be a winner.

Koodo is a far smarter way to appeal to Canadian youths though it does seem like it was launched belatedly. How long have Solo, Virgin Mobile and Fido been in Canada?

Anyway, there are some notable points that are noteworthy.

3 things I kinda like about Koodo.

1) Long distance prices. Telus, er, Koodo, has pushed the envelope in so far as a Canadian carrier pushes the envelope on prices with its wireless rates – Koodo offers a $20 unlimited Canadian wireless long distance plan. Considering the fact a call from Toronto to Burlington, Ont., a suburb, is considered LD by the carriers, that’s a decent plan.

2) Koodo’s Web site. It’s simple and easy to use; a nice change from the mazes its parent Telus and the other national wireless carriers have constructed for users that want to find information.

3) Branding. It’s not my style but I can see why the TV ads might appeal to youth.

3 Things I Don’t Really Like About Koodo

1) The ads; they are borderline deceitful. Unless you’re going to offer serious overall discounts to competitors, please don’t pretend like my bills are going to be significantly better.

2) The handsets. They are in a word awful. Koodo by my count offers exactly three handsets; Motorola’s w385 and the MotoKRZR as well as Samsung’s U410, not exactly selling points for the iPhone generation. Barf in fact. To be fair the handset selection from Solo and Virgin Mobile isn’t much better.

3) Lastly, the name kinda annoys me. I’m probably not in the target demographic of Koodo/Telus but it really does seem kinda silly. I’m sure the company has done extensive market research to test the veracity of its new youth brand which will bear the worthiness of the name out over time.

Overall, Koodo seems like a ‘me-too’ service, that will nonetheless help Telus bring some youth into the fold. If Telus wants to make some wireless noise, it needs to better differentiate the Koodo offering from Fido, Solo and Virgin Mobile.

[tags] Telus, Koodo, cell phone service [/tags]

Telus, you’ll recall, launched the Amp’d Mobile brand in Canada around this time last year with much fanfare. Some three months later, Amp’d’s parent company in the United States flamed out leaving egg on the face of Telus in Canada.

Now Telus has reportedly launched a few Koodo Mobile stores in the Toronto area (including one in the Eaton Centre) as part of its new conservative second-brand approach to wireless. No high-profile launch, not even a comment from the company, understandably so given its Amp’d experience last year.

The Koodo service is being launched as pre-paid wireless service growth is expected to soar in Canada. Roughly 62% of Canadians use a cell phone, mostly on a contract basis. Many Canadians with less disposable income still don’t have a cell phone, leaving plenty of room for growth of pre-paid service providers.

While it can be argued Telus needs a second brand to capitalize on the expected pre-paid wireless growth, there is no guarantee Koodo will succeed. The odds of survival for any new MVNO, or quasi-MVNO, are slim. The Koodo mobile service looks a lot like the Fido service from Rogers as well as Bell’s Virgin Mobile and Solo, far more established brands in Canada.

Canadians will appreciate the fact Koodo doesn’t charge a system access fee (much like Virgin Mobile.) The prices, however aren’t any better at first glance than those charged by Virgin Mobile, Solo or Fido.

Koodo/Telus has even taken a page out of Virgin Mobile’s cleverly-designed advertising book with its “Get Lean” advertising campaign that promises users it will help them fight “bill bulge.”

These factors point to Koodo Mobile being a ‘me-too’ service, not exactly a way to help Telus take leapfrog Rogers or Bell in the national wireless services market.

Regardless, the backing of Telus means Koodo will probably be around for awhile and help the parent company drive results moving forward. spiele bankpoker spiel runterladenpoker game,that was a crazy game of poker,party poker gameall in holdem pokertexas holdem trickspoker regeln split pottexas holdem gratis spielenparty poker onlinepoker spielanleitungpoker on nettexas holdem multiplayertexas holdem sharewaretexas holdem rangfolgepoker java gameonline poker kostenlos ohne anmeldungfree texas holdemtexas holdem gratis onlinegratis poker macpoker texas holdem all inpaty poker net5card draw pokerpoker superstars 2 spielendraw poker rulespoker texas holdem strategiepoker spielen mit geldtexas holdem handtexas holdem reihenfolgepoker net comonline poker netpoker regeln splitpoker live spielenpoker online macpoker 5 drawper giocare a pokeritalian poker tourpoker sexi gratisgioca pokergioca a poker on linestrip poker da scaricare gratisonline gamesgioco di pokerstrip poker livegioco strep pokerscommesse internetpoker gametexas holdem online gratis,texas holdem online,texas holdem poker onlinepoker online italiastreap poker gratispoker giochi scaricaregame poker