Orange launches Talk Now™
service
Orange first to launch international push to talk
service
14 January 2004
Orange today launched a unique international service,
offering instant voice communication and easy-to-access group
calling and messaging with the added benefit of a real-time availability
icon, so you can see who is available and who’s not. The
service is initially being trialled by business customers.
Talk Now™– similar to the US Push-To-Talk
service but with a more advanced feature-set and richer functionality
- will give Orange customers a new way of communicating alongside
their existing voice and messaging services. Talk Now™ will
be launched in 10 countries this year, starting with the UK and
France in Q2 2004.
Building on the Orange Experience, which promises
to be simple, compelling and personal, Talk Now™ creates
an immediate connection between two or more mobile phones so minimal
time is spent searching for or dialling individual telephone numbers.
You can see who is available to speak or receive single or group
messages instantly. Talk Now™ will also allow Orange customers
to:
- create buddy lists that can be used to facilitate instant
conference calling
- know when contacts are available to talk and when they are
busy
- speak to or message a contact who has selected themselves
as available
- record a conference call and send it to others if they are
not available
- send a voice message to other Talk Now™ users at the
touch of a button
Talk Now™ will be available internationally allowing customers
easy, instant access to colleagues, friends and family in a different
country who use the service. Orange expects to attract one million
users to the new service in the 12 months following rollout.
Speaking at the launch in London this morning, Sol Trujillo,
CEO, Orange Group, said: “As we are the first to launch
in the world we are offering something no other company can offer.
Talk Now provides the business community with an immediate and
reliable way to better manage teams of people within an organisation.
It addresses a real need amongst businesses to disseminate or
communicate time critical information quickly and efficiently.
The service also provides consumers with an ideal way to keep
in touch with friends and family by making it easy to instantly
communicate with each other as a group at the touch of a button.”
The launch follows Orange research into customer needs, and successful
customer trials by companies including IBM and the RAC. The RAC
is already actively exploring the value of instant messaging and
is looking to see if this can be extended into the wireless arena.
The RAC is investigating the Orange Talk Now™ service as
a possible wireless Instant Messaging solution.
The service is scalable and will benefit from added functionality
throughout the year. Talk Now™ will initially be available
on the Orange Treo 600 – an Orange Signature phone - with
further handsets announced later in Q2, including rugged devices
for field-workers and consumer-style handsets.
With the added functionality that it offers, Talk Now™
will be offered as a premium service. Full pricing details will
be available nearer commercial availability, with pricing bundles
geared toward specific customer markets.
Trujillo added: “Talk Now offers a level of functionality
and a feature-set that is relevant to every single one of our
47 million customers – instant access to each and every
one of their family, friends and colleagues.”
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