AppSelect, Discover and Protect pitched at the 78 per cent of its customers who have yet to upgrade to a smartphone.
Vodafone says it has learned the lessons of its 'humbling' 360 experience and spent ten to 12 months developing a raft of new services better targeted at its own strengths and the demands of its customers.
And it's a very particular set of customers too.
Voda has 391m subscribers of which just 22 per cent (in Europe) have a smartphone. Within this 22 per cent, just under a third have low-end smartphones that retail between 65 and 95 euros.
So the operator's conclusion is that virtually all of the 78 per cent that don't have a smartphone want to upgrade to one – and a good proportion of them will not choose a top tier device like iPhone or Galaxy S.
This is why the new services have been designed to address these newbies' concerns – namely ease of discovery, security and transparency.
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The services are:
* AppSelect
This is native Voda content app that will also be pre-loaded as a home screen icon on all Voda Android devices from now on. Content wise, Voda is taking the top apps from other app stores and judging them against their QA process before promoting them.
It also provides options such as bookmark, video previews and tell a friend. Other apps are contained within folders marked 'collections' and 'categories'.
Vodafone is working with developers and publishers on a rev share model to showcase specific products. The product builds on the branded Voda channel that the operator launched for Android Market this summer, and includes operator billing as a payment option.
* Discover
This widget resides one swipe to the right on Android devices (first one being the HTC Explorer). It's MSISDN linked and has been conceived as an ultra-convenient help app through which a Voda subscriber can manage both their device and their account.
Features include graphical representations of available credit and data with the option to click to buy more, plus one-click management of functions like wi-fi, browser, screen brightness, battery power and so on.
* Protect
This McAfee-powered service allows users to 'find, wipe and lock' their device. They can then back up their contacts and data to the cloud and also locate a stolen or missing phone. It has been soft launched in Germany and Portugal.
Although these products are targeted at Android devices for now, Voda hopes to add BlackBerry and WinPho 7 in 2012. Its iOS integration is limited to the inclusion of a MyWeb app.
The three services have been designed to integrate together to give users multiple entry points to the same features.
After the grand concept of 360 and – to an extent even Vodafone Live! – the new project would appear to be a little less ambitious than before.
However, Lee Epting, director of content services at Vodafone, insists it's just a question of moving with the market.
She says: "I don't see this as a scaling back of ambition. It's about having a relationship with our customers – a dialogue – and then building services that address their interests and concerns.
"We have that MSISDN relationship that only we can offer, and that gives us the chance to look at issues around transparency and trust that our customers really care about."
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