O2 squares up to Vodafone Live! with Active

The service, which aggregates O2's existing mobile data services into one package, is O2's answer to Vodafone's hugely successful Vodafone Live! service, which had attracted over 1m users by the end of March this year.

O2 Active consists of specially designed icons that guide customers to services such as ringtones, MMS, games video, information, alerts and pictures.

It will offer a range of colour content, including, sports, gossip, entertainment, news, horoscopes and weather. The company will also draw on its sponsorships of Arsenal football club, England Rugby, and Big Brother to provide exclusive content.

O2 Active will be on newly purchased handsets from early next month, while existing customers with compatible phones will be able to access it by visiting their WAP menu. It will initially be available on the Nokia 3650, 3510i and 7650, Samsung V200 and Motorola T720i at launch, with more than 20 handsets to be available by August.

The company claims that O2 Active has also been tailored and optimised for each device, rather than a 'one size fits all' approach, and some devices will come with an O2 branded button, which provides one click access to services.

Kent Thexton, chief marketing and data officer at mmO2, said that with O2 Active, the company is aiming to build on its position as the 'home of text' to become the 'home of advanced data services and colour content'. Last week, the company said that it maintained its number one position for SMS in the UK, with 8.5bn texts sent last year, giving it a market share of 35%.

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