Digicel's lack of enthusiasm in promoting the DL600 smartphone - How making Apps from their Text Messaging Promotions and helping Jamaicans to design Apps Bridges the Digital Divide

Despite Telecom Provider Digicel putting their advertising muscle behind the DL600, something seems to be amiss with Digicel’s marketing slant of late. Gone is the aggressive marketing style that the Telecom Provider is known for, despite now being free to market their own smartphones with the fall of Blackberry as surmised in my blog article entitled “Digicel officially launches DL600 smartphones on Friday October 18th 2013 and JA$100 2-Day Data Plans - Ours is the Fury as Digicel’s DL600 secures their Throne in this Game of Phones against LIME”.

The smartphone is now readily available and can be easily ordered. No more waiting lists and no more long lines; Telecom Provider Digicel apparently was stock piling them all along, despite the smartphone being widely available in other territories in the Caribbean. But thus far their marketing has been flat.

Mostly restricted to advertisements on Television on both CVM TV and Television Jamaica, it mainly a video which shows the smartphone in an animation that shows off very few of its characteristics, merely citing what the phone’s great at doing.

Now compare this ad to the one done in Trinidad and Tobago which features a live human being aka a Customer Care Manager, holding the smartphone and describing the basic features. This ad is not only more personal, but up until Digicel Jamaica did their ads, it was the main result of searches by many a Jamaican Googleing the term “DL600”.

Hence the reason why I eventually added it to my blog article entitled “Digicel to launch the DL600 smartphone in Jamaica on Thursday 30th or Friday 31st of May 2013 - Digicel DL600 is coming Fast and Furious 6 to make smartphones accessible to all” to drive more traffic to that article!

  

Clearly the Digicel DL600 isn’t being marketed as fiercely as it should be in Jamaica as in the rest of the Caribbean. The lack of enthusiasm as it relates to marketing the DL600 is glaringly obvious. Even stranger too is the lack of Apps; Telecom Provider Digicel has launched this smartphone without any custom apps on the smartphone made by them for their product.

DL600 has no Digicel Apps – Google Android Developer’s SDK Gold Rush

But this has a good side. This lack of customization means that Telecom Provider Digicel can make Apps from its many promotions as well as facilitate the fledgling Android Developer Community in Jamaica to develop Apps for the DL600.

Google Play, Google’s App Store, gives away its SDK (Software Developer Kit) free online; Telecom Provider Digicel merely needs to make a Developer package including a low cost Developer version of the DL600 smartphone complete with Developer Tools to allow Jamaicans Software Developers to design Apps for the DL600.  I made mention of this point to a Customer Care Agent on Friday November 8^th 2013 while visiting the Digicel Store on Knutsford Boulevard.

This will help get Jamaicans involved in making money from selling Apps tailored to the cultural tastes of Jamaican smartphone owners, specifically Game Apps as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “Smartphones and Apps – Freemium Games are No. 1”. But more interestingly it’ll allow Telecom Provider Digicel to convert their entire Text message Game Promotions into Apps built along the lines of a Freemium Gaming model. Customers can then enjoy playing these various promotional Games on their smartphones via downloading the Apps for free.

However, once they reach a certain stage in the games, they’ll have to pay with their Credit Card or Scotia VISA Debit Cards to continue the game and gain the potential to win many of the Cash prizes on offer.

Even better, when Mobile Money becomes a reality, smartphone customers will be able to buy apps using their JCUES account as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “JCUES Mobile Money brings Cashless Society to the Unbanked as NCB debuts Cheque munching ATM Machine”, making having no Credit Card no longer a limiting Factor to participate in the App Economy as a buyer or seller of Apps.

Ditto too for the Text messaging games that Telecom Provider Digicel turns into Apps. Except instead of Credit Cards, persons would pay with Voucher Credit that they top up with as explained in my Geezam blog article “The Prepaid Cycle and How Prepaid Credit gives your SIM Card access to the Prepaid Network”. Even better, players can not only win Bonus Credit as their prizes but could also be facilitated by Telecom Provider Digicel in purchasing online Apps via using their Bonus Credit or even their regular Voucher Credit as Currency to buy Apps from the Google Apps Store!

Digicel Apps Games – Making money from smartphones by selling Game Apps

Telecom Provider Digicel has a great opportunity that they’re not exploiting. They’re already facing a reduction in the spending of Voucher Credit by smartphones users as they mainly buy Data Plans but hardly make phone calls, hence the BFFF (Best Friends for Free) Promotion as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel introduces Best Friend For Free Promotion that’s really just more Bonus Credit”.

They can use their Digicel DL600 as a springboard to make more Jamaicans make money from the design and sale of Apps for this affordable smartphones as well as convert their Text Messaging Games into Apps. In so doing they’d empower Jamaicans with the idea that they aren’t just consumers of content from the Internet but that they can make money as well, key to 4G LTE Broadband Adoption in Jamaica.

In so doing, it’ll make any future attempt by the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) at selling FDI (Foreign Direct Investors) the 700 MHz Spectrum to provision 4G LTE which wasn’t successful due to these issues as explained in my blog article entitled “Jamaica's 700MHz Spectrum Auction fails to attract bidders on Friday October 11 2013 - Jamaicans Lack interest in Broadband Internet and no Telecom Regulator for the Sector” more successful.

Hopefully Telecom Provider Digicel will put some more effort into their promotions for their “4G” Mobile Data Services via this lower cost smartphone come December 2013!